10282022 NEWS, SPORT AND BUSINESS

Businesses counter government proposals over price controls

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN food retail

ers have proposed a joint venture with the Ministry of Social Services where they will provide a ten per cent ‘free’ food top-up targeted at “the most vulnerable among our Bahamian broth ers and sisters”.

The Retail Grocers Asso ciation, which represents 130 food merchants across The Bahamas, proposed the “temporary public-private partnership” focused solely on consumers using govern ment food stamps as their alternative to the major

expansion of the price con trol regime that is set to take effect on November 1. The association also offered further alternatives. These include a drastically slimmed-down price con trol expansion to just 20 items, as opposed to the government’s 38 categories, with higher mark-ups for Family Island retailers and perishable products which have a shorter shelf-life and go bad much quicker.

And the government was also urged to eliminate VAT on “breadbasket” food products regardless of which option it selected.

‘PM AND SEARS SHOULD HAVE KNOWN COST OF HEDGE DELAY’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Opposition’s leader yesterday charged that key policymakers in the Davis administration were given “sufficient meat” to understand the fall-out if the trades underpinning Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) fuel hedge were not executed.

Michael Pintard told Tribune Business

‘WE NEED JUSTICE OVER PRISON DEATH’

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

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HOW MUCH DID BERMUDA TRIP COST? SORRY, WE DON’T KNOW

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRESS secretary Clint Watson admitted yesterday that the full cost of Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ trip to Bermuda last week is still not known and he was unable to say how much money was spent on hotel accommodations, transportation, food, per diem and other trip-related elements.

However, he was ada mant Mr Davis wanted to maintain a level of transpar ency over the controversial trip.

Mr Watson also refused to say who gave authori sation for public funds to

70 PEOPLE TO TRAVEL TO CLIMATE CONFERENCE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

CLIMATE financing will top the list of priori ties for The Bahamas when a 70-person delegation attends COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt next week.

An official in the Office of the Prime Minister said the government is only paying for its technical members to attend the event, saying some others who are going are funded by the private sector.

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Confer ence is taking place from November 6 to 18.

being held on a stealing charge.

KENSEY COOPER

Photo:

CELEBRATING RISING STARS

THE National Youth Awards were held on Wednesday this week - with a host of young people honoured.

The winners were: Louise Simmons Youth Ally Award - Antoine Duncombe; Foreign Lan guage Education Award - Rashad Cunningham; Youth in Sports Award - Hannah D’aguliar; Entre preneurship Award - Blaire Percentie; Youth in Arts & Culture Award - Nathan McPhee; Patty Miller Youth in Governance - Denzel Bazard; Personal Triumph Caleb Johnson; Youth in Leadership Award - A’kari Burnside; Rising Star Awards: Sports

– Taylen Nicolls, Education – Jerlea Adderley, Leader ship – Tracy Johnson; Environment – Aaliyah Rolle; Volunteerism Award – Anwar Rolle Jr; Youth in Religion - Gibson Lacroix; Youth in the EnvironmentDellon Evans; Youth in Agriculture Award - Mat thew Williams; Youth in Volunteerism AwardTonica Gardiner; Youth Organisation Award - Rot aract Club of the University of The Bahamas; Patron Award - Leslie McDon ald; Patron Award - Anita Doherty (Kim DeGregory accepting on her behalf); People’s Choice AwardDachye Stubbs.

Photos: Austin Fernander

THE URBAN Renewal Band performing at the National Youth Awards.

JERLEA Adderley receiving her Rising Star Award.

WINNERS included, clock wise from top left, Aaliyah Rolle, Tonica Gardiner, Matthew Williams receiving his award from Agriculture Minister Clay Sweeting, and Rashad Cunningham receiv ing a hug from Prime Minis ter Philip “Brave” Davis.

be spent for the flight or whether there had been Cabinet approval.

The latter, he said he would have to confirm, adding that in normal set tings, Cabinet would give approval beforehand.

However, he told report ers yesterday during a weekly press briefing that as Mr Davis was also min ister of finance, he was able to make certain decisions on his own.

Earlier this week, the Progressive Liberal Party released a copy of a cheque for $24,750, reflecting money the ruling party reimbursed to the Public Treasury to cover the cost of a chartered Western Air flight to Bermuda.

“As for breaking the law

I can’t speak to that,” Mr Watson said in response to a question about whether any laws were broken in the process, as has been claimed by Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard.

He said officials were looking to see whether a breach of law had occurred. He went on to say that this was not something that occurred regularlyreferring to there being instances where a political party would reimburse the government for spending on a trip.

Mr Watson continued: “I don’t know that. What I can say is remember the prime minister is also the minis ter of finance and so he has jurisdiction to approve and to make determinations on certain things. In this case when he recognised it was

an element that involved political parties he made the decision himself to handle the finances from his political party and not to use government (money).

“No one asked him to do that. No one suggested that to him. That was his deter mination just based on what he felt he should do.

“As minister of finance he can do that. He didn’t have to come and say this wasn’t an official trip. He could have said yes, it was an offi cial trip and we’re going to move on or whatever.”

On Wednesday, Mr Davis said he made the decision that the govern ment will not pay for the trip, adding that the trip’s expenses would eventu ally be repaid to the Public Treasury in full, even for himself who travelled as prime minister.

ORG CHIEF SAYS ‘CO MINGLING’ RAISES UESTIONS

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE Organization for Responsible Governance said the revelations about “potential co-mingling” between government spending and partisan politics regarding Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ recent trip to Ber muda “opens the door” for speculation.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, ORG’S executive direc tor Matt Aubry said the controversy surrounding the Bermuda trip does not speak to the nature of what good governance calls for, which is “transparency and accountability”.

Following calls from the press and the official opposition for the govern ment to be transparent and reveal the documentation that showed who paid for the October 19 trip to Ber muda, the governing party released a copy of a $24,750 FirstCaribbean Interna tional Bank cheque to the Public Treasury, dated October 21, 2022, to reflect payment from the organisa tion for the trip.

Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis admitted on Wednesday that the reimbursement cheque did not cover the total of the bills for the event, however he was adamant that “everything will be reckoned”.

During Wednesday’s House of Assembly sitting, Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard raised the issue, questioning as to who gave authorisa tion for public funds to be used to pay for the flight and other things associated with the trip, which has

been described as a political event.

“When you might hear that there could be a poten tial co-mingling between government spending and political partisan work, it absolutely opens the door for lots of different types of speculation and that’s not helpful related to encourag ing citizens to be aware, to be involved, to support a new initiative, or new policy like the Public Procurement Act or investment policy or anything,” Mr Aubry said when contacted for com ment yesterday.

“So, the way information comes out and the way that it is presented is going to be important in terms of build ing trust,” he added.

Mr Aubry explained that the lack of transpar ency from the government contributed to citizens “questioning” and “won dering” the interest and intentions of the govern ment due to the lack of access to information, whether it be through freedom of information or a more open disclosure about policies and spending decisions.

He suggested that moving forward the government should ensure that policies and decisions regarding public spending are ulti mately geared towards the interest of citizens rather than the ruling political party.

He believes that this will allow the opportunity for governance in the coun try to “move forward” and allow room for the govern ment to make mistakes, rather than falling into the “political back and forth”.

“The path forward if we’re going to be success ful is that we have to ensure that policies and decisions

on public spending are towards the interests of everybody and at the inter ests of government and party or second to the inter ests of citizens,” Mr Aubry said yesterday.

He also said the local governance culture in The Bahamas actively struggles with relaying information to the public “proactively”, hence why the organisation has consistently advocated for the full enactment of the Freedom of Information Act.

“You want to move for ward with having proactive and clear mechanisms for governance and expendi tures, so that there’s not a question related to if a trip is scheduled. Here’s the outcomes, here’s what’s to be achieved, here’s what we’re trying to achieve, and it does not become poten tially co-mingling.

“Our culture (has) such a polarised focus on party and affiliation within that party, that you can see a lot of what is purported and put forward relates to the back and forth between the parties, and that that clouds sometimes what needs to be seen in a situation like this, which is that fundamentally the citizens should have access to information that tells them this is how a deci sion was made.

“If it’s not being made appropriately then they should be acknowledged, that there should be a capacity to be able to address it. If it is being made appropriately then there should be very clear and easy to understand situations that are provided beforehand, ideally, versus and after the fact where whatever is presented is going to be put through a political lens.”

How much did Bermuda trip cost? Sorry, we don’t know

Photo: Austin Fernander

However, he admitted that the cheque from the PLP did not cover the full costs of the travel.

His comments came after Mr Pintard said it was a breach of the law for the government to pay for a political trip, no matter if the Public Treasury was reimbursed.

As for why many of the expenses were yet known a week after the trip, the press secretary chalked it up to inefficiencies within the public service.

“That’s not uncommon. You are talking about a public service sector, you won’t have that a week later,” Mr Watson said.

Pressed further on it, he responded: “What happens is when you approve a trip you approve the trip to travel. What happens is the accounting takes place from

the back end as to who actu ally went, did they receive per diem, was it actually processed, what hotel was used, was it approved, what was the other hotel. All of that comes in the back area to your expenses for travel because things change and that has to be done on the back end.”

Regarding the optics the situation has created, Mr Watson said Mr Davis was concerned, which is why he addressed the matter at Parliament.

“I think he would have proved that yesterday in the House of Assembly.

“He took time out of the people’s business to explain and to give an account and I think that speaks to the importance of wanting to make sure people have clarity on what transpired by taking the time in the

House of Assembly and I think that speaks volumes as to the importance of the Bahamian people.

“The prime minister has always said that his admin istration will be accountable to the Bahamian people, will be transparent and that’s just not in the good things, it’s also in things that may appear challeng ing, things that may appear grey areas and that’s why he would have taken the time out yesterday to explain that.”

Mr Davis’ trip drew scru tiny after it was revealed that he spoke at a political convention for Bermuda’s ruling Progressive Labour Party. He travelled to Ber muda with a delegation, including former Prime Minister Perry Christie, on October 19 and returned on October 20.

PRESS secretary Clint Watson at yesterday’s press conference.

ORG executive director Matt Aubry.

OFFICIALS PROVIDE PLANS FOR NEW STALLS TO POTTER’S CAY VENDORS

By EARYEL BOWLEG

OFFICIALS have met with Potter’s Cay ven dors and provided them with the approved plans from the Ministry of Works for new stalls,

said Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting.

Potter’s Cay Dock Fish, Fruit, and Vegeta ble Vendors Association president Ormanique Bowe said in August that the Ministry of Works was

the current roadblock to having fire damaged stalls rebuilt.

She said vendors had let ters for funding for about three months at the time and they were only waiting for final approvals.

A fire burned six stalls to the ground in April last

year and left two others damaged.

Mr Sweeting gave an update on the matter yes terday to reporters.

“We met with the Pot ter’s Cay vendors around two weeks ago, we provided them with the approved plans for the Ministry

of Works, we also have approval to assist them with the plans for the over the water construction as well. So they have all they need,” he said.

“They also have the funding where they can draw down at FYP for the building supplies. So

they received that letter of approval a few months ago.

“We finally got the plans, approved plans for the Ministry of Works a few weeks ago and they have those in hand. So, they have the approval to start construction.”

ATTORNEY General

Ryan Pinder yesterday criticised the former admin istration for its failure to implement Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and European Union (EU) requirements.

Mr Pinder in his con tribution to the Senate yesterday said the Free National Movement fell short in terms of their efforts to the implemen tation of the common reporting standard.

He spoke as he presented the Automatic Exchange of Financial account Informa tion Amendment Bill.

“The Bill seeks to amend the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Informa tion Act, 2016 to empower the competent authority to delegate any function or power conferred upon him by the Act to either a designated officer or a designated supervisory authority,” he said.

Mr Pinder noted the country in 2018 commenced exchanges under the AEOI Standard.

He explained the Global Forum conducted a peer review of the country’s effectiveness of the imple mentation of the standard in practice.

He continued: “Shortly after we came to office, the government received a report regarding the peer review that was conducted in 2020 – 2021. The report from the Global Forum indicated The Bahamas is compliant with respect to exchanging information in an effective and timely manner.

“However, there is a need to ensure that report ing financial institutions correctly conduct the due diligence and reporting procedures.”

Mr Pinder said despite meeting the standard required in one of the two areas that were reviewed, the overall rating of the technical effectiveness of the implementation of the AEOI standards was rated as non-compliant.

Mr Pinder said he, along with the Minister for Eco nomic Affairs and others, attended the OECD peer review report presenta tion in Paris to advocate on behalf of The Bahamas for a reconsideration of the report earlier this year.

However, despite their efforts the OECD peer review group did not change the overall finding on the effectiveness of the imple mentation of the AEOI; there was agreement made to fix the deficiencies found in the report.

Mr Pinder underscored the government has committed to fixing the deficiencies or the “comedy of errors” by the previous administration.

He said: “The former administration was aware of these deficiencies and failed to correct them, they ignored the identified improvements and adjust ments recommended by the OECD and thus we find ourselves regarded as non-compliance.

“A comedy of errors by the FNM now led by a comedian, we will fix their missteps, we will remedy their wrongs.”

Mr Pinder noted the European Union has added this country to its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. He empha sised the government is actively fixing these issues and “again remedying the comedy“ of errors of the previous administration.

He said the former FNM government looked to put the substance reporting through the Department of Inland Revenue framework.

However, he called that method ineffective and pre sented many problems with the actual administration of the reporting itself.

He added: “In fact, at a point in time the report ing was being done on a manual entry basis as the entire platform was nonfunctional. A complete failure of implementation which led to the blacklisting of the country by the EU.”

Agriculture sees inflation raise prices fivefold

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

COMPANIES in the agriculture industry said inflation has impacted them, with one business stating that in some cases prices have increased fivefold.

The companies gave remarks at a press confer ence that gave an update on the recently launched Sustainable Food Growth Grant and the launch of a new pilot programme aimed at climate change technology.

Johnelle Lewis works with the

technology company Vnet Multi-Enterprise.

“So collectively, our experiences over 25 years in this field, and watching the prices increase on simple items that, for example, used to be like $20, maybe now it’s like $60 to $80. In some cases, things have gone up to over $100 and it’s ridiculous. So inflation has played a major role in increasing the cost,” she said.

“So that’s why I said this is so timely, because now we can actually source these items in bulk, which helps to reduce the cost of bring ing them in, so that the raw materials and the hardware that we need to actually manufacture our devices, so that we can actually pro duce them at a better rate.”

According to Lance Pinder of Abaco Big Bird poultry farm, inflation has been a big problem over the last year or two. Big Bird was five percent of the domestic consumption of chickens in the country before Hurricane Dorian.

The poultry farm has been in business for 27 years.

“There’s nothing that we buy that hasn’t gone up anywhere from 50 to 200 percent So that’s why these grants, especially something like solar, which will be a long-term benefit, our company will help with all of those problems… You buy something this month, next month it’s up again. We’re used to seeing costs

increase, maybe three years would go by but now it’s like a monthly thing.”

Mr Pinder noted the company intends to use this funding to help with solar to cut down on energy costs which would reduce prices and also for the business.

“At this time, we’re still rebuilding from the storm and the impacts of COVID. So it’s going to free up cash flow that will help us put that back into growing and expanding the company going forward into the future and we appreciate it very much,” he explained.

Shomekhan Cargill and his team at Well Mudda Fungus grow organic mush rooms. “Like my colleagues said, things are going up rapidly and one of the major issues that we’re facing is meeting the (arranged) prices based on our profit margins with the agree ments that we have with our current customers,” he said.

“So, to continue espe cially as a new business or small-scale business trying constantly having to tell your customers that (there) may be shifts in prices and packaging and simple things that you would not expect to be such a major issue.

“It causes disruptions and causes issues and not only just inflation, but there has been a lot of challenges with even the shipping situ ation has been rough. So, all of these things impact our ability to be resilient to change, to shock. So, the grant allows us to free up

some cash flow in order for us to buffer these changes at least for the short term and hope that prices go back down in certain areas so that we can kind of main tain a balance in our cost of production.”

Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting introduced the pilot programme that will further incentivise farmers and food produc ers to not only use climate smart technology but will also assist The Bahamas in significantly boosting the country’s food production.

In his remarks, he explained: “Climate smart technology has been uti lised in countries around the world for many years now. External pressures such as drought, inflation, disease, pestilence, the pan demic, and now even wars have brought the use of technology to the forefront of agriculture.

“Farmers are discovering new and innovative ways to boost their efforts such as climate smart seeds, other planting materials that can thrive under extreme weather conditions, solar and wind energy technolo gies, and hydroponics that increase efficiency and food production. By using tech nology, we can increase our resilience against climate change, and increase our capacity and our domestic food production. Today, we are recognised individuals who are looking to achieve that goal through the Sus tainable Food Growth Grant, which was oversub scribed at its deadline on October 7.

“These individuals recog nise the government’s vision to use innovation to reduce operational costs while increasing productivity. It should be noted that these applicants through the part nership with SBDC Access Accelerator will be receiv ing funding from a separate grant programme that we hope to become an annual programme to encour age innovation, encourage technology and encourage new ways of farming in this country. While the adjudi cators have not completed the processing of all the applicants, pulling these five businesses means that more businesses can receive grant funding through the Sustainable Food Growth Grant.”

MINISTER of Agriculture

Clay Sweeting at the National Youth Awards on Wednesday.

Photo: Austin Fernander

‘It’s time for polluters to bite the bullet’

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

AN OFFICIAL with responsibility for climate related matters in the Office of the Prime Minis ter echoed Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’s posi tion on the climate crisis and said yesterday that those contributing to the problem need to “bite the bullet and do the right thing” financially to take responsibility for their actions.

“Our biggest concern is that of the activities of China, the United States and our European partners, it is them who contribute to this,” said Rochelle New bold, the Prime Minister’s special advisor on climate change. “But see, they have the flexibility, or they have the fiscal space where they can absorb these sorts of things. We don’t have that. And that’s the issue.

“The climate finance is such a focus for us. Because if you’re not going to make the necessary changes now, then in that sense, we need you to pay for whatever is happening to us at this time, until you are able to make your adjustment.”

Her comments came at a meeting of the Rotary

Club of West Nassau, which is celebrating 50 years of service.

She spoke a day after Mr Davis said he will continue to advocate for “justice and fairness” for small island nations during the current climate crisis at COP27 held in Egypt from Novem ber 6-18 this year.

He said on Wednesday that he will continue to stand on his statements made at COP26 last November, when he pointed to rising tempera tures and natural disasters such as Hurricane Dorian to highlight the effects of the issue on small develop ing island nations like The Bahamas.

She agreed with Mr Davis and said that he has been making his presence known in the international arena, causing those big contributors to the current climate problem to pay The Bahamas much more attention.

“The only thing we can do, come November, COP27, we have to go to the table and we have to remind them and we have to call them out. The same way we have to bite the bullet and do the right thing, they also have to bite the bullet and do the right thing.”

In an effort to assist small developing island states, Mrs Newbold made the suggestion of concessional financ ing to mitigate expenses caused by climate related disasters.

“So when we talk about issues of concessional

financing, what we’re saying is your usual interest rates might be 16 percent. When we have an issue that’s gen erated by a climate impact, we want a rate of 5 percent. Because this is something we know we might be back to you next year, during hurricane season.”

70 PEOPLE TO TRAVEL TO CLIMATE CONFERENCE

Mr Davis will be there among world leaders from November 6 to 12.

The delegation includes Mr Davis, Attorney General Ryan Pinter, Agri culture and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting and a number of other people, including a strong youth presence, offi cials from the Department of Meteorology and Minis try of Health.

Yesterday, Rochelle New bold, Mr Davis’ special advisor on climate change and environmental matters, appealed to Bahamians to take climate change and its effects on the country seriously.

“We cannot excuse our selves from what is going on in our region, nor can we from what’s going on in the global environment in

general,” Ms Newbold said.

“I am telling you Baha mians keep your minds, keep your hearts open and be positive. We are facing this and we have to face it. It’s not going to go away. We cannot pretend it’s not going to happen because every time it rains and we just looked at what was going on with our partners in Trinidad the other day, rivers in the streets, land being washed out, all of that has an impact and we can’t sit here thinking ‘oh that is not going to happen to us’. It will happen to us.

“Dorian was our time and another hurricane is their time, another tropi cal storm is someone else’s time but it’s all cyclic and we will find ourselves in the same vein again.

“It’s important for us to make those policy and legislative changes but then we also need to be

able to access the financial resources that are out there globally.”

Asked about the trip’s cost, she said: “All those individuals that I said were going are help funded. Even our youth, we are so glad to have partnered with the pri vate sector who was able to 100 percent support all the youth that are going. The government is only paying for its technical members.”

She declined to reveal who the private sector donors were.

Last year, during COP26 at Glasgow, Scotland, Mr Davis called on world lead ers to take concrete action on climate change.

He said The Bahamas is among one of the top ten most vulnerable island nations in the world due to climate change, but is not the cause of the crisis.

He called on world lead ers to take specific action

HUNTED OVER ARMED ROBBERIES

POLICE are searching for five men responsible for two separate armed rob beries on Wednesday, one of which took place in a bank‘s parking lot.

The first incident report edly occurred shortly before noon at a business on Montrose Avenue.

Preliminary reports revealed that three masked men, all of whom were allegedly armed with handguns, entered the establishment and demanded cash. The cul prits robbed the place of an undisclosed amount of cash and watches and fled the area in an unknown direction.

$1M COCAINE SEIZED ON SHIP

POLICE seized over $1m in suspected cocaine during a search of a vehicle freighter yesterday.

The seizure was a col laborative effort between officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit and K-9 Unit of the Royal Baha mas Police Force along with officers from Bahamas Customs.

As a result, more than 142 pounds of suspected cocaine were confiscated shortly before 5am when officers conducted a routine search of a vehicle freighter.

The drugs have an esti mated street value of $1,060,000. No arrests have been made in connection with this incident however an investigation continues.

The second incident reportedly occurred shortly before 1pm in the parking lot of a financial institution on East Bay Street. Police said a customer was walk ing towards the bank when he was approached by two men in blue hooded jackets. It is reported that one of the men produced a handgun and demanded the victim’s briefcase.

The culprits reportedly robbed the man of his brief case which contained an undisclosed amount of cash, a cell phone and cheque books and fled the area on foot in the direction of Dowdeswell Street.

Police are actively

investigating and appeal ing to members of the public to be aware of their surroundings at all times, especially as the holiday season approaches.

Police also confiscated an estimated 15 pounds of suspected marijuana on Wednesday. Around 1.30pm, officers were on routine patrol in the Balls Alley area when they observed a man walking through a track road, acting suspiciously.

The man ran after he saw police and was able to evade capture. Officers searched the area and dis covered the drugs which have an estimated street value of $15,000.

and make concrete policy changes to tackle the issue.

“Do what is needed, not what you can get away with,” Mr Davis said during a speech at COP26’s World Leaders Summit.

“Turn promises to small island developing states into action.”

ROCHELLE NEWBOLD, the Prime Minister’s special advisor on climate change, yesterday. Photo: Austin Fernander

The tangled web of PLP’s Bermuda trip

THE story of the PLP’s jaunt to Ber muda is becoming increasingly tangled – and it doesn’t need to be.

FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands described the whole affair as “smudgy”, a word he recalled being used by one of his predecessors in his post, the late Charles Maynard. He’s not wrong. The details are inexplicably hazy.

It wasn’t clear whether this was a government trip or whether it was a political party trip. It wasn’t clear who had paid. Then the PLP said they paid and showed a cheque to prove it. But it was after the fact, a reimbursement.

Then Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis says that cheque didn’t cover the full amount. And now in today’s Trib une, we discover no one knows the full cost anyway.

Press secretary Clint Watson said yes terday he was unable to say how much money was spent on hotel accommoda tions, transport, food, per diems and so on. One wonders why private travellers would be getting a per diem in the first place except from their organisation.

Reassuringly, or not, he said: “As for breaking the law, I can’t speak to that.”

Instead, he pushed the story onto Mr Davis’ plate, saying: “What I can say is remember the Prime Minister is also the Minister of Finance and so he has jurisdiction to approve and to make determinations on certain things. In this case when he recognised it was an ele ment that involved political parties he made the decision himself to handle the finance from his political party and not to use government (money).”

So now we need to know the timeline of when Mr Davis made that decision – because as we know the cheque from the PLP came later.

It’s an interesting travel incentive scheme from the government – can any business or organisation use the govern ment as a free loan system to repay later or is it just the political party of choice?

Mr Watson added of Mr Davis’ deci sion: “He didn’t have to come and say this wasn’t an official trip. He could have said yes, it was an official trip and we’re going to move on or whatever.”

No, Mr Watson, he could not – not as long as it was a trip involving party members for party goals, not unless you’re comfortable with government funds being used for party political goals.

As to why the cost of the trip is still not known, Mr Watson chalked it up, almost with a shrug, as being down to inefficiencies in the public service.

He said: “That’s not uncommon. You are talking about a public service sector, you won’t have that a week later. What happens is when you approve a trip you approve the trip to travel. What hap pens is the accounting takes place from the back end as to who actually went, did they receive per diem, was it actu ally processed, what hotel was used, was it approved, what was the other hotel. All of that comes in the back area to your expenses for travel because things change and that has to be done on the back end.”

Interesting. So what Mr Watson is confirming there is that the government handled all the administration side of things for the PLP as well. Why would the public service have to handle any of that for a private trip? How much is the PLP paying the government for the time of public workers to handle their accounts?

At the start of this article, we said things don’t need to be this tangled. Not if everyone simply tells the truth, and tells the full story. In an earlier editorial, we wrote about the need for trans parency – and that every trip should routinely detail costs, membership of the retinue, and so on.

This one is clear as mud. Costs of hotels should be known ahead of time. Costs of flights should be well estab lished. Any transport rented would have receipts ahead of time. As mentioned, per diems should only matter if it is a government trip – it’s not government’s job to put spending money in pockets for a private trip. What was the budget for the trip? Or must we wait for what sounds good rather than what is correct?

This isn’t the only area the govern ment needs to show transparency – there are questions too about what advice Mr Davis and Works Minister Alfred Sears received on the BPL hedg ing scheme after the appearance of a letter tabled by FNM leader Michael Pintard. Given their statements on the matter, that could also raise questions about how accurate their statements were to Parliament.

Again, all that is needed to avoid such tangles is to be transparent – and not to look so smudgy.

If this is how the separation of govern ment and private finances looks, heaven help us if we ever try to implement laws on campaign finances.

In the meantime, if you’re travel ling somewhere, ask the government if they’ll pay for it and you’ll pay them back later – see how far you get.

PICTURE

Crime wave by Haitian shamans

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I BELIEVE the case can be made that certain offi cials danced around the issue of law enforcement officers being assigned to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) nearly a month ago. Maybe their seeming evasive pos ture was due to the Free National Movement’s apparent opposition to the move by this Pro gressive Liberal Party administration. I think it would’ve been better for the two PLP officials to simply give a straightfor ward answer to the cynical Bahamian public.

In late September, TCI Premier Charles Washing ton Missick, in an address to his nation, said that he had asked Prime Minis ters Philip Brave Davis, Mia Mottley and Andrew Holness to send members of their respective police forces to TCI in order “to boost local manpower” in the fight against the unprec edented crime crisis. I think Bahamians would’ve accepted this explanation, had it been stated from the outset. The Missick admin istration, in addition to requesting assistance from the UK, has also asked the US Department of Home land Security to deploy one of its surveillance air crafts in order to patrol the waters between its country and Haiti.

According to TCI Gover nor Nigel John Dakin, the escalating violence is being precipitated by Jamaican and Haitian gangs.

Apparently Jamaican gangsters are attempting to remove their competition in order to corner the nar cotics market in TCI.

Up until September 28, TCI had recorded 22 murders - with 11 being committed in September alone. Twenty-two murders by Bahamian standards is an infinitesimal number. However, what one must bear in mind is that TCI’s population is only about 38,000. The population of New Providence is nearly eight times the size of TCI. Based on this alone, had TCI had the same population size as New Providence, it would cur rently have 176 homicides for 2022.

The Missick administra tion has called October “Criminal Justice Reform in TCI” month. Missick aims on reforming existing crime legislations in order to break the proverbial back of crime. It is obvi ous that the ongoing gang war between Haitian and Jamaican gangs in TCI is being fueled by the drug trafficking industry. There

is a spiritual dimension to this gang warfare that TCI, UK, Bahamian and Jamai can lawmakers might miss. Drug traffickers are noth ing more than modern-day shamans.

According to the late Christian apologist Dave Hunt in his The Seduc tion of Christianity, “it is now recognised by most researchers who have stud ied the exploding revival of mysticism that the West ern world has its own witch doctors”. Shamanism is a synonym for witchcraft and sorcery. Ancient sorcerers utilised illicit drugs in order to tap into the spiritual dimension. This is why the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:20 used the Greek word “pharmekia” for witchcraft. In the English, the word is pharmacy. In Haiti, voodoo is practised by a significant portion of the population. The Jean-Ber trand Aristide government sanctioned voodoo as an officially recognised reli gion in 2003. Voodoo is just another variation of witchcraft and Obeah. It is not surprising to this writer that so many Haitians, who have been raised in a coun try where voodoo is an accepted form of spiritual ity, would venture into the drug trade, another form of witchcraft.

Bermuda trip

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A WHOLE bunch of otherwise idle people with nothing better to do, have been getting all bent out of shape because of alleged expenses which may have accrued as a result of a del egation led by the Prime Minister over to Bermuda recently. It seems that some of these same people are questioning whether or not the administration or the political party, the PLP, paid in full or in part for that journey and abode.

I do not know who organised that trip but they would have, I submit, ill advised the PM. This PM is a straight forward and honest individual. He has no desire or need to use the public purse willynilly or at all. The fact that

there are ‘silly’ questions being raised illustrates the depths to which those who oppose this enlightened Prime Minister are pre pared to go. This PM is well versed in accountability and transparency.

At the end of the day, those who question these non issues, would do well to focus on the things that mat ters. If the pure PLP part of the Bermuda delegation incurred expenses that would not have been covered by the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), then common sense would lead one to expect the PLP here in The Bahamas, to reimburse and make up the appropriate shortfalls, if any. Any official functions by the PM and governmental officials would, of course, be covered be covered by the budget approved for usage

by the Office of the Prime Minister.

In the same breath it would really be interesting for those who are ques tioning this administration about relative peanuts, to inform the Bahamian people how may tens of millions of taxpayers dol lars may have been , allegedly, expended during the height of the pandemic, with absolutely no known accountability or transpar ency. They are now worried about a fistful of dollars, which will be quantified and reimbursed in short order? At this rate the detractors will be and remain in politi cal limbo for eons.

ORTLAND H. BODIE,

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama. October 26, 2022.

GUESTS taking selfies at the National Youth Awards on Wednesday.

Photo: Austin Fernander

Man who jumped out of police car is fined

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was fined a collec tive $800 in Magistrate’s Court yesterday after being found with drugs and jumping out of a moving police car to evade custody.

Sandrick Major, 28, repre sented by attorney Damien White, faced Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and escape from lawful custody.

While the accused faced an additional charge of assault, this was officially withdrawn.

On October 16, Major was arrested after he was found with two grams of Indian hemp.

Then around 3.46pm on Octo ber 17, while in custody and on the way to a police station, the accused opened the door of a marked police car and jumped onto St Vincent Road near Bar clay’s drive.

Although the accused fled the scene and managed to evade capture, he eventually turned

himself into police on October 24.

Before his own arraignment, Major was attacked by another defendant in court who suffers from mental illness, according to a relative.

Major pleaded guilty to both the drug and escape charges. In his plea of mitigation, Mr White said his client is remorseful for his actions and is the breadwin ner of his family.

Because of this, Mr White asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence on Major

so as not to hinder his abil ity to provide for his two children.

At this time, the prosecution revealed that the accused has antecedents.

The judge then convicted the defendant and fined Major $300 or three months in prison for the drug charge and an addi tional $500 or six months for the escape charge.

Magistrate Vogt-Evans warned Major that if he returns to her court for a future offence he will be sent to prison.

MENTALLY-ILL MAN HITS DEFENDANT IN COURT HEARING WITH HANDCUFFS

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MENTALLY ill man found guilty of a damage charge was restrained after attacking another defendant in the pris oner’s dock while awaiting his own arraignment in Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Joey Jolissant, 28, appeared before Senior Magistrate Caro lyn Vogt-Evans on a charge of

damage.

On October 24 on Bethell Avenue, Jolissant caused $340 worth of damage to two door handles belonging to Ernange Theophile.

In the midst of court proceed ings, chaos erupted before the magistrate as Jolissant attacked Sandrick Major in the prisoner’s dock, hitting him in the face with his handcuffs. Those near the fray were forced to scatter as

officers of the court restrained Jolissant to the floor before briefly escorting the howling man from the room.

The defendant was later returned to court for his own arraignment. Jolissant initially pleaded not guilty to the charge; however a guilty plea was entered by the magistrate with the defendant’s assent.

A relative of Jolissant told Magistrate Vogt-Evans that

the defendant suffers from mental issues for which he is on medication. This relative fur ther informed the court that his family had just recently become aware of his condition and attributed his outburst in court to Jolissant not taking his medication.

In view of this the magistrate ordered that the defendant pay full restitution to the complain ant before his release.

MAN DISCHARGED OVER DECADES-OLD FIREARM

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was discharged yes terday in connection with a decades-old firearm and ammu nition charge due to conflicting reports from police on the exact firearm model found.

Lamont Burrows stood before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans for the closure of

his possession of an unlicenced firearm and possession of ammu nition trial.

Back in 2008, officers report edly arrested Burrows at his residence on Carmichael Road after they said they had uncov ered a Ruger pistol and a total of 17 rounds of unfired ammunition.

However, during the defend ant’s subsequent trial, officers gave conflicting reports as to the

model of the firearm that was recovered at Burrows’ home.

Although officers all corrobo rated the same serial number for the weapon, they failed to con firm whether the Ruger pistol was a 9mm or .45, a discrepancy which the defendant directly pointed out during the final day of his trial.

For this reason, Magistrate Vogt-Evans moved to dismiss Burrows’ case due to insufficient

evidence from the prosecution. In her official discharge of Bur rows, she cited the conflicting evidence in the type of weapon and the chain of command being in doubt as reasons for her decision.

Magistrate Vogt-Evans then informed the prosecu tion of their right to appeal her sentencing.

The weapon and ammunition seized are to remain confiscated.

WOMAN CHARGED OVER STABBING

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN faced a Magistrate’s Court yesterday after allegedly stab bing a co-worker at a construction company multiple times during a workroom brawl last week.

Raquel Bannister, 45, stood before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on charges of attempted murder and use of deadly means of harm against Melissa Burrows.

It is alleged that during a physical argument between the two around 3pm on October 21 at Enka Construc tion on West Bay Street, Bannister pepper sprayed Burrows in her face. It is further said that the accused then pulled out a knife and stabbed the complainant multiple times about the body.

Due to the severity of the offence, Bannister was not required to enter a plea in court. She was informed that her matter would proceed to the Supreme Court by way of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The accused was also told that as the magistrate lacked the jurisdiction to grant her bail, she had the right to apply for it in the higher court. Until bail is granted, Bannister will be remanded to the Bahamas Depart ment of Correctional Services.

Bannister’s VBI is due for service on December 9.

$5K FINE FOR BAIL VIOLATION

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 27-YEAR-OLD Grand Bahama man was charged in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court with violating the conditions of his bail.

Kevin Smith, Jr, appeared before the Magistrate’s Court this week for violating the conditions of his bail by failing to sign in at a Police Sta tion. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $5,000 or 18 months in prison at the Bahamas Department of Corrections.

Smith was also charged with failing to charge the electronic ankle moni toring device. He pleaded not guilty to that charge and was granted $5,000 bail with one or two suretors.

The matters were adjourned to February 21, 2023.

Growing for the future

THIS month will be his toric for One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) and our sister entity The Centre for Training and Innova tion (CTI) located in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. It will mark the first planting of our newly completed, and quite revolutionary 1.1-acre solar powered growhouse. We’ve named it the “OASIS,” in part because of its built-in rain catch ment system and massive water storage tanks which will collect and store over a million gallons of rainwater to irrigate crops and supply the entire farm.

This masterpiece of a structure with its retract able roof and walls will allow us to control the envi ronmental conditions inside the facility and provide our crops with the ideal tem perature and conditions for them to thrive all year long. The OASIS growhouse will become the gateway for

By Tim Hauber

of One Eleuthera Foundation

us to grow fresh produce throughout the hotter and traditionally scarce months when the scorching summer heat interrupts the growing season for most farmers.

By expanding our growing season and footprint we will increase our farm’s produc tion capacity, helping us to take a giant leap toward OEF and CTI’s food secu rity and food sovereignty goals for Eleuthera and the country.

We have already started planting the first seeds and will be ramping up to full production over the next few months. We are

planning to grow a wide variety of vegetables includ ing carrots, beets, scallions, radishes, kale, zucchini, cucumbers, various types of tomatoes and many dif ferent lettuces and leafy greens. It will be exciting to soon see the OASIS grow house, which is roughly the size of a football field flourishing with vibrant, nutritious produce.

Looking back, it was just two years ago, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, that my wife Selima and I were offered the opportunity to come on board at CTI to make this

shared dream a reality. CTI and OEF had developed a plan and received grant funding from the TK Foun dation and Sallingsund Bridge to expand its farm operation and increase local farmer training. We were absolutely thrilled to learn that a retractable roof growhouse was a key part of this master plan. To understand why this was so significant and serendipi tous all at once you would have to know the history.

You see, Selima and I have always had a passion for food and plants. Selima left Nassau after study ing agriculture at COB and eventually obtained her PhD in Horticulture while my studies were in the field of Food Science. We had been growing veg etables on a commercial scale in Nassau for the past twenty years. The farms we operated ran the gamut of production systems from conventional organic soil-based farms to very modern high tech hydro ponic greenhouses. Over the years, our motivation remained consistent. We wanted to produce beauti ful, healthful vegetables for our population know ing that this could bring increased health, vitality and wealth to our people and nation. Over several decades, The Bahamas slipped from producing and exporting produce to North America and Europe to being almost 100% depend ent on imported foods. We recognise that this shift has also caused the health of our communities and our economic independence to significantly decline.

Personally, we both obtained a lot of joy from selling our own fresh veg etables at various Farmers Markets around Nassau. We loved hearing the sto ries of happy customers who not only enjoyed the flavour of our produce but also felt good eating them.

It was always hard to tell our customers around May/ June once the extreme sun had scorched our crops that we simply had noth ing left to sell until the next growing season in Novem ber. This cyclical nature of growing crops was not only difficult for our customers, but it was difficult for our business and finances. We were constantly looking for a solution to this dilemma and how we could produce vegetables all year long. We knew a Greenhouse wouldn’t be ideal for our tropical climate, as it would trap heat from the sun and cause huge heat stress for the plants.

It was about ten years ago that we started investigating

retractable roof structures. These could provide some of the advantages of a tra ditional greenhouse but could completely retract its roof and walls to close in the structure to shade and protect plants from exces sive heat, rain and wind. We knew this kind of structure would be perfect, allowing the farmer to adapt day by day, hour by hour, to envi ronmental conditions while providing plants with the ideal conditions needed to thrive. Further, the struc ture would work to protect crops in up to a category 2 hurricane before sen sors would cause the roof and walls to automatically retract to preserve the edifice.

We visited several opera tions in Florida and spent an entire week in Mexico visiting farms that were suc cessfully using this kind of structure and technology in very similar climatic condi tions. They were great, but so was the cost to procure them. When we realized that OEF and CTI were planning to secure and construct a very similar retractable roof growhouse, we knew that all the stars were aligning.

What helped to seal the deal for us was the fact that OEF is a community development organisation committed to creating sus tainable development and innovation around five key areas: education, econ omy, environment, health and heritage. Running a vegetable farm while teach ing sustainable farming techniques seemed like a perfect fit for all these pil lars! So we shifted from running our own small farm in Nassau (Field to Fork Community Farm) and in August of 2021 we moved to Eleuthera with our family to be a part of this game-changing project and mission.

There is also a lot of syn ergy in our personal goals and those of OEF/CTI. This project will promote better community health outcomes over time by

increasing access to healthy foods to help fight the epidemic of diet-related, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like obesity, diabe tes and heart disease. This is something that we live by. There is so much data that show if we shift from eating highly processed foods to fresh whole foods these NCDs can be prevented or cured.

Another significant aspect of our shared vision is to educate local farmers and growers in sustainable farming tech niques. Together, we hope to teach a whole new generation of farmers in Eleuthera and the Baha mas the best practises for consistently growing healthful food to feed our selves, while protecting and preserving our natural environment.

Selima and I are excited to take all that we have learned over the past 20 years and put it into practice at OEF/CTI. Just like all the other social enterprises housed at the CTI campus, the farm and OASIS grow house will be operated as “live lab” training facilities for local farmers, growers students and volunteers to visit, gain hands-on experi ence and learn alongside us in the field.

• Tim Hauber is the farm and growhouse operations officer at CTI & OEF.

Established in 2012, the One Eleuthera Founda tion (OEF) is a non-profit organisation located in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. For more information, visit www.oneeleuthera.org or email info@oneeleuthera. org. The Centre for Training and Innovation (CTI) is the first and only postsecond ary, non-profit education and training institution and social enterprise on Eleuthera. CTI operates a student training campus in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, with a 16-room training hotel, restaurant and farm. For more information about CTI’s programmes email: info@oneeleuthera.org.

TIM HAUBER, farm and growhouse opera tions officer, with Dr Selima Hauber, crop production officer.

Speaking up and speaking out for justice

– even if the victim is someone whose opinions scare the living daylights out of you

IT’S

a dilemma lawyers overcome easily, giving their legal best to represent people they do not neces sarily like. They take an oath to seek justice for those who seek it even if it feels like the person demanding it does not deserve it. They do what they were trained to do, protect the less likeable or even the guilty, to pre serve the process that allows everyone to have confidence in a system that works.

Lawyers know how to separate personal feelings from professional obliga tion. I’m not so good at that.

So today’s column is one of the hardest I have had to write. Not because it is a tale of death or hei nous crime or tragic loss. Nothing so dramatic, it’s just hard because I am standing up for some one whose opinions I am totally opposed to, someone whose bellicose bellyaching could tear this country apart. Yet, in fair ness to a system that does not discriminate between those whose opinions are healthy and those whose opinions are less so, I have agreed to tackle the issue of what happens when judges occupy such a vaulted position that lawyers are afraid to stand up to them for fear of the treatment they will get the next time they appear before them and what that means to a single individu al’s rights.

What happens when judges take years to issue a ruling and a life hangs in the balance, and law yers who want to speak up about the lack of urgency are stilled and silenced by fear? Or when a ruling is issued with damages to be paid by the State, appeals are heard and no payment is forthcoming for years, leaving the individual who was successful on paper living on the streets with

nothing but hope and patience as steady com panions? What recourse does a successful plaintiff have when his or her life is hanging in limbo waiting for the day when what was handed down in an order is handed over in some thing that can buy a cup of coffee?

Of the many cases that fall into these categories of prolonged rulings and

in a system we call justice.

What follows was inspired by a court case that just wrapped up with the final 3-person Court of Appeal opinion signed by Sir Michael Barnett on September 15, 2022. While the matter did involve someone who is a headline hugger, this was a quiet civil case that had no relevance to the individ ual’s political posturing. The case dragged through the courts waiting for an opinion from the trial judge for nearly five years before a ruling was issued and though the individual was not fully successful and was ordered to pay a certain sum, what hap pened following the delayed judgment is part of what triggered a force ful fistful of words from the Court of Appeal.

their time,” and noting that “Litigants have a constitutional right to a fair trial within a reason able time. That it should take more than 4 years to deliver a judgment in a case as simple as this,” he wrote, “is incredulous. It is a blight on the adminis tration of justice.”

The right of a fair trial within a reasonable amount of time is as old as the first Bible, with one source saying the rabbis mentioned it long before the birth of Christianity.

In Exodus 18:22, it is mentioned by Jethro. In the Magna Carta of 1215, Clause 40 reads “To no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.”

In an age when we can post ourselves at lunch on Instagram and follow ers see it as we taste and savour the next morsel, why is it taking longer

than ever for justice to be served, for judges to render opinions, for rul ings to be adhered to?

Why, when technol ogy is lightning fast and we expect results in every facet of our existence at speeds never before deliv ered, do we slow our steps to a painful crawl and expect so little in real time from our court system?

If justice hurried is jus tice buried, is it really a lack of resources or is it, as Sir Michael said, time management?

Does the donning of a robe protect the wearer from the same daily bur dens us non-robe-wearing folks face – the deadlines, the pressure, the neverending demands on our time?

Do we ourselves pro tect them with our lesser expectations in delivery time to preserve them

for the wisdom they will dispense when they get around to it?

I know this sounds callous, and borderline disrespectful. And who am I to judge? But I am not the one I am sounding off for, but the thousands whose cases linger and languish and whose lives are lived in limbo because of it.

Most of our judges deserve the respect they garner. I’ve read opin ions so impressive they would stand up to the best legal minds anywhere. But whether in criminal or civil cases, those who stand outside waiting for a court date, another hearing, a trial, for all the motions to be heard or the appeal to run its course as the calendar pages of their lives turn, regardless of their likeability or lack thereof, their lives matter.

even longer waits for res titution in an environment where judges are not held accountable, one recent case stands out. It involves a political activist, Speak ing up and speaking out for justice – even if the victim is someone whose opinions scare the living daylights out of you is everyone’s responsibil ity. We understood Black Lives Matter. We need to learn how to embrace All Lives Matter and that includes those before the courts. That is why I have agreed to tackle the issue of quirks of time and fate

VANCOUVER, Canada (AP) — The U.S. and Canada will work together to “cut the insecurity knot” that has allowed gangs to create a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, U.S. Sec retary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.

But neither Blinken nor Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly committed their country to leading a military force to the Caribbean nation.

“This is a work in progress and we are con tinuing to pursue it,” Blinken told a news conference in Ottawa during his first visit to Canada.

Blinken said Canada and the U.S. agree that “more likely needs to be done” to sup port the Haitian national police to restore their grip on security.

“We’ve been talking about what that might look like,” said Blinken. “We have both been talking to a variety of countries to gauge their interest in and willingness to participate in that.”

Joly said Canada has sent an “assessment mission” to gather information to find the solutions that are supported by Haitians.

Haiti’s interim government has operated in chaos since the July 2021 assassination of former president Jovenel Moise.

Since September, armed gangs have been blockading fuel access, leading to a shortage of basic goods, clean water and medical ser vices, all during a cholera outbreak.

Canada and the U.S. have sent tanks, and the United Nations is considering a military intervention to restore order, which has been endorsed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Later, prior to a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Blinken said Canada and the U.S. “are the two most inte grated countries in the world” and have a history of working together to solve issues.

The trigger – an adden dum to the judgment ordering the plaintiff to pay the judgment against him in 30 days or face imprisonment. There had been no further hear ings, no appearance, just a sudden attachment to a judgment. Wait a minute. Like him or not, this is a citizen of The Bahamas who claimed he was the victim in the civil case, waited years for a judg ment, has one 5-figure fee to pay, and is threatened with imprisonment. Ref erence to old seafood is not necessary; the Court of Appeals swept in like a tsunami with Sir Michael Barnett writing a very thoughtful 20-page opin ion that called the trial judge’s excuse about not getting all the transcripts “lamentable”, dictating that “judges must balance

“Not one of the problems that is having an effect on our own people or what we need to deal with around the world can be solved by one of us acting alone,” he said. “The more we find ways to cooperate, to work together, the more effective we’re going to be.”

During the news conference Blinken and Joly reiterated their support for Ukraine, con demned Iran for its treatment of women and for supplying drones to Russia, and pledged to work together to increase Arctic security.

Blinken called Russia’s use of Iranian drones to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy infrastructure as “appalling.”

“We keep working with our allies and part ners to deter and counter Iran’s provision of these weapons,” he said.

Joly said Canada said stands with the women and girls in Iran who are fighting against tyranny.

“Women’s rights are human rights,” she said. “We have a moral obligation to support the brave women of Iran and hold those per secuting them accountable.”

There have been protests across Iran sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.

Blinken also touched on Canadian and U.S. citizens being held by other countries.

Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were held in China for over 1,000 days in what was seen as a retaliation for the arrest in Canada of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner is facing a nine-year jail term in Russia after being convicted of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil.

“We support Canada’s efforts to rally coun tries around the world in ending the unlawful practice of detaining innocent individuals and using them as political pawns,” said Blinken.

“In an age when we can post ourselves at lunch on Instagram and followers see it as we taste and savour the next morsel, why is it taking longer than ever for justice to be served, for judges to render opinions, for rulings to be adhered to?”

need justice over prison death’

The Grand Bahama native, who was in his 40s, was housed in a mental block in the remand centre, BDCS acting Commis sioner of Corrections Doan Cleare said yesterday. How ever, he did not want to comment further on the inmate’s mental status.

As a result of the fight, Mr Cooper sustained head injuries and was sent to hos pital where he later died on October 25.

In a Facebook post this week, a relative of the deceased claimed prison officers were not properly monitoring inmates, alleg ing that Mr Cooper was beaten “for hours well into the night until he was unconscious” by two other inmates.

The relative claimed Mr Cooper was not discovered until the next morning.

“It was then that he was transported to PMH where he was placed on life support until his untimely demise. While in hospital we received little to no information about the status of his condition

or recovery.

“It is very disheartening to know that this is how inmates and mental patients are treated in prison and in the healthcare system. There is a complete disre gard for both their mental and physical health.

“We are in pain, we are saddened and in disbelief that something like this even happened,” the rela tive added.

The relative admitted that Mr Cooper had mental health issues, but said he should have been sent to Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre for treatment (SRC) — not prison.

However, SRC report edly could not admit him due to an influx of patients.

According to the relative’s post, Mr Cooper was receiv ing some mental health care in BDCS.

Yesterday, acting com missioner Cleare said he is aware of some of the claims made by the family of the deceased, noting the inves tigation of the matter is ongoing.

When contacted for com ment yesterday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said if a person is

mentally ill and commits a crime and is not given bail then they will be remanded to the prison.

He said a person may be medically treated while at the prison for their mental illness.

Mr Munroe continued: “But this conception that if you’re mentally ill you go to Sandilands is not correct, the court has to deter mine to give you bail or to remand you in custody.

“The court has to deter mine to give you bail, or to remand you in custody. The court, sometimes in the Magistrate’s Court, I see them talk about they would send you to Sandilands for evaluation for a period of 14 days to be evaluated when you come back.

“And they determined that you’re fit to plead, to answer to the charge, then you are remanded to prison if you’re not given bail,” Mr Munroe said.

He added: “My under standing was while he (the inmate) was mentally ill, he understood what was hap pening and I don’t think it was an issue of him being determined whether he was fit to plead to or not.”

Hawaii’s Big Island on volcano watch

HONOLULU Associated Press

HAWAII officials are warning resi dents of the Big Island that the world’s largest active volcano, Mauna Loa, is sending signals that it may erupt.

Scientists say an eruption isn’t immi nent, but they are on alert because of a recent spike in earthquakes at the volcano’s summit. Experts say it would take just a few hours for lava to reach homes closest to vents on the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.

Hawaii’s civil defence agency is holding meetings across the island to educate residents about how to pre pare for a possible emergency. They recommend having a “go” bag with food, identifying a place to stay once they leave home and making a plan for reuniting with family members.

“Not to panic everybody, but they have to be aware of that you live on the slopes of Mauna Loa. There’s a potential for some kind of lava dis aster,” said Talmadge Magno, the administrator for Hawaii County Civil Defense.

The volcano makes up 51 percent of the Hawaii Island landmass, so a large portion of the island has the potential to be affected by an eruption, Magno said.

There’s been a surge of develop ment on the Big Island in recent decades — its population has more than doubled to 200,000 today from 92,000 in 1980 — and many newer residents weren’t around when Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago. All the more reason why Magno said officials are spreading the word about the sci ence of the volcano and urging people to be prepared.

Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet above sea level, is the much larger neighbour to Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of its slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s so when it erupts, its lava can flow much faster.

During a 1950 eruption, the moun tain’s lava traveled 15 miles to the ocean in less than three hours.

The Hawaiian Volcano Obser vatory, which is part of the US Geological Survey, said Mauna Loa has been in a state of “heightened unrest” since the middle of last month when the number of summit earth quakes jumped from 10 to 20 per day to 40 to 50 per day.

Scientists believe more earthquakes are occurring because more magma is flowing into Mauna Loa’s summit res ervoir system from the hot spot under the earth’s surface that feeds molten rock to Hawaii’s volcanoes.

The temblors have declined in fre quency in recent days but could rise again.

More than 220 people attended a community meeting last weekend that county civil defence officials held in Ocean View, a neighbourhood that lava could reach in hours if molten rock erupts through vents on Mauna Loa’s southwest flank.

Bob Werner, an Ocean View resi dent who didn’t attend the meeting, said it’s wise to be aware of a pos sible eruption but not to fear it. He’s not concerned that the neighborhood would be completely cut off, if lava flows across the only road connecting it to the bigger towns of Kailua-Kona and Hilo, where many people do their shopping.

The “greater concern is it will be extremely annoying to drive an extra hour or two hours to get the same stuff,” he said.

Ryan Williams, the owner of the Margarita Village bar in Hilo, said the volcanic unrest wasn’t worrying cus tomers who are used to warnings.

There could still be a heightened sense of urgency since officials have been holding town hall meetings, urging people to prepare.

“But everything I’ve read or heard, they trying to kind of assure people that conditions have not changed,” Williams said. “There’s no imminent eruption, but just to be alert.”

Magno said his agency is talking to residents now because communities closest to vents likely wouldn’t have enough time to learn how to respond and prepare once the observatory raises its alert level to “watch,” which means an eruption is imminent.

The current alert level is “advisory” meaning the volcano is showing signs of unrest yet there’s no indication an eruption is likely or certain.

Residents in other parts of the island would have more time to react.

Lava from Mauna Loa’s north east flank could take days or weeks to reach residential communities. That’s because the mountain’s slopes on that side are relatively gentle and because towns are farther from vol canic vents.

Frank Trusdell, research geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observa tory, said all of Mauna Loa’s eruptions in recorded history have started in its summit crater. About half of them stayed there, while the other half later spewed lava from vents lower down the mountain.

PUTIN ‘WON’T USE’ NUCLEAR WEAPONS

MOSCOW Associated Press

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin yesterday denied having any inten tions of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine but described the conflict there as part of alleged efforts by the West to secure its global domination, which he insisted are doomed to fail.

Speaking at a conference of international foreign policy experts, Putin said it’s pointless for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

“We see no need for that,” Putin said. “There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.”

Putin said an earlier warning of his readiness to use “all means available to protect Russia” didn’t amount to nuclear saberrattling but was merely a response to Western state ments about their possible use of nuclear weapons.

He particularly men tioned Liz Truss saying in August that she would be ready to use nuclear weap ons if she became Britain’s prime minister, a remark which he said worried the Kremlin.

“What were we supposed to think?” Putin said. “We saw that as a coordinated position, an attempt to blackmail us.”

In a long speech full of diatribes against the United States and its allies, Putin accused them of trying to dictate their terms to other nations in a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” domina tion game.

Putin, who sent his troops into Ukraine on February 24, has cast Western sup port for Ukraine as part of broad efforts by Washing ton and its allies to enforce its will upon others through a rules-based world order.

He argued that the world has reached a turning point, when “the West is no longer able to dictate its will to humankind but still tries to do it, and the majority of nations no longer want to tolerate it”.

The Russian leader claimed that the Western policies will foment more chaos, adding that “he who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind”.

Putin claimed that “humankind now faces a choice: accumulate a load of problems that will inevi tably crush us all or try to find solutions that may not

be ideal but could work and could make the world more stable and secure”.

Without offering evi dence, the Russian leader repeated Moscow’s unproven allegation that Ukraine was plotting a false flag attack involving a radi oactive dirty bomb it would try to pin on Russia.

Ukraine has strongly rejected the claim, and its Western allies have dis missed it as “transparently false”. Ukraine argued Russia might be making the unfounded allegation to serve as a cover for its own possible plot to detonate a dirty bomb.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told report ers on Thursday that the US has still not seen anything to indicate that Putin has decided to use a dirty bomb.

Putin said he personally ordered Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to call his foreign counterparts to tell them about the pur ported plot. He maintained that Russia knows the Ukrainian facilities working on the project.

He mocked the allega tions by Ukraine and the West that Russia was firing on the territory of the Zapor izhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine as “rav ings”. Russian troops have occupied the plant, Europe’s largest, since the early days of the conflict.

Putin also expressed bewilderment about Wash ington’s policy on China, noting that tensions sparked by a recent visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi come amid the US-Russian show down over Ukraine.

“Why spoil relations with China at the same time?” Putin said. “It seems to defy logic and common sense. It looks like ravings.”

He hailed Russia’s rela tions with China, but said he hadn’t warned Chinese President Xi Jinping about his intention to send troops into Ukraine when he vis ited Beijing days before that to attend the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Asked about Washin ton’s threat to re-evaluate its relationship with Saudi Arabia over the Riyadhled OPEC+ alliance’s move to cut oil production, Putin argued that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was acting in his nation’s interests and the need to stabilise global energy markets.

KENSEY COOPER

MOLTEN rock flows from Mauna Loa on March 28, 1984, near Hilo, Hawaii. Hawaii officials are warning residents of the Big Island to prepare for the possibility that the world’s largest active volcano may erupt given a recent spike in earthquakes at the summit of Mauna Loa.

Photo: Ken Love/AP

‘Mann’ on a mission

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With a man date to rebuild and revitalise both the New Providence Softball Association and the Bahamas Gov ernment Departmental Softball Association, Dwayne ‘Mann’ Stevens said he couldn’t ask for a better start to his twoyear tenure as the dual president.

Many doubted his ability to function simultaneously with the fast-pitch and slowpitch leagues, but Ste vens and his executive teams not only got them up and running in the post COVID-19 environ ment, but they completed their championship series around the same time. “The series itself, overall, went very well,” Stevens said. “We had our challenges,

WORLD CUP: NEYMAR TO PLAY WITH YOUNGSTERS FOR BRAZIL

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer

SAO PAULO (AP) —

When Brazil started playing Vinicius Jr and Raphinha on the flanks during World Cup qualifying, Neymar surprised his coach by praising his new attacking teammates.

“These kids are wicked, boss,” the Paris Saint-Ger main striker told Tite, who recalled the conversation in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “They are relentless.”

The 30-year-old Neymar is in great shape ahead of this year’s World Cup in Qatar, but Brazil doesn’t depend on him as much as four years ago. Tite has so many options up front that at least two strikers at top European clubs are likely to be left out.

Neymar is expected to play behind the centre for ward, no matter if that is Richarlison, Gabriel Jesus or Roberto Firmino. Other exciting players, like Man chester United winger Antony, could also get

especially initially with the executives of the National Sports Authority. I’m some what disappointed in their authority when it comes to softball. “I believe it is counterproductive to the sport itself and their whole focus seems to be detrimen tal to the sport. If they are going to be in charge of the facilities, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of sports to just try to make money from the sports.”

As for the two seasonsBGDSA at the four fields at the Baillou Hills Sport ing Complex and the NPSA in the Bankers Field at the same venue - Stevens said they were able to rekindle the interest of many of the coaches, players and fans to the leagues.

“We saw tremendous turnouts from the fan bases during the course of the season, all through the play offs and right through the championships,” he said.

“When we speak directly to the championships, we had a very competitive series between the Defence Force Waves and the Elec tro Telecom Invaders in the BGDSA.”

While the Waves sur prised a lot of people in getting to the BGDSA ladies’ finals, Stevens said they ran into the wellseasoned Invaders, who repeated as champions.

On the men’s side, the BTC Lasers also repeated as champions, but the PMH

Rookies stunned the Royal Bahamas Police Force Interceptors to get into the final.

With the NPSA, Stevens said it was just as competi tive right to the very end with two champions coming back from 2019 when the league last played to win another title.

The Sunshine Auto Wild cats clinched the ladies’ crown with a three-game sweep over the Johnson’s Lady Truckers, but it took the C&S Hitmen five excit ing games, including the clincher that went down the wire, to take the men’s title over the Cyber Tech Blue Marlins.

“The series on both sides were very entertaining,” Stevens said.

“So all in all, I thank the Almighty God for his bless ings on allowing us to have completed some very good games across the board in both leagues.”

While the leagues are over and done with, Ste vens said they are planning on putting on a few tour naments just to keep the interest of the sport alive, in addition to staging an end-of-the-year awards party for the respective teams in the NPSA. “We are seeking to honour a cadre of individuals who would have contributed to the continued success and the development of softball over the years,” he said.

“On December 17th, we will recognise an unprec edented number of persons for their contributions, inclusive of players, fans and members of the media, in a grand celebration that will be free of charge for all to attend.”

With another year to go to complete his two-year tenure in both leagues, Ste vens said he hopes to erect a wall of fame in the BGDSA and to come in agreement

Ayton earns his second double double of season

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DEANDRE Ayton recorded his second double double and his Phoe nix Suns dominated the defending NBA champions in a tense physical game that featured an ejection and seven technical fouls.

Ayton finished with 16 points and a game high 14 rebounds in the Suns’ 134-105 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night at Foot print Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ayton picked up a technical foul of his own, following a series of scuffles with Warriors forward Dray mond Green that concluded with both players on the floor.

“I felt like he was trying to get on my nerves the whole game. Coach [Monty Williams] was telling me ‘he is just trying to get you a tech nical foul]. I just wanted the refs to see it. I wasn’t going to keep fighting someone who wanted to front me,” Ayton said of his matchup with the much maligned Green.

“I tried to seal him, I guess he pulled the chair from me and I felt like it was getting a little junky because I came back down and he tried to pull me down with him when I was setting a screen. A lot of teams do that and try to attack me. Right now when I’m in foul trouble early, not in the postseason. Most defi nitely trying to be out on the floor and be there for our teammates.”

Virat Kohli inspires India again, Zimbabwe beats Pakistan by 1 run

By CHETAN NARULA Associated Press

SYDNEY (AP) — Virat Kohli scored his second straight half-century as India beat the Netherlands by 56 runs, and Zimbabwe held its nerve for a 1-run victory over Pakistan in the latest upset at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Three games in Group 2 took place yesterday with South Africa crushing Bangladesh by 104 runs. Rilee Rossouw posted the first century of the tournament.

Kohli scored 62 not out off 44 balls as India kept its perfect record to top Group 2 with four points, one more than South Africa.

Third-place Zimbabwe, whose opening group game was abandoned against South Africa, has three

points, one more than Bangladesh. Pakistan is in trouble with zero points. It was Pakistan’s second successive defeat after a nerve-wracking loss against arch-rival India.

Ireland enjoyed a stun ning upset in the Super 12s by beating England in a rain-hit game in Group 1 on Wednesday.

KOHLI GUIDES INDIA

Kohli guided his team to 179-2 after India chose to bat first. India captain Rohit Sharma scored 53 while Suryakumar Yadav hit 51 not out off 25 balls and shared an important part nership with Kohli which accelerated the innings.

In reply, the Nether lands couldn’t last against a quality Indian attack and finished at 123-9. “It was a near perfect win for us. We

were slow at the start but we needed to take time on this pitch,” said Sharma, who criticised his own 39-ball innings. “Not too happy, but runs are impor tant even if they are ugly runs.”

Earlier, Lokesh Rahul (9) fell cheaply for the second game running. Kohli and Sharma then put on 73 runs off 56 balls for the second wicket. Sharma hit four fours and

three sixes, bringing up his half-century off 35 balls. He was caught in the 12th over. India was at 84-2 and still only scoring at seven per over.

Kohli and Yadav then put on 95 runs off 48 balls. Yadav hit seven fours and a six, the latter bringing up his half-century off the last ball of the Indian innings.

Kohli’s half-century had come off 37 balls, including three fours and two sixes. India’s final acceleration put the game beyond its opponents’ reach.

Indian spinners strangled the Netherlands’ chase. Axar Patel recovered from a mauling against Pakistan and took 2-18 in four overs.

It was in that game that Kohli scored a match-win ning 82 not out off 53 balls.

with the National Sports Authority to name the four fields in honour of individu als who would have made invaluable contributions to the growth and devel opment of the league for government workers.

Additionally, Stevens said he would also like to sit down with the acting chairman Grafton Ifill Jr to renegotiate the intended plans by the NSA to include teams in the BGDSA to pay to use the fields that they invested so much time and energy in building from scratch.

“We want to restore, rebuild and revitalise the sport before my prede cessors can take it to new heights,” Stevens said. “I’ve been fortunate during my tenure so far to have two sets of executive teams that have embraced the vision and were commit ted to making the dream a reality.”

SPORTS NOTES

BSAA Volleyball Action

THE Bahamas Small Schools Athletic Associa tion’s 2022 volleyball season continued on Wednesday at the Tom “The Bird” Grant Sporting Complex in Yellow Elder with the fol lowing results posted: Senior Girls

Teleos Christian School def. Mt. Carmel Academy 25-14 and 25-10.

CV Bethel def. Mt Carmel Prep Academy 25-20 and 25-16.

Mt. Carmel Prep. Acad emy def. Genesis Academy 25-19, 19-25 and 15-9.

Teleos Christian School def. Genesis Academy 25-16 and 25-19.

CV Bethel def. Hope Academy 25-21 and 25-18.

Senior Boys CV Bethel def. Achievers Christian Academy 25-10 and 25-17.

Games are played every day during the week at the Tom ‘the Bird’ Grant Sporting Complex, starting at 4 pm.

NPVA

Volleyball Action

THE New Providence Volleyball Association played a double header on Wednesday night as its 2022 season continued at the DW Davis Gymnasium. In the ladies’ opener, the

Lakers fall to 0-4 under Ham with loss to Nuggets

DENVER (AP) —

Nikola Jokic had 31 points and 13 rebounds, Jamal Murray hit a big 3-pointer and the Denver Nuggets kept the Los Angeles Lakers win less with a 110-99 victory Wednesday night.

The Lakers dropped to 0-4 under new coach Darvin Ham. They remain in the company of Orlando and Sacramento as the only teams yet to win this season.

Trailing by two moments into the second half, the Nuggets went on a 29-9 to grab control. Or so it looked.

The Lakers worked their way back and cut it to single digits in the

fourth. But Murray hit a 3-pointer — his only one in seven attempts — for some breathing room.

Anthony Davis, deal ing with lower back tightness, had 22 points and 14 rebounds for Los Angeles.

LeBron James had 19 points to run his dou ble-digit streak to 1,100 games.

Russell Westbrook was held out to rest a sore left hamstring.

Jokic finished an assist shy of a triple-double.

Struggling with his long-range jumper, Murray found his touch in close and finished with 13

VIRAT KOHLI

SUNS centre Deandre Ayton (22) shoots over Warriors Kevon Looney during the second half on Tuesday in Phoenix. Phoenix won 134-105.

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

DWAYNE STEVENS

NCAA men’s golf tees off today at Ocean Club

NCAA golf continues its calendar of events in The Bahamas with the men’s division of the White Sands Series.

Hosted by Virginia Com monwealth University at the Atlantis resort’s Ocean Club Golf Course, the 12-team field will tee off today to begin the 54-hole event.

Duke and Southern Mis sissippi are the favoured teams according to the most recent Golfstats college rankings. Both teams are ranked in the top 50 nation ally, while six others in the 12-team field are ranked in the top 100.

Duke is ranked 43rd nationally while South ern Mississippi is currently ranked 48th.

Other ranked teams in the field include Nebraska (60th), Louisiana Monroe (64th), Stetson (70th), host school VCU (75th), Texas State (80th) and Arkan sas State (90th). The other teams entered are Dela ware, Sam Houston State, Troy and UTEP.

“It’s nice to be a favour ite on paper, but we still have to play,” said Duke head coach Jamie Green.

“Ian Siebers has been our

LAKERS

FROM PAGE 11

points. He showed flashes of his explosiveness as he works his way back from a knee injury.

Luka Doncic, Mavericks outlast Nets 129-125 in OT

NEW YORK (AP) — Luka Doncic had 41 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, setting up three 3-point ers in overtime to send the Dallas Mavericks to a 129-125 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night.

Doncic found Tim Hard away Jr, Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock for 3s in the extra period as Dallas built a nine-point lead en route to its first road victory of the season.

Doncic also had two bas kets in overtime on the way to becoming the 10th player in NBA history with three 40-point triple-doubles.

Kyrie Irving scored 39 points and Kevin Durant had 37 for the Nets, who have run into some of the NBA’s most dynamic play ers this week and fallen short each time. First it was Ja Morant with 38 points in Memphis and then Gian nis Antetokounmpo with 43 on Wednesday night in

most consistent player, but we have others who can get the job done. If we shoot the lowest scores that we are capable of, I like our chances. But there is no defence in golf.

“We are excited about the opportunity to com pete in the Bahamas. When you say Bahamas, it opens people’s eyes. It will be a special week.”

“It’s going to be a fun week, and the competition is going to be tight. Duke is a formidable contender and Southern Miss is roll ing too. It’s going to be a shootout,” said head coach Andy Walker of host school VCU.

“We have to remember we are there for business first but being in the Baha mas is definitely the highlight of the fall season, if not the whole year. But being at the beach is a lot more fun when you shoot 10 under par as opposed to 10 over par.”

Ahead of the event, the Troy University men’s golf team hosted a 90-minute mid-week clinic featuring more than 60 girls and boys at the Bahamas Golf Feder ation’s practice facility. “It was great to see the joy on

their faces. Golf is bigger than this tournament, and we are glad we got to work with everyone here,” said

PAGE 11

Green finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Phoenix used a 13-0 run midway through the first to take a 37-29 lead by the end of the quarter and eventu ally took a 72-66 lead at the break. The Suns began to pull away in the third quar ter when they outscored the Warriors by 13 (33-20) and by 10 in the fourth (29-19).

Ayton said the Suns responded well to the phys ical style of play set by the Warriors as they improved to 3-1 in the young season.

The tension between the teams came to a head in the third quarter when Warriors guard Klay Thompson received the first ejection of his career fol lowing a heated exchange with the Suns’ Devin Booker. Thompson held up four fingers to signify the four championships the

NEYMAR

FROM PAGE 11

playing time either as a starter or coming off the bench. “We have a great number of rising players. It hurts not to bring them all,” Tite told the AP. “I tell them to be at their best in their clubs, and then we will see.”

Brazil will face Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon in Group G.

TITE’S CHANGES

No matter what happens in Qatar, Tite will leave the

Milwaukee. This time it was Doncic, who had scored more than 30 points in each of the first three games and now has his first 40-point game of the season.

The game was briefly delayed in overtime when a

Warriors have won over the past decade. “We defi nitely absorbed all of that, we fought through it and we threw our hits back as well so they definitely took some licks from us too,” Ayton said. “It got to them. Teams don’t like that when you keep hitting them over and over again, especially to the legal limit. People get frus trated and they complain to the refs.”

Through four games, Ayton is averaging 18.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game on 55 percent shooting from the field.

Ayton notched 30 dou ble-doubles last year in only 58 games played and already has two in the first week of the season.

“The game got a little junky and we stayed here [made hand gesture chest height] and I was really proud of that because that showed a lot of growth because last year I think we would have kept going

job after six years as coach. He hoped to complete one entire World Cup cycle, and he has achieved that.

Unlike four years ago, Tite said he is ready to be quicker in making substi tutions as the tournament goes on.

In Russia, he kept Jesus in the starting lineup even though the striker didn’t score a goal in the team’s five matches.

This time, Tite knows that Casemiro and Fred are not having their best days at Manchester United, and that Fabinho and Bruno

fan threw what appeared to be a cup of ice that landed on the court near the Dallas bench.

THUNDER 118, CLIPPERS 110 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai

Guimaraes can take up their roles. The coach has also noted that defender Eder Militao can also play as a right back, a position with few options available.

He has also suggested he won’t hesitate in replac ing Neymar or Vinicius if he thinks they are not per forming as well as the team needs.

FLAWED WINGS

For the first time in years, Brazil doesn’t have obvious options for right back and left back.

Danilo is the likely starter on the right, even though he

has played in a more central role at Juventus.

Another option could be 39-year-old Dani Alves, who missed the tournament in Russia because of injury and now has a leadership role in the team.

That position on the right will be key since Tite wants to play 38-year-old Thiago Silva in central defence.

No one knows for sure who will be Brazil’s left back. Alex Sandro is the frontrunner, but Tite has also tested Alex Telles in that position. Neither have the attacking profile that

back and forth, that was one of the games where them dudes wanted us to go back and forth with bas kets and they would end up taking over the game later so we definitely had to put them away,” he said. “We picked up some fouls and some technicals, even I did, but it was mainly a response to us getting beaten up. Although it’s an emotional game, at the same time we got back to playing Suns basketball. We forget about it, calls didn’t go our way, we didn’t care, we made it our game. We closed it out the right way. Couldn’t close it any better.”

Phoenix returns to the court 10pm tonight when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.

Brazil once had for that position.

NO. 9

Brazil has goal scorers of different characteristics to play in the penalty box.

Richarlison is expected to start if he recovers from a left calf injury. He scored five goals at the Tokyo Olympics in Brazil’s gold-medal run and added another six in South Ameri can qualifying.

Tite’s second option appears to be Jesus, who has been scoring for Arse nal in the Premier League this season. He is quicker

player who has been prac ticing golf for just over a month.

“My focus right now is golf,” said Underwood, a natural athlete who only started playing to fill the down time after she devel oped painful shin splints that needed time away from running to heal.

“My coach is begging me to come back to soccer. And at some point, I will have to choose. Golf is growing on me.

“I’m now asking my dad to go play golf instead of the other way around,” she said.

The Federation is already a success, according to Gina Gonzalez-Rolle, who chairs the Junior Division.

“They are starting to see golf for all that it has to offer, from scholar ships to life skills. We cater to the whole child,” said Gonzalez-Rolle.

“The fact that this college team would come here is important. Our children can now see themselves in their shoes.”

And if Gonzalez-Rolle gets her wish, the clinic will become an annual event for the White Sands Bahamas NCAA Golf Invitational.

RAVENS TOP BRADY AND BUCS 27-22

By FRED GOODALL AP Sports Writer

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw for 238 yards and two second-half touchdowns to lead the Baltimore Ravens to a come-frombehind 27-22 victory over Tom Brady and the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers last night.

The Bucs (3-5) lost for the fifth time in six games following a 2-0 start, and the 45-yard-old Brady finds himself riding a three-game losing streak for the first time since 2002 — his first season as a full-time starter with the New England Patriots.

Jackson beat the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback for the second time in as many career meetings, directing TD drives of 77, 80 and 85 yards after Baltimore sputtered early and trailed 10-3 at halftime.

The Ravens rushed for 233 yards, while Jackson completed 27 of 38 passes without an interception, including TD throws of 5 yards to Kenyon Drake and 10 yards to Isaiah Likely in the third quarter.

Baltimore scored on its first four possessions after halftime, with Justin Tucker booting a 30-yard field goal to make it 27-16 with a little over two minutes remaining.

Brady threw an 8-yard TD pass to Julio Jones with 49 seconds remain ing, finishing 26 of 44 for 325 yards without an interception. He was sacked three times.

Leonard Fournette scored on a 1-yard run, and Mike Evans had six receptions for 123 yards for the Bucs.

than Richarlison, but also shorter than the Tottenham player.

Brazil can also play Fir mino, who is recovering his form at Liverpool, as a false nine.

Neymar has also played that role for the national team, which would allow Lucas Paquetá or Philippe Coutinho to play in his position.

Tite could pull a surprise and use Flamengo striker Pedro at the tournament. He has scored 12 goals in 12 matches in the Copa Libertadores.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points and Oklahoma City swept a two-game set against Los Angeles.

Lu Dort scored 21 points and Aleksej Pokusevski added 15 for the Thunder. They beat the Clippers

108-94 on Tuesday night. Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard missed both games while managing his previ ously injured right knee.

Norman Powell led Los Angeles with 21 points and two assists.

SUNS centre Deandre Ayton (22) shoots over Draymond Green during the second half against the Golden State War riors on Tuesday in Phoenix. Phoenix won 134-105.

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Trojans head coach Forrest Schultz, whose team offered instruction and encourage ment in driving, chipping,

and putting, and passed out school T-shirts to everyone.

Mia Underwood, 16, is a junior national soccer team

IAN Siebers has been the most consistent player for Duke.

BROOKLYN Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) defends against Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) during overtime last night. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Lahiem

Bell looks to boost his ‘Name Image and Likeness’

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BASEBALL player Lahiem Bell made a major move on the business side of collegiate athlet ics when he signed with Premier Talent Sports and Entertainment to boost his “Name Image and Likeness” (NIL) opportunities.

PTSE announced the signing of Bell this week to add to its growing number of clients which includes collegiate and pro athletes look ing to expand their marketing and branding.

Bell is an incoming freshman with the Eastern Florida State Col lege Titans baseball programme.

The Titans are a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and are also part of the Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA) which is the governing body for state college athletics in Florida.

Eastern Florida State College has 13 varsity teams competing in the FCSAA and NJCAA Region 8.

Bell concluded his prep career at Vero Beach High School and was named a Florida Athletic Coaches Association All-Star in June.

Vero Beach finished the season 18-6 and lost to Palm Beach Gar dens in the Region 3-7A Florida High School Athletic Association state tournament.

In 25 games of his season, Bell is hit .373 with 31 hits, five home runs, four doubles, three triples, 28 RBI, 23 runs scored and six stolen bases while slugging .700 with a 1.167 OPS.

In 23 games for Vero Beach as a junior in the previous season, he hit .419 with a 1.100 OPS, 26 hits, 18 RBI, a team leading two home runs and scored 16 runs.

The Indians were eliminated in the Regional Quarterfinal with a 3-0 loss to Palm Beach Central. The 6’1”, 225-pound catcher and

utility player was previously an early signee for the Jackson State baseball programme in November 2021 for the class of 2022.

He would eventually reopen his recruiting and announced in June that he would be joining the Titans programme.

NIL refers to the way college athletes can receive compensation. “Using” an athlete’s NIL would involve a brand leveraging their

name, image, and/or likeness through marketing and/or promo tional endeavors.

The NCAA officially made it legal for athletes to profit from their NILs on July 1, 2021.

According to PTSE, the organi sation aims to help student athletes leverage their notoriety to mon etise social media platforms, appearance opportunites, product endorsement deals and more.

SWISS INDOORS: WAWRINKA ADVANCES WITH CROWDPLEASING WIN

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Stan Wawrinka delighted home fans again at the Swiss Indoors, dig ging deep to beat Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round yesterday after failing to serve out the match in the second set.

Two days after a straightset win over No. 3-ranked Casper Ruud, the 37-yearold Wawrinka wasted a chance for another efficient victory when he let slip a 5-3 lead and Nakashima took four straight games to level the match.Wawrinka hung with the 21-year-old American in the decider then converted the only break point of the set to take a 5-4 lead.

The three-time Grand Slam winner, now ranked No. 194 after injury-hit sea sons, clinched the victory with a backhand winner.

Wawrinka will face Rob erto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinals today after the sixth-seeded Spaniard eased to a 6-3, 6-2 win over another three-time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray.

Third-seeded Felix Augur-Aliassime cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Miomir Kecmanovic as he searches for his third straight title. The No. 9-ranked Canadian won tournaments in Flor ence, Italy, and Antwerp, Belgium over the last two weeks.

Unbeaten Eagles hope Quinn strengthens run at Super Bowl

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP)

— With one big trade for a big-time pass rusher, the Philadelphia Eagles crys talised a mission statement that already seemed clear to anyone who watched Jalen Hurts and crew get off to an undefeated start — this team is all-in on the Super Bowl.

The preseason hope the Eagles could win the NFC East or even win a playoff game or two has morphed into a full-blown expecta tion that they should win the championship.

And why not?

Expectations are sky high in Philly these days and the Phillies’ run to the World Series has already stirred the fan base into dreaming about two sports champions.

Consider, only the Buf falo Bills have better odds than the Eagles to win the Super Bowl, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

The Eagles are the lone undefeated team in the NFL at 6-0 — a start they’ve enjoyed before only in 1981 and 2004 — as they return from an off week to play the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-5) at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Steelers have lost five of six and have experi enced growing pains with rookie QB Kenny Pickett.

The Eagles have won nine consecutive games over Pittsburgh in Philadel phia. The Steelers’ previous win in Philly was a 20-14 victory on October 24, 1965.

“We’re talented enough to win against anybody we play,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said.

The Eagles didn’t go far during their time off — Hurts rang the ceremonial bell to start a 76ers game and Kelce palled around with the Phillie Phanati c during playoff games. And the front office sure didn’t rest on the Birds’ unde feated start.

Already boasting one of the NFL’s best defences, the Eagles acquired threetime Pro Bowl defensive end Robert Quinn from the Chicago Bears for a 2023 fourth-round pick Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Quinn is off to a slow start with just one sack and three quar terback hits after opting not to participate in off season workouts. But he broke Hall of Famer Rich ard Dent’s franchise record with 18 1/2 sacks last year in a resurgent season.

Welcome aboard, Robert.

“I know this year the numbers might not be there, but he’s a very tough matchup for a lot of tackles in the NFL,” Kelce said.

“I think we have a culture around here that’s very wel coming of players.”

at the most recent General Meeting held on Thursday, October 13.

The Eagles hope the break hasn’t slowed Hurts’ roll as he tries to keep the team undefeated.

Hurts has won nine straight regular-season games, the longest active streak in the NFL. Hurts has passed for 1,514 yards and six TDs and run for 293 yards and six TDs while posting a 98.4 QB rating.

The Eagles used the off week as a time of reflection, as well as a time to study for the games ahead.

“We sent Jalen a packet of what we did, a book of what we did, and gave him summary notes of it, as well,

introduction to the sport of rowing.

so he could study it, and we were talking through it as we would with all the other coaches,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

The 6-0 start is nice, but Sirianni — who has cheered on the Phillies from games across the street at Citizens Bank Park and has used their success as motiva tional tool — reminded the team it’s not the start, it’s the finish that counts.

And this year’s team knows where it wants to end up. “What matters is where we’re going to be in the next 12 to 15 weeks,” Kelce said.

DEEP THOUGHTS?

The Steelers are off to their worst start since 2013 thanks in large part to an offence that has been sput tering no matter who’s behind centre. Pittsburgh is near the bottom of the league in every major offensive category, includ ing scoring (31st) and total yards (30th).

One of the biggest issues — among many — is the lack of big plays. The Steel ers are one of three teams without a single run of 20 yards or more. New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, for comparison, has

two of his own. Pittsburgh also has just one pass com pletion of 40 yards or more. That puts a lot of pres sure on Pickett to sustain long drives without mis takes, something that’s a lot to ask for an offence with no skill position starter older than 26.

“There (are) times where we have to take chances and give our guys the chance to make plays down the field,” Pickett said.

UNDER PRESSURE

Pittsburgh received a bit of good news this week when reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt returned to practice. The bad news is he won’t be back until after next week’s bye at the earliest, forcing a group that has generated little pass rush without him to find a way to keep Hurts in check.

That figures to be a signif icant challenge for a group that collected seven sacks in Week 1 with Watt in the lineup and has managed all of five during his six-game absence.

Tomlin can live without the sacks if his defence finds a way to make opposing quarterbacks uncomfort able. That hasn’t happened much of late.

“When you’re rushing good, you have consistent pressure, and you dictate to them as opposed to the sack being a statistic that reflects pressure,” Tomlin said.

Bamboo Shack Lady Warhawks knocked off the University of the Bahamas

Lady Mingoes 26-24, 25-18 and 25-12.

The men’s feature game saw the Warhawks take down the Technicians in three straight sets 25-18, 31-29 and 25-18.

CHESS CHESS NATIONALS

POSTPONED

THE Bahamas Chess Federation has announced that its Bahamas National Chess Championship, scheduled for November 5-27 has been rescheduled to January 7-29, 2023.

This change reflects a decision made by members

The National Chess Championships will be held annually in January from this point forward/ henceforth.

A communication will follow announcing the play ers that have qualified, start times, the venue and other pertinent details.

ROWING Bahamas Rowing Club Recruitment

THE Bahamas Rowing Club is seeking senior gov ernment high students, who are looking for sports opportunities that could earn them a scholarship.

If interested, students are asked to meet the club members at CR Walker Secondary School on Saturday between the hours of 2-4pm for a free

RUNNING BAAA NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY

THE Bahamas Asso ciation of Athletic Associations’ National High School Cross Coun try Championships is scheduled for Saturday, November 19 at the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

There will be two courses comprising of two sections.

Athletes, however, will compete in the Junior High School for Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 (9th graders and below) and Senior High School for Under-17 (10th graders and above) and Under-20

The under-13 and-15 will run a 3k with two loops around a turn around point towards the finish line.

The Under-17 and under20, junior high and senior, will have four loops and a turnaround point towards the finish line.

RUNNING BOYS BRIGADE

FUN RUN THE 23rd Bahamas Company of the Boys’ Bri gade will hold its annual Captain Henry W Curry II fun run/walk race on Satur day, November 11, starting at 6pm.

This year’s event is being held in honour of the Right Reverend Gilbert A Thompson, Suffrage Bishop Retired.

The route will leave St Barnabas Parish on Blue Hill Road and travel north on Blue Hill Road to Bay Street, east on Bay Street to Market Street, north on Market Street, south on Market Street to Fr Calnan

Road, west on Fr Calnan Road and back to St Barna bas Parish.

The registration fee is $25 for adults and $12 for children 12-and-under.

Part proceeds to aid the 23rd Bahamas Boys’ Bri gade Educational Fund.

RUNNING HEAT ATHLETICS

CROSS COUNTRY

THE Andros Heats Ath letic Track Club will host a Road Race and Cross Country on Saturday, December 10 in North.

The event will start at 9am at the Queen’s High way and will conclude at the regatta site.

The registration fee is $10 for athletes competing from the under-seven age group to the open division.

For more information, interested persons are

urged to contact coach Patricia Rolle at 823-8801.

BASKETBALL CATHOLIC PRIMARY

THE Catholic Diocesan Primary Schools continued its 2022 basketball league at Loyola Hall. Below is a look at the results posted: GIRLS St. Cecilia’s School def. St. Francis & Joseph School: Girls 11 - 7 St. Thomas More School def. Xavier’s Lower School: Girls: 4 - 0

BOYS

St. Cecilia’s School def. St. Francis & Joseph School: Boys 15 - 6 Xavier’s Lower School Boys def. St. Thomas More: Boys 16 - 8

There will be no games today as the Catholic schools are on their midterm break. Games will resume next Friday.

PHILADELPHIA Eagles fans display signs for the undefeated Eagles and the Philadelphia Phillies after an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys on October 16 in Philadelphia.

(AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

LAHIEM BELL

PRO BASKETBALL PLAYERS STAND OUT IN SPAIN, BALKANS

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

In Spain, Danrad Knowles makes his debut in a new league while Lashann Higgs becomes her team’s leading scorer and in the Balkans, Zane Knowles averages a double double and Kentwan Smith’s defence stands out.

Knowles, in his debut with CB L’Hospitalet of Spain’s LEB Plata league, scored a team high 15 points in his club’s 109-79 loss to Palma.

The second year pro shot 6-7 from the field, grabbed five rebounds and added three steals in just 20 minutes.

He spent his rookie campaign last year with AD Cantbasket 04 in the Liga EBA, Spain’s fourth division, where he aver aged 13.5 points and 6.5

rebounds per game in 24 appearances.

The former Houston Cougar was selected by the Grand Rapids Drive with the 65th overall selection of the 2018 G-League Draft.

The Grand Rapids Drive are the G-League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons.

In Spain’s Liga Femenina Endesa, Higgs and Hozono Global Jairis continue to alternate wins and losses and fell to 2-2 with a 56-55 loss to Ensino.

Higgs was the only player on the Jairis roster to reach double figures with 13 points and five rebounds.

Through four games, Higgs is the leading scorer and the only player on the team to average double figures at 11.3 points per game on 40 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shoot ing from three point range.

Just over a week ago, Higgs scored a season high

19 points to lead Jairis to an 83-75 win over her former club Bembibre PDM. She shot 3-5 from beyond the arc, 4-5 from the free throw line and also added five assists in 31 minutes.

She concluded last season in the Liga Femenina Endesa with Lointek Ger nika Bizkaia.

In 25 games she averaged 9.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Zane Knowles continues to be a dominant force for the CSKA Sofia Reds in

Bulgaria’s National Basket ball League and is the top rebounder in the league. Knowles finished with eight points and a game high 13 rebounds in his club’s 78-72 win over Balkan.

He ranks third on the team in scoring at 13 points per game on 58 percent shooting from the field and a league-leading 11.3 rebounds per game.

In a narrow 70-68 win on the road over Shumen, Knowles finished with 17 points, a game high 12

rebounds and three blocked shots. He shot 6-9 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line.

In the season opener, he finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in a 91-65 loss to Spartak Pleven. Kentwan Smith stuffed the statsheet with 14 points and eight rebounds but it was his game with six steals that stood out in his Svend borg Rabbits’ 81-65 win over BAC in Denmark’s Basketligaen. Smith is averaging 15 points and a

team-leading 7.3 rebounds per game in his first season with the club.

In the previous game, Smith scored 19 points and grabbed nine reboundsboth team highs - in his team’s 78-76 loss to Vaer lose. He shot 8-13 from the field, including 3-4 from three-point range.

Smith spent the last two seasons with Garonne ASPTT in France’s NM2 league. In 23 appearances, he averaged 15.4 points per game.

Invaders repeat as the champions

AFTER capturing the 2019 Bahamas Gov ernment Departmental Softball Association (BGDSA) championship crown, the Finance Health Invaders had to wait two years before becoming repeat champions.

The Invaders, coached by Darren Stevens, swept aside the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Waves at the Blue Hills Sporting Fields in their best of seven series in four games, winning the clincher 15-4, over the weekend.

The veteran ladies’ team had a slow start at the beginning of the season, but seemed to hit their strides when it mattered most. The winning pitcher was Detrice McCardy.

Maryann Ferguson was tagged with the lost. Stevens said it was a chal lenging season, but his squad accomplished their

KOHLI

FROM PAGE 11

Ravichandran Ashwin had 2-21 against the Neth erlands. He dismissed Colin Ackermann (17) and Tom Cooper (9) in the same over.

Tim Pringle was the top Dutch scorer with 20 off 15 but the result was never in doubt against an impres sive display by the Indian bowlers.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had economical figures of 2-9 in three overs. Arsh deep Singh took 2-37 while

goal. “After not playing competitive ball for two years, the girls dug deep to get back in shape with extra practices. With a mix of mostly veterans, we had to make practice exciting,” Stevens said.

“After getting into the playoffs, we stepped up our defence. We knew the Force girls have a combina tion of mostly rookies and a few veterans, so our game plan was simply to place the balls strategically. “They have an excellent pitcher in Maryann Ferguson, so we capitalised in other areas. All the praise and glory goes to Jehovah God”. Waves’ coach Force Chief Petty Officer Thomas Wil liams said he was pleased with his girls’ performance, and looks for even greater things in the future. The Waves are no stranger to winning, having won it all in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. “Nobody expected us to even make the playoffs, because we started slow, but with the addition of

Mohammed Shami finished with 1-27.

LAST-BALL WIN FOR ZIMBABWE

Pakistan’s brittle mid dle-order batters were restricted at 129-8 in a thrilling game at Perth after Zimbabwe chose to bat first and struggled against pace on a bouncy wicket to make 130-8.

It just proved enough for Zimbabwe, helped by 14 extras.

Unorthodox spinner Sikandar Raza bagged 3-25 and brought Zimbabwe back in the hunt in the 14th

over with the wickets of Shadab Khan and Haider Ali off successive deliveries.

Raza then dealt a major blow by having top-scorer Shan Masood (44) stumped off a wide ball down the leg side in the next over.

“I’m lost for words, my throat’s dry prob ably because of all the emotions,” Raza said.

“The way our seamers started at the top as well is just unbelievable and the way we backed it up in the field and the way we kept believing, I don’t think there’s any words I can share right now.”

Mohammad Nawaz, who made 22, brought the target down to 11 off the last over and Mohammad Wasim narrowed it to three off the last three deliveries before Brad Evans had Nawaz caught at long off and then Shaheen Afridi was run out off the final ball with Pakistan falling short of the target.

Earlier, Pakistan’s tac tics of going with four fast bowlers worked out well with Wasim picking up 4-24 and Shadab bowling a tidy spell of 3-23 in the middle overs. Zimbabwe got off to a flying start of 42 in

five overs before slipping to 95-7, losing four wickets for no runs. Sean Williams top-scored with 31 before Shadab ignited the collapse by clean bowling Williams and Babar Azam grabbed a superb one-handed catch offered by Regis Chakabva over his head in the lone slip.

SOUTH AFRICAN RECORD

Rossouw plundered 109 from 56 deliveries for South Africa against Bangladesh.

After brief concerns about rain, South Africa batted first and posted 205-5. Rossouw and

Quinton de Kock put on 163 runs off 81 balls for the second wicket for the highest South African partnership ever at the tournament.

De Kock scored 50 off 33 balls and was eventually out for 63 off 38 balls, including seven fours and three sixes. The Proteas then skittled Bangladesh for 101 with Anrich Nortje picking up four wickets.

“Clinical in terms of per formance,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said.

“The batting lineup has shaped up quite nicely.”

BARCELONA, ATLÉTICO EXIT CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, LIVERPOOL THROUGH

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

GENEVA (AP) — Bar celona was eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday even before enduring yet another 3-0 beating by Bayern Munich.

Atlético Madrid also went out following an extraordinary sequence around a penalty awarded by video review after the final whistle of its 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

Atlético’s spot kick was saved before a frantic scramble in the goalmouth still could not bring the win ning goal the Spanish club needed to prevent Porto advancing thanks to its 4-0 win earlier at group leader Club Brugge.

Two Spanish powers who were part of the failed Super League launch last year will now miss out on the round of 16 of Europe’s top competition.

Liverpool’s passage into the knockout stage with a game to spare was rela tively calm in a 3-0 win at Ajax to join leader Napoli in advancing from freescoring Group A, which has had 44 goals in 10 games.

In more stoppage-time drama with video review, Tottenham thought it had won Group D when Harry Kane shot the ball into Sporting Lisbon’s net with

seconds left in a game tied at 1-1.

A long VAR check ruled Kane had been offside, a furious Tottenham coach Antonio Conte was shown a red card, and the most finely balanced group goes to the final round next week with all four teams having a chance to advance.

Group leader Tottenham plays at last-placed Mar seille next Tuesday while Eintracht Frankfurt — which beat Marseille 2-1 on Wednesday — goes to Sporting.

The meeting between heavyweights in Barcelona was rendered meaningless before kickoff, when the five-time European cham pion’s hopes of advancing were ended by Inter Milan’s 4-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in one of the early games.

Barcelona needed Inter to drop points and then still had to beat Bayern, which also beat the Spanish team 3-0 in two group meetings last season and won 2-0 at home in September.

The outcome was clear after Sadio Mané scored in the 10th minute. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting doubled the lead before halftime and Benjamin Pavard added a third in stoppage time.

Barcelona, even after signing former Bayern star Robert Lewandowski, has

now fallen short of the round of 16 in back-to-back seasons since Lionel Messi left in August 2021 for Paris Saint-Germain.

Bayern and Napoli are the only teams with five straight wins in this group stage, and the Italian team’s 3-0 win against Rangers ran its goal tally to 20.

WILD FINISH Atlético had to beat Lev erkusen and got a corner at the end of stoppage time tied at 2-2. The danger was cleared and the final whistle blown before video review assistants spotted a handball.

French referee Clem ent Turpin consulted his screen at the halfway line and gave the penalty, but Belgium midfielder Yan nick Carrasco’s effort was pushed away by goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky. The ball then looped up for Atlé tico’s Saúl Ñíguez to head against the crossbar. That in turn teed up Reinildo for a shot that looked goalbound but struck Carrasco’s ankle and bounced over the goal to safety.

Atlético, which lost lost in the final in 2014 and 2016, can now only hope to secure third place over

Leverkusen in Group B and enter the Europa League knockout playoffs in February.

NOT SO SUPER

On Tuesday, Juventus was eliminated. One day later it was Barcelona’s turn.

Two of the three rebel clubs still backing the failed Super League project are already out of the Champi ons League.

Embarrassment on the field is also a financial hit for Juventus and Barce lona, who each reported record losses this year.

Both missed out on sev eral million euros (dollars) in result bonuses offered in the group stage and will not get the 9.6 million euros ($9.7 million) in prize money that UEFA awards clubs who reach the round of 16.

Barcelona, unlike Juven tus, is at least sure of switching to the Europa League in February. That is worth 500,000 euros ($504,000) with seven-fig ure payments for advancing further.

In their legal challenge to UEFA, Super League holdouts Barcelona, Juven tus and Real Madrid will receive a first, non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice in Luxem bourg on December 15.

LUKAKU’S

BACK Romelu Lukaku is back and scoring for Inter Milan after a two-month absence because of a hamstring injury.

The Belgium forward came on as a late substitute against Plzen, exchanged passes with Joaquín Correa and fired in a left-foot shot.

“I’ve never seen so much love from a team for a single player,” Inter goal keeper André Onana said. “And he scored, we are all happy for him.”

SPOT-KICK STOPPER

Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa has now saved pen alty kicks in three straight Champions League games.

It was four straight spot-kick saves, really, because Costa had to stop two efforts taken by Club Brugge in Porto’s 4-0 win.

The keeper, who wears the No. 99 shirt, first dived to his right to save Hans Vanaken’s attempt, which was ordered to be retaken because of encroachment in the penalty box. Noah Lang stepped up for the retake and Costa also saved that one diving to his left.

Costa, who should go to the World Cup as Portugal’s No. 1, also saved penal ties in home and away wins over Bayer Leverkusen, from Patrik Schick and Kerem Demirbay.

INTER Milan’s Romelu Lukaku celebrates after scoring his side’s fourth goal during the Champions League, Group C soccer match between Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzen at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

DANRAD KNOWLES LASHANN HIGGS

ZANE KNOWLES

KENTWAN SMITH

new faces within the last two squads, the team gained momentum,” Wil liams stated.

THE Finance Health Invaders, coached by Darren Stevens, swept aside the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Waves over the weekend at the Blue Hills Sporting Fields in their best of seven series in four games, winning the clincher 15-4

to disclose bid

Parliament, contain much the same disclosure requirements and the same 60-day disclosure require ments. The Government has previously argued that the Act requires a chief procurement officer to first be appointed before these awards can be published, but this newspaper’s review of the legislation found no link between the two actions.

“It’s absolutely essential,” Mr Aubry said of the need to obey such disclosure requirements. “This system needs to establish and build trust in the procedures. It’s particularly important for those representatives in vulnerable areas such as micro, small and mediumsized businesses, Family Island-based businesses and women-owned businesses.

“Those are entities that the Government has put a lot of money towards, a lot of resources towards, to foster local businesses that can take advantage of

the procurement system on a fair, open and transpar ent basis. It’s essential that translates into real change, otherwise it undermines confidence in this system.

“We’ve talked to a lot of small businesses to encour age them to get on board with this type of legisla tion, as it’s benchmarked to global standards, but there are still so many that are sceptical.... We’ve got to reinforce and follow the rule of law, and rein force the principles that are enshrined in this legislation. This is so critical because it gives the framework for what we want to achieve.”

Speaking after ORG unveiled its benchmark ing review of the Public Procurement Bill tabled recently in Parliament by the Davis administration, Mr Aubry voiced con cern that the reforms had eliminated the power the Ministry of Finance’s finan cial secretary presently has to levy sanctions on both public officials and bid

participants who break the rules.

Arguing that this was critical to giving the Act “teeth”, he added that such a clause provided “checks and balances, including internally” within the Gov ernment and its agencies, while also “incentivising folks both in public bodies and in the procurement process to adhere” to the law and regulations.

“The current Bill removes a section that allows for the financial sec retary ‘upon a report by the Auditor General, the director of internal audit, the treasurer, the head or deputy head of the procur ing entity, or any senior officer employed in the procuring entity to impose a surcharge on a current or former employee or agent of a procuring entity who has subverted the regulated procurement process’,” ORG said in its review.

“This section included terms for notification, with drawal and appeal of the surcharge. This section has

precedent regionally in law from Jamaica, reinforces adherence to government regulations and creates a mechanism for retriev ing lost monies through substandard procurement practices. Removal of the section does not support the highest level of account ability.” ORG as a result is calling for its reinstatement along with more specifics as to how it will actually work.

Mr Aubry voiced to Trib une Business concerns that several areas of the existing Act are set to be repealed, and removed, “for ease of administration rather than the interests of the public and protecting investors”. ORG is also urging the Government to retain the Procurement Review Tri bunal, which in the current law is the body that hears appeals and challenges to contract awards, but will be eliminated in the proposed reforms.

Instead, the existing Tax Appeal Commission will have its role expanded to hear procurement-related

matters. ORG said in its review: “The current Bill removes the establishment of a Procurement Review Tribunal as per the 2021 Act. The Tribunal is defined as the Tax Appeal Commis sion according to the 2020 Tax Commission Act, which describes the function and composition of this com mission but is not currently available on the govern ment website for public review.

“The Tax Commission president is appointed with advice solely from the Prime Minister. The 2021 Act has the appointment of the Tribunal president by the Governor-General acting on the direction of the Judicial and Legal Ser vice Commission. This establishes a greater level of independence.”

Suggesting that the Tax Commission’s members may not be best suited to hear procurementrelated matters, ORG added: “Additionally, the Tax Commission mem bers are required to be,

appropriately, ‘a coun sel and attorney, licensed accountant or licensed broker experienced in taxa tion matters or assessment of the real property’.

“The 2021 Act required that the Tribunal be mem bers who ‘may include economists, surveyors, accountants or persons with substantial and relevant experience in public pro curement and related fields of expertise’. This is more suitable for deciding issues of procurement.

“Also, the Tax Com mission Act places a fiscal responsibility and burden of proof on the claimant. This may disincentivise and disadvantage bidders, par ticularly SMEs, who may have minimal financial and administrative resources, in making claims for appeal. As noted in countries such as the UK and Australia, SMEs are particularly challenged in accessing government contracts by bureaucracy.”

10:29 a.m. 3.6 4:04 a.m. 0.0 10:48 p.m. 2.7 4:59 p.m. 0.2 11:21 a.m. 3.5 4:53 a.m. 0.1 11:42 p.m. 2.6 5:54 p.m. 0.4 12:18 p.m. 3.4 5:48 a.m.

a.m.

6:54 p.m.

6:50 a.m.

1:21 p.m. 3.3 7:59 p.m.

1:53 a.m. 2.5 8:00 a.m. 0.6 2:27 p.m. 3.2 9:05 p.m. 0.6 3:05 a.m. 2.6 9:13 a.m. 0.7 3:34 p.m. 3.1 10:07 p.m. 0.5 4:13 a.m. 2.8 10:24 a.m. 0.6 4:37 p.m. 3.1 11:04 p.m. 0.3

Pintard: Gov’t had ‘enough meat’ over BPL fuel hedge

purchase trades, said he had never seen them because they were still being assessed by the “technical people” inside government.

This represented a change from Wednesday morning, when Mr Pintard challenged both Mr Davis and Mr Sears “to say they have not seen” advice and Cabinet papers recommending that the trades be executed. “I con tinue to hear this diatribe of what we did not respond to, or what the advice was that we did not follow,” the Prime Minister replied.

“I received no advice, received no recommenda tions and saw no papers in that respect. It never reached my desk. It never happened.” Mr Sears also said such advice and rec ommendations were “not provided” to himself, instead adding that the main BPL issue presented to him upon taking office was whether to proceed with the state-run utility’s $535m rate reduction bond (RRB) refinancing.

However, Mr Heastie’s letter provides the first tangible evidence that at least one Cabinet minister was briefed early during the administration’s tenure about the fuel hedge, which was designed to provide price and electricity rate stability to BPL’s longsuffering consumers. It also raises questions as to whether the Government has been fully transparent with Parliament on an issue that is set to unnecessarily cost Bahamians millions of dollars.

Mr Pintard, suggesting that the Prime Minister had

“sought to insulate” himself from the controversy on Wednesday night by saying that the fuel hedge recom mendations never reached him, while not denying they existed, said of the Heastie missive: “I think there was sufficient meat in that letter alone that provided a guide as to what any decisionmaker should do.

“There clearly was sub stantial information in the letter to make them aware that the programme in place was working, and if one con tinued such a programme they would continue to get similar pricing on the fuel charge of 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) or slightly higher.”

Mr Heastie’s letter was headed “response to the financial secretary”, which indicates that Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s top official, had concerns over the BPL fuel hedge and how it was structured although these were not detailed in the document.

“The major intent of the programme is to smooth the peaks and valleys that the market is subject to over time and provide a stable and, if possible, a lower fuel charge to customers. The pricing of the fuel pur chases is subject to market conditions,” the then-BPL chief executive wrote to Mr Sears.

Explaining that BPL had leveraged the Inter-Amer ican Development Bank’s (IDB) top-tier credit rating and existing loans to the Government to obtain “a far more competitive rate” and pricing with the hedge, he added: “To be clear, our agreement with the Gov ernment indicates that BPL

LEGAL NOTICE

ARGAU INC. Reg. No. 123475 B

NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION

Notice is hereby given, in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act of 2000, that the above-named Company commenced dissolution procedures on the 20th day of October 2022 and that Sterling (Bahamas) Limited of Suite 205A, Safrey Square, Bank Lane & Bay Street, P.O. Box N-9934, Nassau, Bahamas has been appointed voluntary Liquidator of the Company.

Notice is also hereby given that any person having a claim against the Company is required, within 14 days of the date of this Notice, to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to Sterling (Bahamas) Limited, the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they will be excluded from the beneft of any distribution made before such debts or claims are proved.

Dated this 27th day of October 2022

Sterling (Bahamas) Limited Liquidator

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act (as amended), NOTICE is hereby given that H.D.A. Investments Limited has been dissolved and struck off the Register with effect from 21st day of December, 2021.

Maria-Clara Polidura and Joycelyn

is responsible for all fuel hedging-related expenses, we are not aware of any other charges or fees that the Government must pay in order to support this programme.”

Mr Heastie explained that the initial hedge was executed in summer 2020, exploiting low global oil prices as a result of world wide economic activity being constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given the ‘low’ price of oil during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was strategically important to BPL and its customers to buy low and purchase as much as was financially possible realising that prepandemic the oil prices was averaging in the mid-$60 range,” he said.

“IDB, once engaged, went to the markets and provided BPL with pricing options of which a strike price of $40 and a premium of $8.99 - for an all-in cost

of $48.99 - was the most favourable in both the oil price and premium cost. It should be noted that, at an all-in-cost of $48.99, BPL saw ‘losses’ as the price of oil on the open market was less than the all-in-cost.

“However, understand ing that the strategy was not to beat the market but to provide fuel price stability, BPL executed the hedges and today is seeing the huge benefits given the price of oil on the open market which, as of today, is at $85 per barrel.”

Mr Heastie then explained why it was neces sary to execute the rolling series of trades, known as call options, that had been structured to enable BPL to purchase fuel at advan tageous prices. “To prevent large movement in the fuel charge, timely fuel hedges are executed. These peri odic purchases provide ‘layering’ of the hedges that will result in a smoothing effect to the fuel charge to customers over time,” he wrote to Mr Sears.

“The execution of con tracts is based on quotes obtained from the market by the IDB and passed on to BPL. The options have a strike price, and with each strike price is a correspond ing premium that is paid, along with the transaction fee, to the IDB..... For the period August 1, 2020, to January 31, 2022, BPL has hedged just under 90 per cent of its fuel at a strike price of $40 per barrel for

NOTICE is hereby given that MICKECIA ABIGAIL QUAMINA of P. O. Box S-5952, #13 Sheila Frazer Street, Mount Tabor Estates East, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 21st day of October, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

a premium of $8.99 per barrel. In essence, we have locked in this fuel at $49 per barrel.”

The Davis adminis tration and BPL have repeatedly said the initial fuel hedging structure, put in place by the IDB remains in place, which is correct.

The December 2020 hedge covered a total 3.565m bar rels of oil for BPL that were priced at $40 each and split into three tranches.

This transaction hedged 75 percent of BPL’s fuel needs for 2022, 50 percent of its requirements for 2023, and 25 percent of 2024’s needs via the IDB’s upfront hedge. These were were not hedged 100 percent because BPL needed to monitor global oil price movements so that it did not end up hedging at a price above market costs and thus end up losing money.

The Government, though, is not giving the full story. BPL was supposed to “backfill” the original IDB hedge by purchasing the extra fuel volumes to fully address its needs. This was to be done via the series of trades, known as call options, referred to by Mr Pintard that would have enabled BPL to obtain fuel - covering the 20 percent balance for 2022, 50 percent for 2023 and 75 percent for 2024 - at prices below thenprevailing oil market rates had they been executed.

It was these trades, scheduled to have been executed in tight windows

in September 2021 and December 2021 just after the Davis administration took office, that were not carried out. As a result, BPL has increasingly been buying fuel at higher market rates with the fuel charge artificially held at 10.5 cents per kWh via the combination of government subsidies and $90m Shell non-payment. This can no longer be sustained, and consumers must pay up as a result.

Mr Pintard yesterday accused the Davis adminis tration of being “asleep at the wheel” over the issue, and said of Mr Sears: “He cannot say he did not under stand the implications of the existing policy, and the clear implications of what could happen if he did not act. The document is clear.”

Pointing out that the Government access to advice from BPL’s fuel hedging committee, the Deloitte & Touche account ing firm and Tony Lopez, the former Grand Bahama Power Company chief financial officer who served as a consultant and put BPL’s fuel hedging strategy in place, the Opposition leader added: “I do not believe for a moment they were not aware of the impli cations were. They made a choice and it backfired, and that will cost the Bahamian people.”

#13

QUAMINA

Fraiser Way, Mount Tabor Estates , Nassau, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and

any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written

statement of the facts within twenty-eight

from the 28th day of October, 2022 to the Minister

for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box

Nassau, Bahamas.

MICHAEL PINTARD

week ago Monday, that it was “never the intent” to expand price controls to product categories as opposed to line items.

The sector fears the Gov ernment’s initial proposal could expand price controls to more than 5,000 items if implemented as is. How ever, Mr Beneby told Mr Davis that the Association and its members “share your belief” that it is now time to eliminate all price controls and “urgently” replace them with enhanced consumer protection laws.

“As you directed and advised, we have conducted an exhaustive and exten sive canvassing of our more than 130 national members throughout New Providence and the Family Islands,” Mr Beneby told the Prime Min ister, “and with the help of professional advice we have concluded that our proposal herein would grant relief to the most vulnerable and not

result in the demise of the retail grocery business.

“In this regard, we would like to recommend the fol lowing for your review and further consideration. It is our primary position that we enter a temporary public-private partnership (PPP) with the Government through the implementa tion of a food assistance programme for the most vulnerable among our Bahamian brothers and sis ters in partnership with the Ministry of Social Services.

“It is our offer that the Retail Grocers Associa tion will partner with the Ministry of Social Services towards the addition of a 10 percent value on all food stamps/vouchers issued by the Ministry of Social Ser vices. It is agreed among our members that this part nership will last four to six months and it will be hon oured nationwide.”

Mr Beneby added that “it is clear that this method

is the most equitable way of ensuring that relief liter ally gets into the hands of those who need it most”, and would not benefit high income earners who do not need relief. Should the Government not go for this, he and the Associa tion proposed other options for reaching a compromise where the Government’s desire to tackle the cost of living crisis does not cause food store closures and job losses.

“We suggest the following as an alternative,” the Asso ciation president wrote. “We have attached a list of 20 items which have been largely taken from the cat egories which you initially advanced. This list has been compiled with not only the most vulnerable consumers in mind but also with the most vulnerable among our members in mind...

“Items have been consid ered to balance the needs of providing relief to the most vulnerable with the viability of the merchants, while ensuring there is no unintended consequences of lowering the costs of business for restaurants and hotels.”

The merchants’ expanded price control list includes chicken, turkey, bread, eggs, baby cereal, baby food, baby formula, broths, canned fish, condensed milk, powdered deter gent, mustard, soup, soap, fresh milk, peanut butter, ketchup, cream of wheat, potatoes and yellow onions.

As for the price-con trolled mark-ups, Mr Beneby said the Associa tion supported 25 percent on all dry grocery items but requested that this be

increased to 30 percent for Family Island busi nesses due to the extra shipping, logistics and overall business costs they endure compared to New Providence.

And, due to “the rising costs of electricity and shrinkage (spoilage), the food retailers called for a 35 percent mark-up in Nassau, and 40 percent in the Family Islands, for per ishable goods as opposed to the Government’s originally proposed 25 percent limit.

“The differentiation between the rates suggested for New Providence and the Family Islands takes into consideration the cost of doing business in the Family Islands, which has become more expensive over the years,” Mr Beneby wrote. “Finally, whether option one or two, we wish for you to consider further alleviat ing the burden on the most vulnerable by placing a zero VAT rate on breadbasket items during the food assis tance partnership period.”

The Government is likely to be reluctant to VAT ‘zero rate’ breadbasket foods and medicines, even if temporarily, for several reasons. Besides needing every cent available for the Public Treasury, it likely fears that doing so will be tantamount to an admis sion it was wrong to impose VAT on these items when it returned to the low-rate, broad-based model earlier this year with the cut to 10 percent - thereby giving the FNM some political ammunition.

Mr Beneby, meanwhile, wrote: “During this process it has come to our attention that successive administra tions have been unaware that the items listed in the price control basket are in many instances listed in a manner so as to include entire categories of prod ucts rather than single items.

“We therefore wish to take this opportunity to suggest that the entire price control basket is immedi ately and urgently reviewed so as in all cases to iden tify ‘items’ rather than ‘categories’, as during our last meeting it became clear that this was never your intent.”

Besides indicating that the Prime Minister had

not intended such a major price control expansion, the Association’s letter indi cated he also concurred about the need to eliminate price controls. “We wish to confirm that the Retail Grocers Association shares your belief, as expressed at the last meeting, that the time has come to replace all price control regulations with revised consumer pro tection legislation on an urgent basis,” Mr Beneby wrote Michael Halkitis, minis ter of economic affairs, did not return Tribune Business messages before last night seeking to confirm if the Government had received the retailers’ proposal, was reviewing it and what the likely response will be. The Association is set to meet with him and the Prime Minister today in a bid to strike a compromise solution as the Tuesday deadline for the expanded price control regime to take effect looms.

Price controls have always been a controver sial instrument among the private sector, especially those companies and busi nesses impacted by them. They were imposed by the Government decades ago to prevent what it viewed as an unscrupulous mer chant class from exploiting lower income Bahamians by unreasonably hiking the price of food staples and other essential products, thus placing them out of reach while undermining living standards.

However, opponents argue they are an anach ronism that have no place in a modern 21st century economy. The private sector views price controls as an inefficient, distor tionary mechanism that creates more unintended consequences than the sup posed problems they solve. They can result in product shortages, while retailers and wholesalers have to increase prices and margins on non-price controlled items to compensate for selling these goods as effec tive “loss leaders”.

There have been warn ings that the latter two effects could be among the consequences if the Government implements its price control regime changes as proposed.

Tribune Business was told that food wholesalers, man ufacturers and distributors submitted their alternative solutions to the Prime Min ister and the Government on Tuesday, voicing much the same sentiments as their retail counterparts.

One source, speaking on condition of anonym ity, said of the wholesalers: “They have even less wiggle room. They say they are probably selling 40 percent of their products at a loss due to price controls when all costs are factored in. They are more in a posi tion of resistance. I think they are encouraged that the grocers have found some ways, some means to compromise.”

One wholesale source, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, added of the Government’s current position: “What this would mean is that 25 percent of our business is pricecontrolled if if takes in sandwich meats, all those disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, cornflakes and canned tuna.

“The thing is that you then have to get price con trol’s permission to change a price. A lot of this stuff has a strict sell-by date and, while you wait for price control to approve a price, it expires. It could have a real knock-on effect on the profits of retailers and wholesalers.

“It creates possible staff cuts. It’s certainly going to cause some changes here if it goes through because accounts says 27 percent of our business is price con trolled. Do you increase your prices on other items to make up for losses on price control, or do you continue carrying them?”

Tribune Business under stands that the Retail Grocers Association was still waiting to get feedback from the Government on its offer yesterday afternoon.

“I think the position pre sented to them was quite fair and gives them a lot of outs,” said one member.

“The grocers are trying to work with the most vul nerable among us and the grocers are sensitive to those of us in most need. They are committed to a social partnership.”

OECD SHOULDN’T HAVE FAILED AHAMAS OVER ‘ONE ELEMENT’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS argued in vain to the Organisation for Eco nomic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) that it should “not fail the entire test on one element” of tax information exchange, a Cabinet minister disclosed yesterday.

Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general, told the Senate that the OECD and its Harmful Tax Practices Forum sometimes “don’t want to understand how we operate” in The Bahamas as he unveiled legal reforms designed to address defi ciencies with this nation’s implementation of the Common Reporting Stand ard (CRS).

Speaking at the close of a debate that saw senators pass the Auto matic Exchange of Financial Account Infor mation (Amendment) Bill 2022, he revealed he spent three to four hours before the Forum and its ‘peer review’ group in making the case why The Bahamas

should not be rated ‘noncompliant’ with the CRS.

That is the global, non-US standard for auto matic tax information exchange, and Mr Pinder said he “kept at it” and “didn’t want to let go” after being given just 45 minutes to present The Bahamas’ arguments when himself and Michael Halkitis, min ister of economic affairs, met OECD representatives in Paris around two months ago.

Noting that The Baha mas “failed one element”, the attorney general argued that this was far outweighed by the country’s compliance with all other elements. Mr Pinder said the Davis administration’s argu ment had been that this nation should not “fail the entire test on one element.

“If you pass three but fail one..... That was our argument. It’s unfair for you to regard us as noncompliant just when we’ve demonstrated compliance in the majority of areas,” he added. Not surprisingly, the OECD refused to budge from its insistence that The Bahamas was ‘noncompliant’ on the CRS standard for automatic tax

information exchange, but it did agree a strategy and timeline for this nation to remedy the deficiencies.

“At times they don’t understand how we oper ate in this jurisdiction, and at times they don’t want to understand how we oper ate in this jurisdiction,” Mr Pinder said of the OECD and its member states.

“We hope through our advocacy they will have a better understanding of our jurisdiction and how we operate. Needless to say, I don’t have a tremendous amount of confidence but that’s why we go” and talk directly to the group.

Mr Pinder described the Bill debated yester day as “fundamental” to addressing the issues that caused the ‘non-compliant’ rating so that The Bahamas can be reassessed next year and, hopefully, escape this designation.

The Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Infor mation Bill’s reforms will provide greater regulatory flexibility and oversight by enabling the Ministry of Finance to delegate its supervisory powers to the Central Bank, Securities Commission, Insurance

Commission and Compli ance Commission.

These regulators will then become responsi ble for ensuring their respective licensees and registrants comply with the requirements for automatic tax information exchange, thereby expanding their obligations but also easing the burden on the Ministry of Finance and expanding the supervisory net. The Government was notified shortly after the September 2021 general election about the results of the OECD’s Global Forum peer review of The Baha mas, which gave the country a clean bill of health when it came to “exchanging infor mation in an effective and timely manner” with other jurisdictions at the state level.

However, the Bahamas fared less well - and failed to meet the OECD’s require ments - when it came to its financial institutions and providers “correctly con ducting the due diligence and reporting procedures”. While this nation met the standard required in one of the two areas reviewed, the overall rating for the “technical effectiveness”

of automatic tax informa tion exchange was deemed non-compliant.

Mr Pinder yesterday said the OECD had difficulty with Bahamian financial services regulators review ing and inspecting their licensees for CRS compli ance because the existing Act does not designate them as the ‘Competent Authority’. This designa tion currently only applies to the Ministry of Finance.

“That is this piece of legislation that we are debating today, a Bill that will legislatively designate the regulators as agents of the Competent Author ity for this purpose,” the attorney general added.

“We have also agreed an amendment to regulations that had Executive Entities as non-included entities for CRS (Common Reporting Standards) purposes. The OECD has taken issue with this, and we have agreed to remove such exemption.

“The OECD also had concerns about the ability for the ‘Competent Author ity’ to test the actual data being used to substantiate the positions being taken with respect to CRS report ing and disclosures. We

Private sector credit shrank 20% pts of GDP pre-COVID

(NPLs) were 9.6 percent of private sector loans as of year-end 2021.”

Bank credit’s spike to 58 percent of GDP in 2020 is likely due to the economy’s near-24 percent contraction as a result of COVID-19. However, Moody’s report outlined the challenges facing The Bahamas when output returns to preCOVID levels, which is estimated to occur at some point in 2023.

For then the country will face the same struc tural obstacles to growth that have remained unad dressed for decades. “The low growth rate reflects a variety of factors, includ ing competitiveness issues, infrastructure constraints, household debt overhang resulting in low credit growth, chronically high unemployment and sluggish tourism,” Moody’s asserted.

“Structural bottlenecks have prevented The Baha mas from diversifying its economy away from tour ism (which comprised over 40 percent of GDP in 2019),

and include issues related to global competitive ness and high energy costs.

Infrastructure bottlenecks also limit growth.

“The Government con tinues to pursue a number of initiatives to improve competitiveness, including the continued digitisation of public services and pro cesses, as well as reforming the corporate insolvency regime to support improve ments in the business environment,” the rating agency added.

“The Government is also actively supporting efforts to transform The Bahamas into a hub for digital assets, and has fostered a business environment conducive to the development of crypto assets. FTX, a major crpyto currency exchange, moved its headquarters to Nassau in September 2021.”

Acknowledging The Bahamas’ vulnerability to climate-related disas ters such as hurricanes, Moody’s added: “Accord ing to IMF estimates, the average annual damage of natural disasters amounted to roughly 1.5 percent of

GDP (encompassing both the private and public sector) over the past 30 years. This is slightly higher than the 1.2 percent aver age for the Caribbean region.

“Total damage to the economy amounted to at least 5 percent of GDP for four out of eight hurricanes that hit The Bahamas since the 1990s. However, the impact of hurricanes varies greatly because The Baha mas comprises over 700 islands that are spread over more than 13,000 square kilometres, with most eco nomic activity — and more developed infrastructure — concentrated in a few islands.

“Despite a relatively high GDP per capita in PPP (purchasing power parity) terms, insurance penetra tion and coverage are low in parts of The Bahamas, particularly in the south ern regions, which in turn can lead to delays in recon struction efforts (leading to growth volatility) and increased fiscal costs. His torically, the Government has responded ex-post to a

natural disaster by reprior itising spending or widening the fiscal deficit, or both, which increased the debt burden.”

Noting that the Gov ernment’s increasing dependence on VAT makes the level of economic activ ity key to the country’s fiscal performance, Moody’s said: “The Government envisions a relatively rapid pace of fiscal consolidation, with the primary balance turning to surplus in fiscal 2022-2023 and fiscal surplus by fiscal 2024-2025.

“Based on the fiscal 2022-2023 Budget, we forecast expenditures to remain broadly unchanged

in nominal terms through fiscal 2024-2025, resulting in total expenditure declining to below 22 percent of GDP.

Meanwhile, the Govern ment expects a structural increase in revenue, with the revenue-to-GDP ratio increasing to 24 percent by fiscal 2024-2025.

“The Government reestablished the Revenue Enhancement Unit (REU), which it expects to help improve tax compliance, and is targeting additional revenue from changes in fees and taxes on properties that are primarily owned by foreigners or used for rental income. In addition, the Government expects

will have to work with the regulators to formulate an inspection or audit plan that would entail, as part of an inspection, the test ing of an acceptable sample size of client accounts to test the validity of the data that is basing the positions being taken for reporting purposes.

“We view these issues as rather trivial and techni cal, and we maintain the position that they should not rise to the level of a non-compliant peer review report. Having said that, we have committed to addressing these deficien cies with a view to having the non-compliant elements reviewed and re-rated in the shortest period of time,” Mr Pinder added.

“The former adminis tration was aware of these deficiencies and failed to correct them, ignored the identified improvements and adjustments recom mended by the OECD, and thus we find ourselves regarded as non-compli ant.

A comedy of errors by the FNM now led by a comedian. We will fix their missteps, we will remedy their wrongs.”

several one-off sources of revenue, such as collection tax arrears, as well as poten tial asset sales,” Moody’s continued.

“Key risks to the Budget are overly optimistic rev enue collection projections in the absence of any sig nificant new taxes, relying instead on improved com pliance and tax collection. While keeping government spending largely unchanged in nominal terms is likely achievable, particularly if capital spending is used to offset any recurrent spend ing overruns or revenue underperformance, the Government’s assumptions for interest expenditure imply a decline in the aver age cost of debt despite a rising global interest rate.”

BPL’s

mega hotel dilemma on renewables

next summer compared to October levels.

Arguing that BPL must be “strategic” in meeting the country’s 20230 renew able goals so as to preserve its own sustainability, the former chief executive wrote: “While BPL seeks to provide firm genera tion capacity to support the economy of The Baha mas, it continues to work to implement renewables to meet the country’s energy initiative of 30 percent by 2020.

“To sustain monthly expenditures, BPL requires large commercials to remain on the grid, as their financial support is critical to supporting the revenue flow that the other rate classes on their own could not support. Today, the largest two commercials (Atlantis and Baha Mar) provide some 15 percent of BPL’s total revenue.

“The removal of these large commercials’ gener ating load to renewables would have to be backfilled with financial support from elsewhere as, while gener ating loads would reduce, BPL’s base cost would remain unchanged. Hence it is important for BPL to be strategic in meeting the renewables goals of the country while ensuring its own financial viability.”

While Atlantis and Baha Mar combined account for nearly one out of every $7 earned by BPL, many observers would argue that the solution lies in the state-owned utility pro viding cheaper, lower-cost

energy and switching to renewable energies itself. They will also likely assert that BPL’s inefficiencies should not be allowed to hold back national progress.

Mr Sears has said BPL is presently working with a private investor to develop a 60 Mega Watt (MW) utility-scale solar farm on New Providence that could slash its annual fuel bill by around $23m. But Mr Heastie’s letter, which remains as relevant today as when it was written, was disclosed just days ahead of BPL’s meeting with the hotel and tourism indus try this coming Monday to address concerns over the upcoming hike in its fuel charge for 2023.

For businesses and households that use over 800 kWh, fuel charges are set to increase by 138 per cent, 163 percent and 138 percent - more than dou bling compared to October 2022’s 10.5 kWh rateduring the periods of March 1to May 31, 2023; June 1 to August 31, 2023, and Sep tember 1 to November 30, 2023.

Robert Sands, the Baha mas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, confirmed that the industry is pushing for a more rapid transition to renewables as a result of these hikes. “The cost of electricity ranks as one of the highest expense items in our budgets due to the fact that operators, par ticularly in the tourism industry, must maintain a certain level of energy consumption regardless of occupancy in order to

protect assets, securitise facilities etc,” he said.

“Therefore, it is impera tive that we find ways to help alleviate the financial burden this rep resents. Finally, and most importantly, we encourage the acceleration of efforts to ensure industry stake holders are able to access alternate sources of energy. This is paramount to our ability to diminish our reliance on environmen tally unfriendly fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

“Public and private sector collaboration regarding awareness, understanding, access to capital and the implementation of poli cies that encourage off-grid energy alternatives are key to ensuring we do not con tinue to face such financial uncertainties in the future as it pertains to energy costs,” he added.

“Alternative energy initi atives and projects must be front and centre. We must roll out the red carpet, and roll up the red tape for such projects. We look forward to continuing to collabo rate with public and private sector regarding this impor tant issue.”

Mr Heastie, meanwhile, said BPL was “open to having a discussion on the pricing” of its base tariff rate and structure which have been unchanged for more than a decade. He added, though, that any changes will have to involve sector regulator, the Utilities and Competition Authority (URCA).

Merchants offer

‘free’ food top-up plan

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN food retail ers have proposed a joint venture with the Ministry of Social Services where they will provide a 10 per cent ‘free’ food top-up targeted at “the most vulnerable among our Bahamian brothers and sisters”.

The Retail Grocers Asso ciation, which represents 130 food merchants across The Bahamas, proposed the “temporary public-private partnership” focused solely on consumers using govern ment food stamps as their alternative to the major expansion of the price con trol regime that is set to take effect on November 1.

The Association, in a letter sent to the Prime Minister on Wednesday, October 26, argued that this was “the most equitable way of ensuring

relief literally gets into the hands of those who need it most” as extending the price control regime to 38 product categories will also benefit rich consumers who do not need the break.

The social services joint venture would last for between four to six months, the group told Philip Davis KC, which is the same dura tion as the Government has initially proposed for its price control expansion. The way the scheme would work is, if a consumer spends $100 worth of government food stamps,

then the merchant will pro vide them with a 10 percent top-up on this amount - the equivalent of $10 worth of food. If the spend is $50, the top-up would be $5.

While that is its preferred option, the Association sought to give the Davis administration further alter natives. These include a drastically slimmed-down price control expansion to just 20 items, as opposed to the Government’s 38 catego ries, with higher mark-ups for Family Island retailers and perishable products which

have a shorter shelf-life and go bad much quicker.

Philip Beneby, the Asso ciation’s president, urged the Government to also eliminate VAT on “breadbasket” food products regardless of which option it selected. His letter also indicated that Mr Davis informed both retailers and

BPL’s ‘15%’ mega hotel dilemma on renewables

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power & Light’s (BPL) former chief executive warned it cannot afford for the country’s two largest mega resorts to convert entirely to renewable energy because it would lose 15 per cent of its revenues.

Whitney Heastie, in an October 28, 2021, letter to Alfred Sears, minister of works and utilities, highlighted the dilemma that BPL - and by extension, The Bahamas - faces as the Government pushes for a cleaner, more sus tainable energy future with 30 percent targeted to come from renewable sources by 2030.

What is good for The Bahamas, and its businesses,

households and consumers, is not so good for BPL’s financial health and its several hundred staff. Mr Heastie’s warning, contained in a letter tabled in the House of Assembly on Wednesday night, comes as the hotel industry is pressing for an “acceleration” of access to renewable energy sources with BPL’s fuel charge set to increase by up to 163 percent

‘Absolutely essential’: Gov’t urged to disclose bid awards

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNANCE

reformers yesterday said it was “absolutely essen tial” that the Government immediately start publish ing details of public sector contract awards as man dated by law to “build trust” in the new procure ment system.

Matt Aubry, the Organi sation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) prin cipal, told Tribune Business it was unclear why the Davis administration had thus far failed to comply with the current Public Procurement Act’s stipula tion that the identities of

winning bidders and the value of contracts be dis closed within 60 days of their award.

This was especially since the reforms to this Act, which the Davis administration has tabled in Parliament, contain much the same disclosure requirements and the same 60-day disclosure require ments. The Government has previously argued that the Act requires a chief procurement officer to first be appointed before these awards can be published, but this newspaper’s review of the legislation found no link between the two actions.

Private sector credit shrank 20% pts of GDP pre-COVID

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS’ low pre-COVID economic growth coincided with bank credit to the private sector contracting by the equiva lent of 20 percentage points of GDP, an international rating agency has revealed.

Moody’s, in its full annual report on The Bahamas’ sovereign released this week, said the sharp fall in bank lending as a percent age of economic output occurred during a ten-year period to 2019 when the Bahamian economy grow at a year;y average of just 1.1 percent following the 20082009 financial crisis.

“Credit to the private sector has been on a longterm declining trend for years, with credit to the pri vate sector falling to around 45 percent of GDP by year-end 2019 from around 65 percent in 2010, although this figure climbed back to 58 percent in 2020,” the rating agency’s report said.

“The IMF (International Monetary Fund) attributes the contraction in credit to more stringent lending standards, a low-growth environment keeping demand for credit low and a conservative lending stance from banks. Private sector non-performing loans (NPLs) were 9.6 percent of

Pintard: Gov’t had ‘enough meat’ over BPL fuel hedge

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE OPPOSITION’S leader yesterday charged that key policymakers in the Davis administration were given “sufficient meat” to understand the fall-out if the trades under pinning Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) fuel hedge were not executed.

Michael Pintard told Tribune Business he “does not believe for a moment” that Alfred Sears, minister of works and utilities, and Prime Minister Philip Davis KC were unaware of the multi-million cost burden that could be inflicted upon BPL consumers if the hedging strategy unravelled. The consequences are the up to 163 percent increase in BPL’s fuel charge that businesses and households must endure in summer 2023 at peak consumption.

The Free National Movement (FNM) leader spoke out after he published a six-page letter sent by former BPL chief executive, Whitney Heastie, to Mr Sears that was entitled “fuel hedging programme justification” and set out the rationale for implementing the initiative as well as technical details on how it worked.

Mr Sears, though, denied seeing or receiv ing the October 18, 2021, letter which was written to him just over one month after the Davis administration was voted into office. He also described Mr Heastie’s letter as a technical, theoretical document rather than a recommendation to conduct the purchases necessary to maintain BPL’s fuel charge at 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) or at a level close to that.

However, the Government’s position on the issue began to subtly shift on Wednesday night as Mr Pintard tabled the letter to Mr Sears in the House of Assembly. The Prime Minis ter, while confirming that recommendations had been made on executing the BPL fuel

PHILIP DAVIS KC

HEASTIE