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The Tribune

Volume:115 No.237, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2018

Established 1903

Weekend

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

A COMIC’S VIEW: ARE THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE STILL FREE?

Nurses threaten ‘we won’t turn up’

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Nurses Union President Amancha Williams yesterday suggested nurses will not be showing up for their new shifts next month as she maintained there was no legal grounds to penalise non compliance.

The union is calling for government intervention as tensions with the Public Hospitals Authority persist over the proposed shift change, with the authority suggesting the union was not negotiating in good faith in its latest statement.

“They can’t penalise nobody if no nurses show up on December 13,” Mrs Williams said.

“It doesn’t matter if we don’t have (a strike

certificate) in hand. I don’t have to work, you can’t cut my pay, you didn’t give me that shift, that wasn’t agreed upon. It was unilaterally done (by PHA) and it should not be done that way.

“Our argument stays the same,” Mrs Williams said, “labour (officials) should be involved at this point.”

The PHA claims the BNU has yet to formally respond to the proposed roster schedule sent in May, and in a statement issued yesterday, underscored repeated postponements of meetings by the union and a failure to provide written feedback on the issue of contention.

The authority gave an account of a meeting with the union on Tuesday,

JEAN RONY MAKES CITIZENSHIP MOVE

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

LAWYERS for Bahamas-born Jean Rony Jean-Charles are hoping his citizenship application can be supported by documents filed with the Immigration Department for his siblings.

Mr Jean-Charles has had difficulty sourcing documents for his parents in Haiti, a common phenomenon that was said to have stalled his application process in the eight months since he was returned to the country on a now-void court order.

Advertisements notifying

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MOODY’S yesterday delivered a boost for the government by hailing the launch of its quarterly fiscal reports as a move that will help regain lost “policy credibility”.

The international credit rating agency said such enhanced fiscal transparency and performance reporting will help restore confidence among investors who were rattled by the Minnis administration’s revelation of $760m in unfunded spending arrears.

It also praised the government’s “timeliness” in releasing the data within four weeks of the 20182019 fiscal first quarter’s September end.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

ALIV ROLLS ON AS CABLE EXTENDS $90M DEBT

SEE PAGE FIVE

the public of his intention to apply for citizenship were published in local newspapers this week, renewing discourse on social media over the controversial case.

Yesterday, his attorney Fred Smith said: “As you know it’s difficult for people from Haiti to get documents.

Luckily for him, his siblings have previously applied and have been granted citizenship. So we hope his application can be considered based upon historical documents that are already in the possession of the Immigration Department, such as his parent’s birth certificates, marriage, etc.”

SEE PAGE THREE

MOODY’S DELIVERS A PAT ON THE BACK

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KIDS MEET SOREN, the orphaned owl. The baby barn owl was abandoned by her parents when Crystal Palace was demolished last month. Read the story about her rescue and find out where she lives now in Tribune Weekend.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

ALIV is targeting an operating income “break even” position by summer 2019 as it transitions from start-up losses that totalled more than $109m during its first two years while Cable Bahamas has secured a two-year extension for repaying $97.169m of debt that was falling due, and which had caused current liabilities to exceed assets by 95.6 percent.

Aliv reported it was “growing in all segments of the market” while Cable Bahamas went to great lengths to reassure investors there were no causes for alarm over the bank debt repayment.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

$700K COLLEGE CLERK THIEF SEEKS APPEAL

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FORMER College of The Bahamas employee Chimeka Gibbs is seeking to appeal her sentence and conviction for stealing over $700,000 from the tertiary institution over a sevenyear period.

The Tribune understands Gibbs has secured attorney Murrio Ducille to aid her in contesting her conviction

CHIMEKA GIBBS for stealing $704,580 from the college, now the University of the Bahamas, between March 2008 and October 2015.

However, according

to the Court of Appeal’s website, the hearing set for the 21st of this month is an extension of time (EOT) hearing, thus meaning Gibbs filed her notice of appeal after the 21-day deadline to do so.

Gibbs will now have to clear the first hurdle of convincing the appellate court to accede to her EOT application, and if successful, then the substantive appeal will be heard.

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE SEVEN

THE CLOCKS GO BACK THIS WEEKEND

PAGE 2, Friday, November 2, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Shock over sudden death of GB teacher

A PHOTO of Delton Tanis, a teacher at Freeport Primary School who died suddenly on Wednesday, was placed outside the school in his memory.

Photo: Denise Maycock/Tribune Staff

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net FREEPORT Primary School was left in a state of shock this week after the sudden passing of a beloved teacher who made a lasting impact on teachers and students in the short period of time he was at the institution.

Delton Tanis, a science teacher, and a former principal in Cat Island, is believed to have suffered a massive heart attack on Wednesday morning. He was taken to Rand Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

Teachers and students were devastated on learning the news. When The Tribune visited the school yesterday, a black bow and a photo of Tanis was placed on the school gate where he sat and waited every day after school until parents picked up their children.

“He went above and beyond his duties as a teacher,” Remelda Bain, school vice-principal, said.

“We lost a gem this week, and we all are taking the loss very hard.”

A school psychologist and a guidance counsellor were on campus on Wednesday to speak with grieving students and teachers to help cope with their loss.

Tanis was in his second of year teaching at Freeport Primary. In addition to teaching science for grades five and six, he was also a senior assistant who assisted in the administrative duties at the school.

Ms Bain said that the last time she saw and spoke with Tanis was on Tuesday.

“I left around 4.15pm to go to a meeting at St George’s High, and he was getting ready to leave also, and I told him that I would see him tomorrow. But I never got to see him, and that was the last time I spoke with him,”

she recalled.

Ms Bain got to school around 7.45am on Wednesday and received a call around 8.55am that Tanis was in hospital.

“I was told he was very low, and that if I wanted to see him I needed to come now. I contacted the senior mistress and left for the hospital, but when I got there I found that he had already passed,” she said.

“He was a loving teacher, he went above and beyond his duty in terms of the ministry of teaching,” Ms Bain said. “He took his job seriously; he cared for our children and sat with them every day outside by the gate as their parents picked them up, and so he knew a lot of the students by name.

“He was also very helpful in yard duty and he was someone I could depend on. When I went out in the yard break and lunch time he was out there with me.

According to Ms Bain, Tanis displayed an excellent work ethic, and there were improvements in science grade results.

“We got really good results last year because he worked so well with grade six students and so we this year added grade five, and he also assisted us as an administrative assistant - he was literally that good,” she said.

Ms Bain said Tanis helped a lot on campus during the summer assisting the principal in getting the school ready.

“He spent a whole lot of time on campus with my principal getting the school ready. He was here all summer, and I think (the principal) had to force him to go and take a vacation, but he was that kind of person.”

Prior to relocating to Grand Bahama, Tanis was a school principal in Cat Island. Because of his experience, Ms Bain said that he was very good in

performing his administrative duties.

He was also someone that fellow teachers could talk to for advice.

“If you came to work upset he could calm you down. And he was the person the female teachers felt more connected to and would talk to him. He was really a gem, and this is really a loss for all us. I cried my heart out when I found out he passed, and the children also cried and took it really hard.”

Ms Bain said that she had the difficult task of breaking the sad news to everyone at school.

“When I came back from the hospital I told the teachers first, and I realised that they were really devastated.

I then called an assembly and I told the students that Mr Tanis he went home to be with the Lord. A lot of them knew what I meant, but some of them didn’t understand.”

The teacher’s death took the school by surprise because there was never any sign that he was ill.

“There were not really any signs, and he was the kind of person if he was tired or sick he would say something. He was tired the day before at the end of the day, but we are all normally tired at the end of the day,” Ms Bain said.

She said that some teachers are having a really difficult time. “Two teachers did not come out today and that is because they took his death really hard.

Most teachers, and I, did not sleep last night.”

Ms Bain said that they are keeping Tanis’ family, especially his wife, in their prayers.

“We want to give her some time time to grieve, but the teachers really want to see her and give her their support because he was well-loved at this school in the short time he was here,” she said.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 2, 2018, PAGE 3

Jean Rony makes citizenship move JEAN Rony Jean-Charles.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

from page one Mr Smith continued: “But the real point is that he has a birth certificate in respect of his birth, records of his attendance at schools, he has his medical and hospital records, and he even has a police record, all of which go to establishing his birth in the Bahamas and continuous presence.”

Back in February, Attorney General Carl Bethel noted Mr Jean-Charles’ case

had unearthed a significant and far-reaching legal challenge over the verification of birth certificates. A recent Court of Appeal ruling, which quashed an earlier Supreme Court order granting Mr Jean-Charles constitutional relief for his arrest and deportation, has reignited scrutiny over the 35-year-old’s identity and whether he can prove his claim to his own birth certificate.

For his part, Mr Smith maintained the position he held throughout Mr JeanCharles’ trial proceedings – there was no

legal basis for an individual to prove who they are. “Let’s remember there is a presumption of innocence,” Mr Smith said, “he doesn’t have to prove who he is. The government never alleged or submitted evidence that Jean Rony Jean-Charles, who sued the government and in respect they issued a travel document from their own records at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at the hearing of the Court of Appeal, there was never an allegation that the Jean Rony Jean-Charles that was

physically before the courts, was not Jean Rony Jean-Charles.”

Mr Smith said the suggestion there was a legal obligation for people to prove who they are was only recently injected into Bahamian public life by former Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell.

“To this date,” he continued, “Jean Rony Jean-Charles has committed no offence known to the immigration law and yet he is being pilloried publicly because of this rumour about his identity.”

Stateless people need special attention, say Haitian pastors

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE League of Haitian Churches has asked the government to introduce a policy that will provide some relief to people not covered by the Belonger’s permit and who, in some cases, have been rendered stateless.

More than 70 pastors from across the country attended the league’s monthly meeting at East Street’s Church of the Nazarene on Monday, where Immigration Minister Brent Symonette was a special guest speaker.

League President Dr Jean Paul Charles said the issues of migrant rights and statelessness, raised at the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) meeting in Geneva last week, were on the agenda.

“The position is we are working with the government to regularise people who need to be regularised, and those who are here illegally need to go,” he said.

“We can’t dictate to the government what to do, but we are working to see as much as we can accomplish.”

Other matters covered include the increase in immigration fees, belonger’s permits, illegal immigrants’ concerns and the importance of pastors partnering with the government to educate the Haitian community, he said.

“Before they used to give them some type of passport for identity, but since the last government changed that to Belonger’s permit, they have nothing to identify who they are until they are like 25 or 30 years old. The deadline is 18 but sometimes it takes years for approval. And until then, they have no identity, nothing to prove who they are.”

Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell sought to clarify the government’s position as it related to statelessness during the country’s review at the 71st Session of CEDAW in Geneva last week.

Mr Campbell was responding to questions from Austrian CEDAW expert and former judge Lilian Hofmeister, who was critical of the country’s efforts to bring its legal framework in line with several international conventions, namely conventions on the Rights of the Child and protections for migrant workers and their families.

The minister acknowledged there was a specific grouping of people born in the Bahamas who were stateless because of limitations in Haiti’s constitution on the transference of citizenship, and dependent on the irregular status of their parents.

“Now the person who is actually stateless is the second generation,” Mr Campbell said, “because the constitution of Haiti does not recognise that individual as being able to get the citizenship of the parents, and because the parents are not legal, then that person is in that state of statelessness.

“However, the state party, the government has recognised that and that is a part of our conversation even now as we speak. We have convened an immigration board, we are looking

BRENT Symonette was a guest speaker as I would have indicated at amendments to the Nationality Act to ensure that no one falls through that crack of statelessness.”

Immigration Minister Brent Symonette has declined to comment on those remarks; however, sources close to the matter have told The Tribune the government is currently seeking legal opinion on the matter.

In an interview with The Tribune earlier this week, Mr Campbell defended his performance in Geneva.

“I was sent to represent my country,” he said, “I was not given any instructions to deceive or mislead.

I went there with a view of telling the truth as I know it to be. I am liable to be corrected later on, I could be shown where what I thought was the truth was not necessarily so – as I knew it to be at the time.”

Mr Campbell continued: “What I know to be the case is there are persons who don’t qualify for the nationality of their parents by virtue of the nationality

act and the Constitution, and who don’t automatically qualify for Bahamian citizenship. So what do you want to call them?”

Mr Campbell noted the size of this grouping was not demonstrably large.

Yesterday, Mr Charles implored the government to take note of the plight of those who fall in the stateless category.

The pastor said: “They have nothing to prove who they are even to get a Haitian passport. The process to get a passport from the

Haitian government is so slow also. We are asking the government to give them something, because even if they try to get a Haitian passport they still can’t travel. If the parents want to go to Miami, the kids the child won’t be able to go.

“With the Belonger’s permit, the US government don’t give any visa for that.

They said it’s not sufficient.

I think they can go to Haiti but they cannot go to us with that. We ask the government to do a little bit more since they were born

here in this country it is a complex thing, but if they can try to fix it once and for a while the next generation will not have this problem.”

The league was formerly called the League of Haitian Pastors, but has since been changed to reflect the expanded grouping of some 56 pastors in New Providence and more than 30 pastors in the Family Islands from various denominations ranging from Catholicism to Seventh-Day Adventists.

PAGE 4, Friday, November 2, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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Why is it so hard to get an accurate vote count?

IN KANSAS this past August, vote totals in the Republican primary for governor fluctuated by more than 100 votes over the course of a few days, and the winner – Secretary of State Kris Kobach – wasn’t declared until a week after the vote.

In Virginia, a hotly contested battle last year for the commonwealth’s House of Delegates first gave the race to the Republican by 10 votes, and after a recount, the Democrat led by one vote.

A court later decreed the election a tie, and it was decided in favor of the Republican by a random drawing.

Why are the vote totals for many political offices so hard to nail down?

Shouldn’t it be easy to count ballots, the way they do in Britain, for example?

One major explanation is that we don’t really have a national election like they do in Britain. And with each state and local government running elections and counting ballots, often with the help of citizen volunteers, mistakes can happen.

In the United States, we have a series of simultaneous state and local elections held at around the same time. There is no national agency that administers American elections; they are overseen by more than 10,000 local jurisdictions.

This means that there are different ballots, different voting machines, different registration and eligibility requirements, and different administrative procedures for counting votes all across the country. That’s a recipe for occasional confusion and miscounts.

Sometimes the technology itself can confuse voters and cause them to make errors when voting. That was the case with the “butterfly ballot” used in Palm Beach County in the 2000 election, whose “hanging chads” made it hard to determine for whom the ballot was cast.

Shifts to new technology can produce problems and then errors in vote counts, as my colleagues and I showed in research supported by the National Science Foundation.

The cost of holding elections is paid from local tax revenue, so local governments have a disincentive to invest in upgrading voting systems. Since providing police and fire service, a good education and picking up garbage all have a higher priority than administering elections, financial support for election administration is often a low priority.

Ultimately, the secretary of state in each of the 50 states (or the head of an election division within that office) is responsible for certifying the result of the election for each office, property tax or bond issue, or proposition appearing on the ballot. It’s in that office that conflicting vote totals ultimately get reconciled. But how they get to a certified result varies by location as well.

Voting used to take place on a single day. A voter had to show up in person to cast a ballot.

In 1993, in the interest of convenience and increasing turnout, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the Motor Voter Act. The

legislation allows registration for voting at the same time a person applies for a driver’s licence or renewal, as well as other registration opportunities when interacting with state and federal government agencies.

Turnout in the United States is lower than in most democracies, and a number of procedures have been adopted in various states to allow people to use absentee ballots, cast votes at early voting sites, and even to obtain provisional ballots for people who show up to vote in person but whose eligibility is questioned.

All of these parameters vary by location. For example, early voting can start as much as 46 days before Election Day in some states, like Minnesota and Illinois, while states like Michigan do not allow it at all. In many states, different kinds of ballots are counted at different points in time.

In-person ballots are often counted on election night, and absentee ballots are counted then or shortly thereafter.

Provisional ballots, which are used when there are questions about a voter’s eligibility, are held confidentially in envelopes with signatures and other identifying information. They have to be checked for eligibility back in a local clerk’s office and may not be counted for a day or two.

Military ballots mailed in from overseas will be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, but they could take several days to get to the local office.

Because of this complexity, election administrators must have a set of procedures in place to ensure the integrity of the voting system.

After the initial vote tabulation, there is a period when the results can be challenged for various reasons and a recount requested.

One final note: For decades the Associated Press provided county-level vote totals to news agencies on election night.

But starting this November, there will be two major exit poll operations and associated systems for collecting and disseminating the county-level votes.

The Associated Press will partner with Fox News, while Edison Research, which has been responsible for the National Election Pool, the exit poll conducted for a combine of major news organizations since 2004, will tabulate raw vote totals as well.

Because Edison Research will be new at providing vote totals, it could encounter some technical difficulties in collecting and disseminating the data.

There could also be some variability in the speed with which the vote totals are released.

As a result, conflicting vote tabulations could appear in the 2018 general election. Remember – these are only preliminary vote counts for the benefit of news organisations, not the certified results.

By Michael Traugott, University of Michigan.

This article first appeared on The Conversation

Bathrooms need fixing - now EDITOR, The Tribune RECENTLY, I came across a post circulating online in reference to Festival Place bathrooms near Prince George Wharf. It wasn’t long before I had to go see for myself what all the ruckus was about. Seeing that I consider myself a die-hard Bahamian, I get a little sensitive about any bad publicity that could affect us – especially our tourism industry.

Before I even entered the bathroom I came upon buckets catching water along the front of the building and was hit by the strong odour of urine. Beer bottles and other garbage also lined the walls around the entrance. I was disgusted and disappointed. I can’t believe how unkempt Bay Street and Festival Place are. I can’t imagine that anyone would want to use these bathrooms.

Inside, I was greeted by flies, dirty and broken tiles and a broken window. A soaked, soiled towel lay beneath the sink,

trying in vain to take in the more of the water dripping from the leaky faucet. It was a ghastly sight. Needless to say, I didn’t bother using this bathroom at all.

This shouldn’t be the first and the last thing that cruise ship visitors experience when they head back to the ship after visiting Nassau. It is also a very nasty experience for Bahamians who frequent the area and work there since the number of public bathrooms nearby are few and far between.

We have to do better. The Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Tourism or whoever has responsibility for maintaining these bathrooms must rectify this immediately. We like to think so highly of ourselves but this culture of building things and never maintaining and improve them has to stop.

Fix it.

SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED Nassau November 1, 2018

Why we all owe a debt to Roy Bowe EDITOR, The Tribune PLEASE allow me a little space to pay tribute to a giant in the developing Bahamas. He was so much to all of us, but to me he was my hero!

Roy Bowe, the late pioneer of golf in The Bahamas, who left a rich legacy!

Roy Bowe would have been 84 years old this year, but he died November 1, in 2012, nine days before we celebrated the anniversary of an Independent Bahamas. It’s now been six years since he died and as I reflect on this anniversary I cannot help but express my appreciation for being able to know the man. Yes, I know Roy Bowe, something that very few people could say.

I was a young boy when I got to know Roy Bowe on Paradise Island. He was the first Bahamian golf pro and because of people like him, I developed an attraction for the sport. Yes, I became one of the Young Lions, a group of talented young Bahamian golfers who represented The Bahamas internationally. We all grew up interacting with Mr Bowe and because of him, many of us aspired to excel in this sport. The ultimate goal was to be a professional golf pro like him.

I came from humble beginnings and made tremendous sacrifice to play the sport of golf. But Mr Bowe was one of those

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net people who humbled himself to help those of us who did not have the means to play the sport. I went on and travelled the world through my ability in golf.

To him I will be forever grateful. He was my hero.

Roy Bowe made history on many fronts, not only was he the first Bahamian golf pro, but he founded the Bahamas Professional Golfers Association which later became the BGF. He was a pioneer but he was a humble man who never hesitated to help the small man, and in our cases the young boys.

He was a successful businessman, who owned Jiffy Cleaners and the President and leading shareholder in Comfort Suites on Paradise Island. He excelled in golf and he excelled in business. But more importantly he excelled as a wonderful human being who never thought he was better than anyone that he met.

Yes, Mr Bowe played golf on Paradise Island with the likes of Bing Crosby and the world famous Arnold Palmer and many others, but he also played golf with us and many of the locals who came into the sport and excelled. Today, there are no more Bahamian golf pros, but it is my wish that

we can honour the memory of Roy Bowe but pushing for more golf pros in our country.

During the time of Mr Bowe, there were several others who developed into golf pros. But sadly today there are none who can carry on the legacy that he first started. The government of The Bahamas must take a bold step and realize the impact that a local golf pro can have. When Mr Bowe was a golf pro over at the Paradise Island golf course, he attracted hundreds and hundreds of top golfers from around the world to The Bahamas. We have the potential, we just need the opportunity.

It is my wish that the memory of Roy Bowe will live on in The Bahamas through the uplifting of more Bahamians as golf pros on local courses. Mr Bowe did so much for us and paved the way. It is only fitting that we strive to develop more to follow in his footsteps.

Mr Roy Bowe is still missed greatly and we will continue to uplift his spirit.

Sleep on my hero, thank you so much for all that you did for me and many other Bahamians. We will never forget you and the contributions that you made to help us.

Your friend.

GLENN PRATT Nassau November 1, 2018

Shamful state at Okra Hill EDITOR, The Tribune HOW could Okra Hill Lodge, just off Shirley Street, be left in that state, and probably humans living in the building – without the police or Urban Renewal knowing?

Video on the news clearly showed a heavily littered building, within sight of the street – a blind person could have seen it, but…

Any derelict building has to be a priority, for the police and Urban Renewal,

to inspect and get approval to bulldoze the building and clear the site.

Why in this case, and probably so many others, the police and Urban Renewal were simply unreactive to an obvious location, that any criminal element or persons wanting to do a criminal act would seek the security of such a building.

Again, we constantly hear the hype for the RBPF and RBDF, but it would seem a lot is lacking – talk is

cheap, a young life has been lost and another who was with him, a young woman, is seriously injured. This could have been avoided. If our security agencies were acting as they should – not running up at a crime scene after the fact!

I hope that the Coroner will investigate this incident, and bring all hell on the police.

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau October 31, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 2, 2018, PAGE 5

We won’t turn up for work, threaten nurses from page one which it stated was held in an attempt to further discussions on the impending standardised shift system.

“During the October 30 meeting with the BNU,” the statement read, “the PHA confirmed its intent to maintain the implementation date of December 10, 2018 for the new standardised shift system for nurses, and once again invited the BNU to provide documented feedback related to the proposed roster system identified for each PHA institution.

“The BNU confirmed that it was not in a position to do so,” it continued.

PHA said it has asked the union to present its arguments against the new shift system in writing by today and a follow up meeting is set for Tuesday.

Yesterday, Mrs Williams accused the authority of misrepresenting the issue.

“They (PHA) did not rebut at all,” Mrs Williams said, “the lawyers just asked for us to start and do things the right way. They realised what Obie (Ferguson) saying is documented and legal, cases were seen before. They know there is no standing and court will rule in favour of BNU. They realise that,” she said.

“The PHA Act which is registered, the law,cc17.3, states if you are enjoying a good benefit, no one can take away the good benefit that you are enjoying. In their law, in their act, they cannot go against that, and the nurses say that’s good for me.”

Moreover, Mrs Williams said she was told by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in August the matter would be put on hold until he had returned from his vacation.

She told The Tribune it was shameful that both Dr Minnis and Labour Minister Dion Foulkes

THE BAHAMAS Nurses Union protesting outside the Princess Margaret Hospital on Monday remain silent over negotiations, which she claims are being conducted in contravention of labour laws, and the PHA Act. Mrs Williams also hit out at Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, whom she said has not presented any cogent opinion on the matter.

Dr Sands has previously said he will not interfere with negotiations so long as they are being conducted in good faith, and suggested the outspoken nature of health professionals in recent months was indicative of a democratic political environment.

“If I am the Bahamian public

I wouldn’t take nothing what Dr Sands say,” Mrs Williams said, “he’s talking a bunch of stupidness. His arguments are terrible. “[Dr Minnis] said to us when he comes back he will deal with the shift change,” she said, “from then shift change is on hold. The PM put a hold on the shift change, the country forgets. How is it that the PHA now takes it up? The PM has to come to the nation, and let us come to the table, let’s come together. A proposal is not two letters and that’s that.”

Mrs Williams said: “[Mr Foulkes] needs to step in. He has

NHIA PLANNING TOWN HALL MEETINGS IN GRAND BAHAMA

DR ROBIN ROBERTS, chairman of the the National Health Insurance Authority

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net THE National Health Insurance Authority will hold town meetings in Grand Bahama on Monday and Tuesday evening as part of its 45-day consultation period with stakeholders and the public to discuss proposed changes to the NHI programme.

The meetings are both set for 6pm and on Monday will take place at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Eight Mile Rock and on Tuesday at Church of the Ascension, Freeport.

“As we take steps to improve the NHI programme to better meet the needs of Bahamians, it is important that we hear from residents and stakeholder groups across the archipelago,” Dr Robin Roberts, chairman of the NHIA board, said in a press release.

“We will start in Grand Bahama and also have plans to travel to Abaco, Exuma,

Eleuthera, Andros, Long Island and New Providence to discuss the new direction for NHI and hear from a broad spectrum of Bahamians on what they think is the best way forward to improve health care in the Bahamas.

“We acknowledge there have been some questions raised by stakeholder groups regarding the plan and we welcome their feedback and that of the public. The goal of the consultation process is to collaboratively establish the new framework for NHI which will improve health outcomes for The Bahamas as we continue on the path to universal healthcare coverage.”

NHIA will also consult with representatives of the business community in Grand Bahama to discuss proposed changes to the programme.

“On behalf of the local business community, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce supports the

consultation process and welcomes the opportunity to discuss the proposed framework for the new National Health Insurance programme.

Businesses understand the importance of a healthy and productive workforce and we look forward to meeting with the NHI Authority to discuss their proposal,” noted Mick Holding, president of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, in a press release.

Those who are unable to attend these meetings can submit their feedback through the online consultation survey which can be accessed at https://www. cognitoforms.com/NationalHealthInsuranceAuthority/ NHIAPolicyPaperFeedback Based on the feedback collected during the consultation period, NHIA will then present recommendations to the government on the way forward for NHI Bahamas.

not said anything and that is a shame, I cry shame on them. [Mr Foulkes] should have written a letter formally that what is written is illegal, and what the PHA is doing they must do it the correct way. He has a legal team in labour and he must do it the right way.

“But he has not commented, not given a formal letter for the strike certificate.”

Nurses overwhelmingly supported a strike during a poll this summer but the government denied them a strike certificate, telling the press the poll failed to give every nurse an opportunity to vote.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey Sr/Tribune Staff The Tribune tried to contact both Mr Foulkes and Labour Director John Pinder but did not get a response up to press time.

The PHA announced last week that the four days on/four days off shift will change to a five days on/two days off shift in over a month.

The two sides dispute what impact the change will have on the well-being of nurses; and also its legality given that a 2014 agreement on the shift change between the BNU and PHA was not adopted in its 2015 industrial agreement.

PAGE 6, Friday, November 2, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Blackout!

Cellphone ban at FNM conclave

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AS a Free National Movement conclave begins tonight, one former deputy prime minister says he hopes the Minnis administration’s struggle to create job opportunities for Bahamians will top the agenda.

“Most people are concerned that the jobs are not coming as soon or as fast as they wish,” said Frank Watson, a former Cabinet minister in the first two Ingraham administrations.

“That’s the major complaint. Thank God for tourism, but that can only help so many people. The economy has been on the downside for the last five to six years and you have to put a lot of effort into getting work for the children who come out of schools looking for work.”

According to the most recent job figures, the national unemployment rate stood at 10 percent in May, falling slightly from 10.1 percent in November 2017.

The FNM’s conclave will assemble parliamentarians, council representatives, executives and party officers in what

organisers hope to be a frank dialogue about the party’s successes and failures after nearly 20 months in office.

As if to highlight the desire for frankness, participants will not be allowed to bring their cell phones to the sessions, which are closed to the media and general public, one party source told The Tribune.

In a ZNS report last night, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said he looks forward to the airing of concerns at the two-day conclave.

“We will regroup, reorganise ourselves and project ourselves even further,” the prime minister said. “At the same time we’ll look to see if there are any problems that we may face ourselves within the organisation that we are not vocalising.

This is the time to vocalise the problems. Let’s resolve them now because we must get ready to move into the 2022 election and new governance again in 2022 to 2027.”

For his part, Mr Watson said aside from job creation, a second major concern of his is that some parliamentarians have not been visible enough in

their constituencies. “It’s very important if they want to be returned to government that they develop a relationship with their constituents,” Mr Watson said.

“From what people tell me they are not very visible and I know a lot of people.”

One issue the former DPM hopes consumes little oxygen at the meeting is the standing of four FNM MPs who have bucked their party on key issues in recent months – Centreville MP Reece Chipman, Golden Isles MP Vaughn Miller, Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine and Bain and Grants Town MP Travis Robinson.

“I suspect that will be on the agenda, but I don’t know why they would want to deal with them just now,” Mr Watson said.

The four “rebel” MPs broke with their party on two of the most divisive parliamentary issues of the year, the decision to raise value added tax to 12 percent and a decision to rent the Town Centre Mall, which is partly owned

by Financial Services and Immigration Minister Brent Symonette, to temporarily house the General Post Office.

FUNERAL SERVICE FOR Angela Carolitha Pinder (nee Carey), 86

of Spanish Wells, & formally of Nassau & Tarpum Bay South Eleuthera , who passed away peacefully at her home in Spanish Wells on Tuesday October 31st 2018, will be held at the Spanish Wells Methodist Church at 2pm Saturday November 3rd. Interment will follow in the Spanish Wells Public Cemetary. Officating will be the Rev. Charles Sweeting.

Angela was born on February 29th 1932, the seventh of eight children born to the late Roggie & Lily Carey of Tarpum Bay South Eleuthera. At the age of 16, she moved to Nassau seeking employment, staying with her oldest sister & her husband Romanda & Leonard Knowles. Her employment started at Solomon Brothers on Bay Street. Over the next 40 plus years, she worked at the Pipe Of Peace stores in the East Bay Plaza, Out Island Traders Plaza, Paradise Island, Maderia Plaza, & The Mall at Marathon. In 1993 she moved to Spanish Wells. She was employed with the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven until August 2015, when she had to stop for health reasons.

She was pre-deceased by her husband Rudolph “ Duffie “ Pinder, her parents Roggie & Lily Carey, two sisters, Mrs. Romanda Knowles & Mrs. Sybil Carey, two great granddaughters Shawnae & Chyna Sands, & one great grandson DJ Sands.

She is survived by her four daughters & their spouses, Linda & George Sweeting of Spanish Wells, Ruth & David Knowles, Dianne & John Albury, & Karen & Elden Moree, all of Nassau; Son David Pinder of Spanish Wells; Eight grandsons & their spouses, Shawn & Nicole Sands, Ivanhoe Sweeting, Terence Sweeting & his fiancée Lindsey Ott, Lyle & Cassandra Sweeting, all of Spanish Wells, Devin & Holly Sweeting of Crowne Point, Indiana, Nathan & Lisa Knowles, Alexander Albury of Nassau, & Lenny Russell of Hope Town Abaco; Five adopted Grandsons & their spouses, Mrs. & Mrs. Alejandro Jose Osorto Duarte of Tegucigalpa Honduras, Aaron Isaac Vilchez & Yohnser Javier Vallejos Osorto of San Marcos De Colon Honduras, Jefferson Missael Fuentes & David Steven Fuentes Bottel of Condega Nicaragua; Three Grandaughters & their spouses, Tabitha & Shane Wells, Tammy & Neil Forsthye, Ashley & Shyan Ferguson, all of Nassau; Two adopted Grandaughters, Jullisa Eunice Garcia & Stacy Nahomy Dormus of Condega, Nicaragua; Five Great grandsons, Cameron Fox, Carter Wells, & Isaiah Knowles of Nassau, DJ Sweeting of Crowne Point Indiana, & Evan Sweeting of Spanish Wells; Four great granddaughters Angel Sweeting of Crowne Point Indiana, Caitlin Wells & Alissa Ferguson of Nassau, & Trinity Sweeting of Spanish Wells; & A Dear Cousin Peggy Pinder.

She is also survived by, One brother & his wife, Lloyd & Janet Carey of Nassau; Step son & his wife Gordon & Maureen Pinder; The children & families of the late Mrs. Sybil CareyTreco; Nephews & their spouses, Rev. & Mrs. Charles Sweeting, Eugene Carey, Mr. & Mrs. Reggie Carey, Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Carey, Brian & Samantha Carey all of Nassau, Mr. & Mrs. Michael Carey of Gregory Town, North Eleuthera; Step Grandson Danny Pinder of Detroit Michigan; Nieces & their spouses, Mrs. Edna Albury of Spanish Wells, Judy & Billy Higgs, Darlene, Debra, Michelle, Rochelle, Patrice & Sherelle, all of Nassau; Step Grandaughter & her family Debi & Dennis Pellar & Ashly of Fenton Michigan; the Calvery Bible Church family Nassau, the People’s Church family Spanish Wells, The Pipe of Peace/ Solomon Brothers family, and numerous other close family members and friends.

Funeral arrangements will be handled by the Spanish Wells Mutual Aid association.

There will be no viewing.

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis says he is looking forward to the two-day conclave.

SHRINKING DEFICIT PROVES WE ARE GOING RIGHT WAY, SAYS CULMER FREE National Movement chairman Carl Culmer has highlighted the country’s shrinking deficit as proof the Minnis administration is delivering on its promise of fiscal responsibility.

“In 2017 we made a promise to the Bahamian

people to get the government’s financial house in order, which would be no small task considering the situation that the PLP left this country,” Mr Culmer noted in a statement. “But once again, the hard work of the FNM government proves to be working by

Funeral Service Freda Theresa Baker, 94

of William Street, Nassau, The Bahamas, who died at her residence on Wednesday, 31st October, 2018, will be held at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Shirley Street, Nassau, on Tuesday, 6th November, 2018 at 11:30 a.m.

Father Anselm Russell will officiate and interment will follow in the Sacred Heart Church Cemetery, Shirley Street, Nassau.

She was predeceased by her parents, Anthony Saadi Baker and Cawcob Baker; sisters, Lulu, Almoza and Nezera and brothers, Frederick, Useph, Saadi, Anthony, Mitchell and George Baker.

She is survived by her sisters, Mary Baker and Virginia Baker; sister-in-law, Juanita Baker and many other relatives and friends numerous nieces and nephews including, James A. Donahue III (Deborah), Michael J. Donahue, George A. Donahue, Stephen F. Donahue, Ann Marie Donahue, Josette Baker, Elizabeth Baker, Peter Baker (Anne), Robert Baker (Shawn), Michael Baker, Nettie Baker, Diane Rohe, Janie Goodman, Mitchell Baker, Cathi Strout, Philip Baker, Jr., Mark Baker, Maria Fisher, plus numerous caregivers in The Bahamas and the United States.

Arrangements Limited.

by

Kemp’s

Funeral

Home

reducing the annual deficit.

“There are no easy choices when deciding how to run the country. But there are right choices and that is exactly what the current government has been making and will continue to make, as promised, for the Bahamian people.”

This week the Ministry of Finance released data that revealed the country’s deficit declined by more than 50 percent in the first quarter and revenue increased.

The data also showed value added tax revenue brought in $199.4m, up 19 percent for the quarter.

“The release of this information also marks a great step forward in public transparency,” Mr Culmer continued. “The In-Year Quarterly Performance Report will ensure that the people are seeing an open and honest accounting of how much money the government is bringing in and sending out. “. . . Each and every day, the members of the government are working hard to continue to deliver on the promises that were made to the people. And both the deficit and the new quarterly report show that they are delivering on our promises day in and day out.”

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 2, 2018, PAGE 7

THE BLOOD Donor’s Society of Grand Bahama is holding its Red Soiree tomorrow at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club.

Red Soiree to raise funds for mobile blood centre

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Blood Donor’s Society of Grand Bahama is holding its first fundraising event, Red Soiree 2018, tomorrow at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club to raise money to purchase a mobile blood donation centre.

President Lededra Marche said the organisation wants to increase blood donations to replenish the blood supply at Rand Memorial Hospital.

She said a blood mobile will allow them to go into communities throughout the island and make it easier for members of the public to donate blood.

At Saturday’s event, a

Red Soiree cocktail will be unveiled and there will be a live painting demonstration

by Bahamian artist Ben Ferguson Jr. People may also sign-up on the volunteer blood registry.

According to Ms Marche, the Blood Donor’s Society of Grand Bahama was founded in May 2017.

“Since that time, we have been moving full speed

$700K COLLEGE CLERK THIEF SEEKS APPEAL from page one

In April, Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson sentenced the 40-year-old to 15 years in prison — nine years for the 16 counts of falsification of accounts and 15 years for the eight counts of stealing by reason of employment.

The sentences relative to the separate charges are to run concurrently, making for 15 years total.

She was unanimously convicted of the “24 counts of dishonesty”, as Justice Grant-Thompson put it, in February by a nine-member jury.

At the time, Gibbs was also ordered to pay back the $704,580 she stole from the school within the next five years, via annual installments of $140,916.

Failure to do so will result in an additional year in prison, Justice GrantThompson said.

The judge also ordered that the $66,369.26 on

Gibbs’ various accounts at Scotiabank, FirstCaribbean International Bank and Commonwealth Bank, be forfeited to the Public Treasury.

However, the judge said via that forfeiture, Gibbs would have satisfied almost half of the first installment to be repaid, making for a difference of $74,546.74.

According to court documents, Gibbs served as both a senior clerk and a human resources assistant at the college.

The jury was told Gibbs stole over $700,000 from COB by reason of her employment at the institution. The jurors were also told Gibbs falsified numerous COB direct deposit files, the result of which purported to show she was entitled to over $200,000 in salary payments.

According to the evidence given at trial, Gibbs accomplished the latter feat by manipulating the information contained on certain documents to be submitted

to the Bank of the Bahamas on behalf of COB. As a result, Gibbs received up to $13,000 over and above her monthly net salary of $2,395 between 2008 and 2015. In total, Gibbs paid herself $640,000 extra between those seven years to various bank accounts at Commonwealth Bank, Scotiabank FirstCaribbean International Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada.

In her sentencing remarks, Justice Grant-Thompson said Gibbs’ actions were “brazen and reprehensible,” and noted a “high degree of planning” was required to execute such an “egregious level” of criminality.

She also said that in previously being employed at the country’s premier tertiary institution and ultimately tasked with dealing with the payroll, Gibbs committed an “egregious, shameful and reprehensible” abuse of the trust placed in her.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

ahead with our campaign to enlist residents from throughout Grand Bahama to join our volunteer blood registry, which was initiated last December as a means of replenishing the blood bank at RMH,” she said.

Since the group’s founding, three major blood drives were held, and organisers were able to demonstrate how simple

the process is.

“Everyone deserves a fighting chance, and the (Grand Bahamas Health Services) and Grand Bahama Red Cross Centre have joined us in our ultimate goal to purchase a bloodmobile…and to set up a 24-hour help desk,” she said.

Dr Catherine Adderley, vice president of the group,

said the organisation continues to raise awareness of their blood donor initiative.

“Blood is disposable and every month we need to replenish our blood supply at GBHS, and a blood mobile will make it more convenient for donors to give blood.

We want to ask the public to give blood because the life you save could be your own,” she said.

PAGE 8, Friday, November 2, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

The best things in life... are they free?

A FUNNY thing hap- “WOW! Daddy, look… a pened on the way to radio!”

A radio? calming my sons down I knew the silent war to after an afternoon playing lure our children into a lifebaseball.

They said they were time allegiance to the world hungry, and being the of fast food was a relent(guilty) fast food parent I less and expensive one, but am when I’m pressed for surely there couldn’t be an time, I immediately bribed actual radio in that box, him with a trip to the near- could there?

Sure enough, there was est Drive-thru. (It’s amazing how much cooperation a little red mp3 player-like you can get out of children object in my son’s hands when you bring chicken which he was quickly able nuggets to the negotiating to determine was a radio.

It even came table!) with a pair of As expected, When we are little red ear they were young (and plugs. pleasantly Before I quiet on the sometimes notcould digest drive back so-young) we the irony that home as they don’t realise he may now be salivated in just as invested the backseat the sacrifices in the world with wide eyes our parents of radio as I and no doubt and family am, it dawned savage dreams on me that the of ripping make in order batteries I was open their kid’s to afford even putting into meals as soon this little player as we set foot small luxuries probably cost in life, and this in the house. more than the Ever since generation — thing itself. his mother It was, after — my wife Eddie Minnis all, free right?

— got on her would say the That got super-healthy “gimme me” me thinking food trip, eveof how happy ryone in our generation — my son was home has been is not inclined with his find, going through to learn that this seemingly some sort of dinky little French fries lesson just yet. treasure of withdrawal.

I will admit even the dogs his with three buttons and have been giving me dirty a light. Would he still feel looks as I shovel tons of the same way in a few years leftover carrots and peas when he realised it couldn’t into their bowls. So this store fifty gazillion songs, divergence — on this day — and didn’t have the letters SONY or a picture of a was a real treat for my boy.

What I didn’t expect was half-eaten apple on it?

As much as we somethe loud scream that emanated from my youngest times indulge our children son mere seconds after he to no end we also teach tore into his food container, them (or allow them to

SO you just did it and got a pair of shoes others would see as cool - but does getting the cool things bring happiness? learn) that everything has a price and a value.

Somehow, along the way, they learn that expensive equals good and therefore cheap must equal bad.

I don’t know exactly when… but it happened to me, too.

I only remember begging my mother for a pair of Clarks for the new school year because the “sweet water” tennis shoes I’d kicked rocks with all summer long definitely would not be seen as cool.

Then I needed the freshest clothes (expensive) and best toys (expensive), not to mention the pocket change I begged for because all my friends were getting an allowance.

An allowance!

When I think back now I know I never did live up to my end of the bargain.

Many days the dogs were ready to burst as they

waited to be walked and the garbage was left steaming as I neglected to take it out but I was always ready to throw a well-rehearsed tantrum for that allowance.

Because I wanted things… cool things… and cool things cost money.

When we are young (and sometimes not-so-young) we don’t realise the sacrifices our parents and family make in order to afford even small luxuries in life, and this generation — Eddie Minnis would say the “gimme me” generation — is not inclined to learn that lesson just yet.

How much have we spent on designer clothes when the only real difference between a shirt and the one next to it is the price tag and the emblem on the pocket?

Don’t get me wrong, I know sometimes you do get what you pay for but if we

are honest with ourselves we will admit it all comes from the same place.

(Hello, China!)

It’s gotten so bad that we hardly ever refer to the product but rather the brand: It’s, “My MacBook Air,” or “My iPhone,” or “My 2018 Aston Martin v12 Vantage.” (Ok, maybe that last one snuck in from my many daydreams).

The point is why can’t we just see things for what they are?

At the end of the day, you have a decent computer, a decent phone and a (very) decent car.

But that’s all they are and all they will ever be; if you hit anything hard enough it will break.

Since my son got his “radio”, all his other toys have been abandoned like a Republican debt ceiling plan.

Those trendier

(expensive) playthings mean absolutely zero to him right now.

There’s an old expression that says if you want to make something expensive make it free. These days, I had begun to think if you want to make something undesirable make it free.

But a funny thing happened on the way to calming my sons down after an afternoon playing baseball — fast food lecture aside — I learned the value of spending time with my boys and that when you are still innocent enough and genuine enough, you realise the best things in life can still be free.

I love my wife, but that “health food” will kill you. (Real men don’t eat quiche!)

I wonder my sons are ready to go hail up the “Colonel” with their Dad?

READERS ON BAHAMAS LAGGING BEHIND GAZA STRIP THERE was a lively reaction on tribune242. com after the World Bank

concluded it was easier to do business in the war-torn West Bank and Gaza Strip

Terminal Manager wanted at Tropical Shipping to manage our processes and procedures related to vessel, terminal, equipment control operations and equipment maintenance.

Great opportunity to manage freight handling equipment and coordinate facility maintenance including stevedoring, port interchange and yard activities, as well as warehouse and freight distribution, all while keeping safety #1. If you’re interested in joining the Tropical Team and highlighting your leadership skills, please contact: rfox@tropical.com 5+ years’ experience in port operations management preferred.

than The Bahamas.

The_Oracle said: “The truth sucks. No amount of technology and reform of processes can overcome the simple and arbitrary civil servant obstacle/ refusal to stamp/sign/facilitate without favour/bribe/ sweet talk. The existing processes served the British empire for centuries, based on civil servants ‘serving’. Fix the damn people! Stop appointing those who would ‘set up shop’ within government departments.”

TheMadHatter referred to Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest’s assertion that The Bahamas was frequently “short changed” by assessments from the World Bank and

other international agencies, which often failed to account for improvements and reforms enacted by the nation: “LOL. Yeah sure. The Bahamas doesn’t actually SUCK it’s just that others ‘fail to account’ for our wonderfulness. That’s the silliest one so far this year. These fellows need to move to Hollywood and do stand-up.”

Bcitizen said: “I have to take blood pressure pills and Ativan before I enter

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

The Public is hereby advised that I, RODNEY DOUGAL WOOD of 3421NW 94 Terrace, Miami, FL 33147, intend to change my name to ELIJAH AMOKACHE MZILIKAZE. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of the publication of this Notice.

any government office.

They work harder at not working than if they just did their job.”

OldFort2012 had a suggestion: “I have an idea how to climb that ladder 50 places in one fell swoop: Fire everyone in the civil service, replace with no one. Just leave empty chairs. Problem solved.”

Tribune Business also reported that Bahamian insurers believed the $1,000 annual premium for National Health Insurance’s basic package may “grossly underestimate” the true cost of the scheme’s benefits.

That prompted this response from Dawes: “Of course $1,000 isn’t going to be enough. They know this but they also know once it’s started we will all have no choice but to accept the increase.”

Former DNA leader Branville McCartney urged The Bahamas to explore alternative industries to its “crushed” financial services sector.

Sickened had this to say: “No matter what industry we excel at the larger countries and organisations (OECD,

WTO) will target us. If we start exporting starfish they will put so many environmental and ecological constraints on us that it won’t be worth it.

If we find oil and have the potential to become a major exporter they will regulate it so their nations’ oil companies can’t invest here. We simply won’t be able to compete in the global market.”

And ThisIsOurs said: “ICT is the way to go.

Throw the CEB bill in the garbage, it’s wrongheaded.

It empowers foreign business owners who will pack up and leave when it gets rough just like Bran’s client. We need to be empowering local people who will find a way to make it work because this is home. Amazon, Google, Facebook have one thing in common. They’re all ‘one’ good, perfected, thing. That’s all we need.

We don’t need critical mass ‘yet’ . . . We need one good thing. Although ten good things wouldn’t hurt.”

• Don’t miss your chance to join the debate on tribune242.com.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 2, 2018, PAGE 9

Medical council told to rethink licence decision

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net A SUPREME Court judge has ordered the Bahamas Medical Council to reconsider its decision not to grant a Family Island doctor a licence for independent practice, calling the decision “bad in law” and worthy of being set aside.

Justice Ian Winder, in a written ruling, found there was “no proper consideration” of Dr Mandela Kerr’s independent practice application, and that the reasons the council gave for refusing the application cannot “be sustained in law and upon the evidence.”

However, Justice Winder said he would “resist” his inclination to order Dr Kerr to be registered by the BMC, instead deciding it would be more “prudent” for him to remit the matter to the council for a “proper consideration” of that doctor’s application.

According to the ruling, Dr Kerr secured his medical degree on July 12, 2007, from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences Santiago de Cuba. In the following years, he obtained three more qualifications, such as the grade 1 specialty in comprehensive general (family)

JUSTICE IAN WINDER Medicine; a diploma in nat- gynaecology, family mediural medicine; and a grade 1 cine, and three months in the Princess Margaret specialty in dermatology.

He was also successful Hospital’s Accident and in the Caribbean Associa- Emergency Department.

In January 2017, Dr Kerr tion of Medical Council’s Examination held October/ was posted by the DPH as medical district officer, the November 2015.

He worked for the only medical doctor (MD) Department of Public for the island of Andros Health (DPH) from 2016 and stationed in the Miriam and has worked in almost Green Clinic in Kemp’s all of the government clin- Bay. He was officially given ics in New Providence. responsibility for Mangrove He also successfully com- Cay in October 2017.

At some point, Dr Kerr, pleted supervised rotations working in paediatrics, given his qualifications and

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experience, applied for registration and licensure as an independent medical practitioner and specialist.

However, the BMC, in a letter dated November 16, 2017, determined he was “ineligible” for registration under Section 15 of the Medical Act, 2014, to engage in independent practice.

They further noted in the letter that he was required to complete two years of “supervised rotational medical practice” and successfully pass the special purpose examination (SPEX). And upon his successful completion of the SPEX, he would be “eligible” for registration and licensure as an independent medical practitioner.

Dr Kerr, and his attorneys Kahlil Parker and Roberta Quant, appealed the decision on numerous grounds, but chiefly that the BMC requiring him to take the SPEX was “unreasonable” and “unlawful” and that given his “overwhelming qualifications and experience,” he should not have his licensure and registration “subjected to any further or other arbitrary, unreasonable, unlawful and ultra vires conditions.”

Dr Kerr further contended the BMC failed to provide him with any

reasons, or any sufficient or adequate reasons, for the decision, which thus deprived him of any reasonable opportunity to scrutinise or “critically analyse” the BMC’s conclusions.

When the matter went up for hearing, the council had contended that Dr Kerr was licenced under Section 22(3)(c), and that his registration was granted because he was in the public service where the opportunities for supervision exists.

In essence, they argued Dr Kerr’s qualifications sanctioned the treating of public patients but not private ones. They further contended that his licence to practice medicine and surgery, issued by the BMC in December 2017, specifically noted he has “no right to independent private practice”.

However, Justice Winder said “no such distinction” is drawn in the Act regarding registration and neither does there appear to be the power to create such a category in the register.

Additionally, he said that allegation is not evident on the face of Dr Kerr’s licence, as there is “nothing to suggest that he was able to be subject to continued supervision.”

Justice Winder further

noted that Dr Kerr had a “valid complaint” when he said the BMC gave him no sufficient or adequate reasons, if any, for the decision.

Furthermore, Justice Winder said there is no provision for the BMC to register persons for “independent” practice, and neither is there any provision for a medical practitioner to be licensed to attend to private patients, but not public patients.

Justice Winder said what Dr Kerr applied for and was refused by the BMC was the fully licenced medical practitioner, thus, it is for that licence the BMC “must consider him”.

“In all the circumstances, I am satisfied that the decision to refuse the registration of (Dr Kerr) was bad in law and must be set aside,” Justice Winder said.

“I am not satisfied that the statutory reasons were provided or that such reasons as were provided could be sustained in law and upon the evidence.

“In the circumstances, I allow the appeal setting aside the decision of the council. In as much as there was no proper consideration of the application, I remit the matter to the council for a proper consideration having regard to my decision herein.”

PAGE 10, Friday, November 2, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Oprah leads the democrats in Georgia GEORGIA Associated Press IN A rousing speech in the Republican-leaning suburbs of Atlanta, Oprah Winfrey yesterday urged voters to make history by backing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in next week’s election.

Winfrey called Abrams a “changemaker” who represents the values of all Georgians.

“I am here today because Stacey Abrams cares about the things that matter,” she said to a mostly female audience north of downtown Atlanta.

Seventy-five miles (120 kilometers) north, vice president Mike Pence stood alongside Abrams’ opponent, Brian Kemp, in

Dalton, and mocked the billionaire media icon as just another liberal outsider trying to impose on Republican-run Georgia.

“Stacey Abrams is being bankrolled by Hollywood liberals,” Pence said.

Pence drew boos from the crowd when he mentioned that “Oprah is in town” and noted that actor Will Ferrell was recently in Georgia for Democrats.

“I’d like to remind Stacey and Oprah and Will Ferrell, I’m kind of a big deal, too,” Pence said, adding “a message for all Stacey Abrams’ liberal friends: This ain’t Hollywood. This is Georgia.”

The competing scenes — from the candidates, to the audiences, to the headliner guests — underscore the choice Georgia

WINFREY praised Stacey Abrams and drew cheers when she said she’s a registered independent who was not in Georgia at anyone’s request.

voters face next Tuesday in one of the nation’s premier midterm matchups. After yesterday’s duelling outsiders, former President Barack Obama will follow on tomorrow for Abrams.

President Donald Trump will appear with Kemp on Sunday and previewed his argument on yesterday.

“I’ve always liked Oprah,” he told reporters at the White House. “Oprah’s good, but the woman that she’s supporting is not qualified to be the governor of Georgia by any stretch of the imagination.”

Abrams, a Yale-educated lawyer who served a decade in the Georgia Legislature, would be the first black female governor in American history.

Video of cop killer is used by Trump

PRESIDENT Donald Trump talks about immigration and gives an update on border security from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington yesterday.

Trump says asylum seekers must go to ports of entry in order to make a claim.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh WASHINGTON Associated Press THE widows of two police officers the Mexican immigrant murdered were invited to President Donald Trump’s 2017 address to Congress. The conservative Breitbart News faithfully chronicled his conviction and death sentence. His snarling, expletive-filled rant about killing police officers appeared in a little-noticed January 2018 Trump campaign ad.

Now, Luis Bracamontes’ menacing smile has abruptly taken a central role in Trump’s closing midterm election argument about immigration as the president tweeted out a video of the Latino man’s courtroom appearance in what was immediately denounced by some Democrats and Republicans as a racist campaign tactic.

Bracamontes, an immigrant living in the country illegally, sports a shaved

head and long chin hair and speaks in accented English in the video, and his words are clear: He’s killed cops and he’s “gonna kill more cops soon.”

The video, which Trump tweeted late on Wednesday, alleges without evidence that Democrats were responsible for allowing Bracamontes into the US. It comes amid a frenzy of hardline immigration proposals pushed out by Trump in the final stages of the campaign, including sending troops to the border and revoking birthright citizenship.

Bracamontes, a twicedeported immigrant from Mexico, was sentenced to death in California for the 2014 killings. The 53-second video includes expletives uttered by Bracamontes during his trial as he professed regret at not killing more officers.

“Illegal immigrant, Luis Bracamontes, killed our people!,” the video states,

adding, “Democrats let him into our country ...

Democrats let him stay.” It includes scenes of a migrant caravan moving toward the U.S., warning ominously, “Who else would Democrats let in?” and suggesting that more violence would soon penetrate the border.

The ad was reminiscent of the infamous “Willie Horton” ad used against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988 and condemned as racist. Horton, who was black, raped a woman while out of prison on a weekend furlough. As Massachusetts governor, Dukakis supported the furlough program. Dukakis went on to lose to Republican George HW Bush.

The video tweeted by Trump did not immediately appear to be running on television — it has a runtime longer than most TV ads — although it received extensive coverage on cable news networks. As

of yesterday afternoon, it had received 3.51 million views in less than 24 hours and was the “pinned” tweet atop Trump’s profile, meaning it was the first thing any visitor to his Twitter page would see.

The White House and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comments as to who made or paid for the video or if any tax dollars were used to run it from the president’s account.

“This is a sickening ad.

Republicans everywhere should denounce it,” said Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a frequent Trump critic. And Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., seeking re-election in a Democratic-leaning South Florida district, said he’d not seen the video but criticized Trump’s use of it.

“I can tell you that it’s definitely part of a divideand-conquer strategy that a lot of politicians, including

the president, have used successfully in the past,” Curbelo said Thursday on CNN. “I hope this doesn’t work.”

Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called the new ad the “dog whistle of all dog whistles.”

“This is distracting, divisive Donald at his worst,” Perez said on CNN. “This is fearmongering.”

The dark video stood in stark contrast to an ad circulated by the Trump campaign earlier in the week that highlighted rosy economic numbers and depicted gauzy scenes of American suburban life. That ad was part of a blitz by Trump’s campaign, and his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, did several interviews to promote it.

As for the new video, though, the campaign was silent yesterday and Parscale did not respond to requests for comment.

Synagogue suspect pleads not guilty PITTSBURGH Associated Press THE anti-Semitic truck driver accused of gunning down 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue pleaded not guilty yesterday to federal charges that could put him on death row, as funerals for the victims of the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history continued for a third day.

Robert Bowers, 46, was arraigned one day after a grand jury issued a 44-count indictment charging him with murder, hate crimes, obstructing the practice of religion and other crimes. It was his second brief appearance in a federal courtroom since the weekend massacre at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

“Yes!” Bowers said in a loud voice when asked if he understood the charges.

Authorities say Bowers raged against Jews during and after the

ROBERT Bowers remains in jail without bail massacre. He remains jailed without bail.

Bowers, who was shot and wounded during a gun battle that injured four police officers, walked into court under his own power, his left arm heavily bandaged. He was

in a wheelchair at his first court appearance on Monday.

Bowers, who is stocky and square-faced with salt-and-pepper, closely cropped hair, frowned as the charges were read but did not appear to have a reaction as a federal prosecutor announced he could face a death sentence. He told a prosecutor he had read the indictment.

One of his federal public defenders, Michael Novara, said Bowers pleaded not guilty, “as is typical at this stage of the proceedings”.

Bowers had been set for a preliminary hearing on the evidence, but federal prosecutors instead took the case to a grand jury.

The panel issued the indictment as funerals continued for the victims, including a husband and wife married at Tree of Life 62 years ago.

Marc Simon, the son of Bernice and Sylvan Simon, recalled his parents as a “beacon of light”

whose example can help “eliminate the hate that led to their untimely deaths.”

Hundreds of mourners turned out for the funeral where family members recalled the Simons as warm and welcoming, and dedicated to their faith and one another.

Their daughter, Michelle Simon Weis, said she enjoyed going with her mother to Costco, where Bernice, 84, make sure to try the food samples. Weis said she dreamed her father, 86, could now drive a sports car as fast as he wanted without “Mom telling him to slow down.”

The day’s other funeral was being held for Dr Richard Gottfried, a dentist who worked part-time at a clinic treating refugees and immigrants. The oldest victim, 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, will be honored at the last service tomorrow. Her daughter was injured in the attack.

SOUTH AFRICA ‘LEAVING DARK DAYS OF CORRUPTION’ JOHANNESBURG Associated Press

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country has survived a “dark period” when corruption was rampant and is now focused on achieving economic growth and land reform to win popular support in general elections next year.

“We are moving from a very dark period of our recent history,” said Ramaphosa, describing that his ruling party, the African National Congress, is working to root out graft. “We are in a new period now, we are no longer in a period of just sliding downward ... now we are beginning to deal with corruption.”

Ramaphosa said for the first time that he intends to testify before the Zondo Commission which is investigating the extent of corruption under former President Jacob Zuma, who resigned in February amid mounting scandals and faces criminal charges.

Ramaphosa said corruption in South Africa had become like an “amoeba with tentacles all over. To deal with it you must go to the heart of it and thereafter it then loosens its hold on everything else.” He said South Africa’s criminal justice system “will kick into action” and the time will come when “people are arrested, charged, found guilty and go to jail.”

Ramaphosa, 65, rose to prominence in the 1980s as a trade union organizer in the struggle against apartheid, South Africa’s former system of racial discrimination. When he became president in February, many South Africans hailed him as a leader who could steer South Africa back to the optimistic days when Nelson Mandela led South Africa from apartheid to democracy.

BRAZIL PLANS TO MOVE EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM SAO PAULA Associated Press BRAZILIAN Presidentelect Jair Bolsonaro is reiterating that he plans to move Brazil’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, joining the United States and Guatemala.

In a tweet Thursday, Bolsonaro said: “As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that.”

It was the first time since being elected Sunday that Bolsonaro has referred to his plan to move the embassy.

Some Brazilians have raised concerns about the idea.

Former Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S. Rubens Barbosa has warned that such a move could hurt Brazil’s poultry exports. He says that Brazil “would be throwing away $6 billion per year in poultry sales to Arab countries.”

PAGE 12, Friday, November 2, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Breathing new life into youth centres

By RIEL MAJOR THREE youth centres have been renovated as a part of the government’s Citizen Security and Justice Programme and will be used as a safe environment for young people.

CSJP is funded by a $20m loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Minister of National Security Marvin Dames has previously said CSJP represents a comprehensive, holistic approach to reducing crime in the country, combining preventative strategies with institutional strengthening activities at both the local and national levels.

Yesterday, Darron Turnquest, director of youth in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, took the media on a tour of the centres.

He expressed joy that the Department of Youth has been included in CSJP. “It gave us an opportunity to decentralise the work that we do within the Department of Youth and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture,” Mr Turnquest said.

He said this allows the ministry to take its work directly into the communities that need help.

“We want to make certain

that the focus is there are spaces for you with youth in mind. Not only are the programmes going to be youth-centred, the place itself is going to be also representative of what we see in countries like South Africa, Australia, Canada and the United States.

“I ask people the question, when they often ask me about these youth centres and what it means and the question is, have you seen a Boys and Girls Club or a YMCA or a YWCA kind of spirit for young people in this country, and that has not been present or as robust as we would like it for young people, and this

DIRECTOR of Youth, Darren Turnquest took the media on a tour of Big Pond Youth Centre, The Fox Hill Community Centre and Quakoo Street Community Centre yesterday.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

is the opportunity for us to create just that.”

The centres are located in Big Pond, Fox Hill and Quakoo Street.

Rochelle Lightbourne, a coordinator of the programme, said: “The government has accepted this initiative and this challenge to create an all-inclusive integrated approach to prevent crime and violence in the country.

“We want to be able to give young people an opportunity to have a safe environment to have some activities they can draw from that will help to empower, encourage, and motivate them. We do (that) through a number of ways – there are some training initiatives that we are doing, we talked about the gender-based violence and the sexual prevention.

“We need to look at the conflict resolution because one of the things that is very important to us is preventing crime finding those non-violent conflict resolution strategies where people have an opportunity to do things that is different from picking up a weapon and doing harm.

“The other is to look at some life skills and safe dates, we want to go into the schools and give students the opportunity to think about what a healthy relationship looks like, what is healthy when it comes to resolving family conflicts. We have so many dysfunctional family units in the country, so we want to address those,” she said.