WILL TALK
PHARMACIES
FNM MEMBERS ‘EXPECTED TO MEET STANDARD OF BEHAVIOUR’
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
FREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard said the party is going to make certain that members exhibit decorum and conform to a standard of behaviour.
He said those who vio late this standard will be disciplined.
His comments came after the party’s vice chairman and supporter of former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, Richard Johnson, made accusations towards FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands.
The issue prompted an emergency FNM council meeting on Monday night.
“At this time, the Free National Movement, in my view, the chairman in my view, is acting contrary to the constitution of the FNM and so they’re going to, it’s
MUNROE DEFENDS RECRUITS HIRED TO FIGHT CRIME
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.netAffairs Minister
Michael Halkitis yesterday insisted the government will not reverse its decision to enforce new
control regulations
shutdown action taken by pharmacies yesterday.
the
He said government expects the changes to be implemented and warned that operators who fail to adhere to the policies will face the consequences.
Private pharmacies are to reopen from 8am this morning after shutting down operations across the country on Tuesday after the government agreed to a meeting today between Prime Min ister Philip “Brave” Davis and industry representatives.
MARINA
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.netA RESORT and marina development is seeking government approvals to construct on New Provi dence’s southern shore a 600-vessel boat storage facility that can withstand Hurricane Dorian-strength storms.
Legendary Marina Resort at Blue Water Cay, according to documents
filed with the Department of Physical Planning, is also seeking permission to
develop a 100-slip marina, marine service facility, bou tique hotel, rental villas and a mixed-use office/retail component at a location right at the southern end of Fox Hill Road.
No details were provided for the number of jobs, or value of investment, that is involved in a development which will be largely con structed on land reclaimed from the sea via dredging.
NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe yesterday defended the work of people engaged by his ministry to assist in the nation’s crime fight follow ing criticisms from former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis regarding their performance.
On Monday, Dr Minnis accused the Davis admin istration of not having a workable plan to deal with the nation’s rising crime and also took aim at those hired by the Ministry of National Security to assist with vio lence interruption.
WALLACE: JUST WHO IS IN
Public: Closing pharmacies was selfish
By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.netRESIDENTS called yesterday’s closure of sev eral private pharmacies a selfish act leaving them in jeopardy.
Private pharmacies tem porarily “closed shop” in response to the gov ernment’s price control expansion.
Shantia McBride, the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association’s (BPA) presi dent, on Monday advised the group’s members that it was in their best interest to close their doors, starting yesterday.
The temporary closure was in retaliation to the government’s failure to respond to the price control alternatives submitted by the BPA.
Yesterday, The Trib une canvassed several government clinics that were suggested by the Min istry of Health and Wellness to fulfil the pharmaceutical needs of the public.
Charmaine Sears spoke to this newspaper outside the Fleming Street Clinic as she expressed her vexation with the closure of the pri vate pharmacies.
“I feel what they (pri vate pharmacies) are doing is wrong. At the end of the day, you have persons who need their medication. For them doing that it’s detri mental to persons.
“They need to come up with a better way, I don’t think that they should force the government’s hand by closing because it’s wrong.
“You can’t force the government’s hand by dam aging the country. Persons need their medication, what happens if they don’t get it
and they die then what?” Ms Sears asked.
Another resident, Tommy, said he understood the BPA’s position in terms of its decision to temporar ily stop business, however he said these types of deci sions only hurt consumers in the end.
While speaking outside the Fleming Street Clinic he pointed out that many government clinics hardly ever have the medication needed.
“Never have enough of nothing. If you have some thing like the common cold, they are going to run out quick. Now critical stuff, definitely you won’t come here for that,” he said.
He added that every time you tune into the news there’s another harmful dis ease out.
He suggested that an agreement between the pharmacies and the gov ernment needs to be made before people suffer.
The frustra tion of the private pharmacies being closed was also felt by residents at the Flamingo Gardens Clinic in Carmichael.
Some residents sat outside in the hot sun anx iously waiting to be called and served.
One woman told this newspaper that private pharmacies should have given customers more notice.
She said: “We are talk ing about lives; we are talking about people who really need medication. We have some persons that are dying, who really need pres sure medicine and asthma medicine.”
As The Tribune can vassed government clinics
yesterday, many residents sang the same tune of dis pleasure about the hours of waiting, lack of access to medication, and stress that comes with seeking medica tion from public clinics.
The Public Hospi tals Authority (PHA) announced on Monday an extension in hours and expansion of staff capacity to support the public’s phar maceutical needs.
“The Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) remains open 8am to 4pm to fill out patient prescriptions. Until 10pm, PMH will continue to offer an on-call pharma cist to support emergency requests. Additional phar macists will be scheduled per shift to provide support as needed,” PHA said.
When The Tribune vis ited PMH, there was a long line of people waiting to get inside the pharmacy.
It was said the hospital’s pharmacy had an influx of people inside waiting to be served, with additional indi viduals waiting outside the building.
One woman explained that before going to the hospital she had visited two government clinics that did not have the medication she required.
Under the govern ment’s initial proposal, price-controlled mark-ups range from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharma ceutical wholesalers. For retailers, the range is from 35 percent to 40 percent. The medicines covered include vaccines, anti-dia betic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, antihypertensive medicines, cough prepara tions, cardiovascular agents and serums.
Govt will talk to pharmacies
Mr Halkitis said last night the meeting was agreed on the stipulation that the businesses end their action. Some pharmacies did open their doors yesterday afternoon, this newspaper understands.
The sector does not sup port the government’s expanded price control regime, including the reduc tion of the profit margin on price-controlled drugs, and has since submitted propos als with alternatives that could offer relief to Baha mians, but at the same time not hurt the pharmaceutical industry.
Yesterday morning, the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association (BPA) said they had yet to hear back from officials, prompting members to gather at the Office of The Prime Min ister yesterday in a bid to speak with Prime Minister Philip Davis.
When asked whether the government intended to meet with operators ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Halkitis said Cabinet was already meet ing and advised pharmacy owners to return to their stores.
Mr Halkitis also explained the reason why officials have yet to respond to BPA, telling reporters officials were still in the process of examining the contents of their proposal to come up with a response.
However, while doing so, he said the sector decided to close its doors in a move he said that was “totally unexpected”.
“I received a letter from the pharmacy association on Thursday past, having met with them the previous week. We’re in the midst of analysing the contents of the letter and preparing our response, when, you know, totally unexpected we have the shutdown without notice,” he told reporters before yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
“We expect the pharma cies to follow the law. All right, we understand that there is some concern about the complete implementa tion of the amendments and as you mentioned, there was some concern about people being afraid of the fines, but we want to stress
that we expect complete implementation.
“We are prepared for those who are in the middle of implementa tion and might need a few days to make sure that they are completely, have completely imple mented the amendments, we are prepared to forego enforcement but we are not prepared to countenance total disregard for the law and taking a stance as if they will not implement at all.
“We expect them to follow the law. Having said that, as I said, we have an understanding that some of them, they were con cerned about complete implementation and thus being exposed to fines and we are prepared to work with those who fall into that category.”
However, pharmacists told reporters yesterday that they were expecting both parties to come up with an amicable resolu tion before the government started enforcing the rules. Hence, the reason they closed their doors was so as not to be found in breach of the law.
However, Minister Halki tis said the only thing the government assured opera tors was that enforcement
of the new policies would take effect November 1 instead of the initial Octo ber 17 target. He also reminded them that the new policies were only temporary and said in this vein, pharmacies should remain open and bide with the changes until the government comes up with a more permanent solution to bring relief to the Bahamian public.
“Let me remind the public that these amend ments were put in place in an effort both in terms of groceries and in terms of pharmaceuticals to bring some relief on a temporary basis, three months in the case of pharmaceuticals, six months in the case of the grocers,” Mr Halkitis continued.
“During that time, we would look at working
towards, you know, meth ods where we can have a more permanent solution.
Having said that, in the case of pharmaceuticals out of the three months now, we are already two and a half weeks into that and we’re still having, you know, talks about continued consultations.
“We think it’s more con structive for pharmacies to open and we expect them to
open.” As for those operators, including food retailers, who refuse to enact the changes, Mr Halkitis said: “We are not prepared to countenance a disregard for the law.”
This comes after Phillip Beneby, president of the Retail Grocers Association (RGA), which represents 130 food stores throughout The Bahamas, said mem bers will not implement the original price control pro posal by the deadline.
Still, Mr Halkitis asserted: “We can under stand if someone says ‘we need some time, we’re working towards it, but we need time for full imple mentation’. What we will not countenance is some one saying ‘I will not obey the law’.”
He insisted that there will be enforcement and those who refuse to obey the law will suffer the consequences.
However, as reported in today’s Tribune Busi ness section, retailers said they had not seen any price inspectors visit today.
Speaking to reporters outside OPM yesterday, Shantia McBride, the Baha mas Pharmaceutical Association’s (BPA) presi dent, said throughout the entire process, the body has been “disrespected and bamboozled”.
She also warned that if the pharmaceutical sector cannot reach a compromise with the government, diffi cult decisions may have to be made soon.
“At this time, we cannot afford to be fined today (Tuesday),” she said, “and based on those margins, we cannot afford to close tomorrow (Wednesday) so if those margins are to con tinue even if they’re saying for three months, then some of our small phar macies may close and we can’t have that for big or small pharmacies right now and if a small pharmacy closes, that may be one or two jobs but for a big phar macy, that’s possibly ten to 20 and the wholesaler, much more and that ripples down to their family and community.”
Asked yesterday if he was concerned about potential layoffs because of the move, Mr Halkitis said: “No.”
PINTARD: GOVT IS ‘HARD-HEADED’ OVER PRICE CONTROLS
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.netFREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard accused the govern ment of being “arrogant” and “hard-headed” in its approach to implementing expanded price controls.
He spoke to reporters the same day private pharma cies “temporarily” closed due to the failure to resolve the price control expansion dispute by the November 1 deadline.
“We are in this position where entrepreneurs who feel that their businesses are at risk of closing, Bahami ans losing their jobs, have taken a dramatic step to draw attention to the failure of this government to do at least two things before it put in place the price control measures,” he said.
He said one decision
the government ought to have made was to conduct an analysis to determine whether or not a solution that is being considered is going to have unintended bad consequences.
“In this case, they did not conduct the appropriate analysis. Secondly, the gov ernment failed to consult.
So in the absence of a study, it is absolutely necessary for policymakers to have a conversation with the sec tors that are going to be affected. They made tech nical errors. So where they thought they were maybe affecting 38 items it turns out that they could very well be affecting hundreds if not thousands of items.
“What is true according to wholesalers, according to retailers, whether they’re grocers or pharmacists, is that at least 60 percent to 70 percent of some of their busi nesses and their products are
now affected by the decision of the government. And once again they asked ‘Can we sit down and have a conversa tion about how we can do this’ so that one, the consum ers are protected in terms of having affordable items, whether it’s food or medica tion, baby products, etc.
“The government again has been hard-headed, arro gant in its approach that even when persons pointed out obvious technical errors in the classification of goods, as well as when they pointed out that the mar gins that the government is interested in imposing on Bahamian entrepreneurs who are assisting thousands of Bahamians, the govern ment still did not relent and have a reasonable conversation with these entrepreneurs.”
He said it is “unfair” for the government to then ask a particular category of
Bahamian entrepreneurs to solve a problem that offi cials have been elected in large measure to tackle.
So they are asking the pri vate sector to solve an issue that is the inflationary pres sures heaped on the backs of Bahamians. They want one particular group to address it. To the credit of a number of these groups that have been negatively affected, they have said we are pre pared to do our share,” the
Marco City MP said.
“The government, how ever, has refused to do its part. The Free National Movement has made sev eral recommendations and we are happy to hear members of the media and others echoing a number of those measures.”
He suggests removing VAT off medications, baby products and breadbasket items.
“But at a minimum, the
government can remove VAT on all of those items that are even being consid ered and they have failed to do so. The second thing we believe that the government has the ability to do to take pressure off Bahamians is they could reduce the extrav agant travel that they are engaged in on a regular basis. They can cut the budget around the many consultan cies that they have put in place,” Mr Pintard said.
MAN KILLED IN TWO-CAR COLLISION
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings @ tribunemedia.netPOLICE are investigat ing a traffic accident that occurred on Fire Trail Road west off Gladstone Road, which left a man dead yesterday.
According to police, around 12.40pm the police control room received a call about a traffic accident in the area.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers confirmed that there was a two-car colli sion that resulted in injuries of passengers from both vehicles - one male and three females.
“Preliminary investiga tions revealed that the male driver was travelling east on Fire Trail Road and attempted to overtake another vehicle, also travel ling east, when he collided with a bronze-coloured Honda CRV that was trav elling west along the same road,” said Chief Superin tendent David Lockhart of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Traffic Division.
The man, said to be in his 30s, died of his injuries at the scene.
One woman is listed in critical condition and the other two are in stable con dition, according to CSP Lockhart.
He also confirmed that the country’s traffic fatality count is 37 thus far for the year.
Earlier this month, Assistant Superintendent Stephen Rolle said recent traffic deaths are a con cern and also noted that drivers should be vigilant as the Christmas season is approaching.
“We are coming close to the Christmas season now, you will find more vehicles on the road, pedestrians, and even motorbikes. So, I want to say to those indi viduals who may be driving recklessly or within breach of the speed limit to be mindful of the other road users. And try to avoid any mishaps as much as possible. Like I said, we are nearing the Christmas season and we want this to be a safe Christmas for all,” he said.
Darville: We have enough drugs to cope with closures
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.netHEALTH and Wellness Minis ter Dr Michael Darville yesterday gave an assurance that his ministry has the capability of accessing addi tional pharmaceutical drugs for the Bahamian public if needed should pharmacies continue to remain closed.
He spoke to reporters ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister where members of the Bahamas Pharma ceutical Association gathered to speak with the government about their concerns with its expanded price control regime.
Pharmacy operators across the country have opposed the changes and even closed their businesses yesterday to avoid being levied fines for failing to implement the new regulations.
The closures forced the Ministry of Health to expand the operation hours yesterday for its local clin ics so that Bahamians would have access to vital medicines.
“As it stands right now, we are satisfied with what we have,” Dr Darville told reporters yesterday of the current supply. “We are in communication with our wholesal ers, the SMA as well as the Public Hospitals Authority are on high alert. If we realise that there are shortages, we believe that we have the capability under logistic man power resources to ensure that the pharmacies are able to supply the demand.”
When asked how long the min istry was able to sustain operations in the event private pharmacies remain closed, the minister could
not say the extent of their inventory.
However, he added: “Well, we are definitely now in a mode where all of the key players are at the table in the Public Hospitals Authority and the Department of Public Health. We have means and ways how we can access medica tions out of the country, about as
far as I am aware of the wholesalers are still operating.
And there are some contractual agreements that we have with the Public Hospitals Authority that I believe are not in jeopardy. I believe most of this is at the private pharmacy level, and not so much at the wholesalers. So, we do have some contractual agreements that
we believe that the wholesalers would adhere to.”
He also said that as it stands now, officials were able to handle the current demand.
“Yes,” he said when asked if they were able to handle a large influx of people.
“Well, what we have is we have our teams on the ground to make the assessment. We have a basic understanding based on our patient load, what is the required medica tion on a monthly basis and from that we have calculated.
“Now that means that we may have an additional percentage and I think today and tomorrow, we will be able to have a better under standing so that whatever purchase agreements we need to go into and who we need to consult outside of the country and with those with our contractual agreements, we can do so very quickly.”
Under the government’s ini tial proposal, price-controlled mark-ups range from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharmaceutical wholesalers.
The medicines added to the price control list include vaccines, anti-diabetic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, antihypertensive medicines, cough preparations, cardiovascular agents and serums.
Asked about his reaction to yes terday’s closures, the minister said he was a bit shocked but noted that officials moved quickly to come up with a plan to accommodate those who may have been inconvenienced by the unforeseen shutdowns.
Last night, it was reported that pharmacies would reopen today with talks to be held with the government.
MUNROE DEFENDS RECRUITS HIRED TO FIGHT CRIME
Earlier this year, former senator and talk show host Rodney Moncur was engaged as an independent contractor by the ministry, while Pastor Carlos Reid was hired as a consultant.
Dr Minnis told The Trib une that workers were “receiving the people’s money” but not producing the desired results to help crack down on crime.
Responding, Mr Munroe called on the former prime minister to “stop playing politics” and also explained their roles in the ministry which he insisted was being done effectively.
“Firstly, there’s one consultant by the Minis try of National Security,” Mr Munroe said before a
Cabinet meeting yesterday. “That’s Dr Carlos Reid. Dr Carlos Reid is concerned with running programmes that intervene with fellows on the street and he does that. And if you have any idea about how it works, you don’t go around and put cameras on people you’re talking to. That is what he does.
“There is an independent contractor (Mr Moncur) engaged by the Ministry of National Security purely for community engagement and he engages with the community far and wide. There are programmes run by the Royal Bahamas Defence National Youth Service office that engage over 1,000 young people in positive behaviour.
“We’ve had to step it down from intervention at
high schools to interven tions at primary school. The Royal Bahamas Police Force has re-engaged Urban Renewal; all of these programmes the previous prime minister stopped.”
Mr Munroe said he was tired of hearing from Dr Minnis, who he claimed lacked understanding behind the root problems of crime and added if he did, he would not have ended many of the social pro grammes targeted towards youth that were previously in place.
“We now have 15-yearold people killing people. How they interacted from 11 to 15 is important and it’s a matter that we need to take responsibility and stop playing politics,” the minis ter continued. “The reality is that you’ve had an uptick
in crime everywhere, after the lockdowns. The lock down was psychologically brutal and so all over the world, you’ve seen it.
“Now, as I said, I’m get ting tired of him because he is a physician so he’s supposed to have insight on this. So, when he was making these decisions, he should have thought about it. He should have thought about the need for miti gation. They should have thought about the need not to stop urban renewal, not to stop programmes that interacted with young people and try to show them this is the right way to go. I don’t have time for foolishness.
“We’ve had an occa sion where you’ve seen our neighbours to the south. All of it is happening. I heard
they had a triple murder the other night involving a child. This isn’t limited to The Bahamas. It’s a global phenomenon.”
He also said the govern ment is open to hearing crime prevention strategies but has yet to hear from Dr Minnis “other than when he comes in the House (of Assembly) talks and then runs like a coward.”
“We’ve not had one engagement from him. A man who was at the wheel for four years, presiding over the decline in social programmes for four years. I have been nice and kind, but it’s about time that he stops his foolishness. He’s no longer the leader of the opposition. He probably needs to consult Mr Pin tard,” Mr Munroe said.
Candice Rochelle Clarke, 19
of Croton Road, off Faith Avenue, Nassau, Bahamas, will be held will be held at Bible Truth Ministries, Martins Close, Nassau, N.P., The Bahamas on Thursday, November 3rd, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. Officiating: Bishop Deon Mott. Interment will follow in Lakeview Memorial Gardens & Mausoleum.
She is survived by Mother: Candace Bodie; Father: Cardrin Clarke; Step-Mother: Sherria Russell; Step-Father: Sergeant 2995 Keno Coleby; Grandmothers: Willamae McGregor & Rose Ferguson; Sisters: Keanna and Keandra Coleby; Aunts: Pastor Monica Paul, Donell Seymour, Glendamae (Dwayne) Bain, Melissa (Kevin) Cleare, Inez, Aneicia (Alexo Johnson), & Tekeya Bodie, Kishna (Nebat) Williams, Jamilah Miller, Florence Johnson, Nicola Ferguson, Romeka, Sinkka, Kenya, Deann, Susan & Irene Clarke; Uncles: Poence, Oratio, & Tekeyo (Denisa) Bodie, Ricardo Spencer, Van Munroe, Udena, Don, Quinton, Lorenzo & Raymond Clarke; Cousins: Anishka and Andrew Seymour, Able Seaman Gordon Bowles, Marine Seaman Petrovich, Jaydon & Shadon Bain, Rickima Spencer, Rageine, Oratio, and Radaisha Bodie,Tashanté, Justin, & Zhyon Thurston, Kahlyn and Kanaan Cleare, Shercarlo Mott, Kiel Sears, Lathies, Lashae & Kaneisha Brown,Poence Bodie Jr., Alexa, Alisha & Alexo Johnson, Nekia, Nekira, & Nee-Kilo Williams, Quan Stuart, Delvina Sands, Torianne, Denae, Tavarno, Terez, Gysanti, Shavonder, Shavaldez, Shequita, Ashley, Xavier, Gracia, Brianna, Quinay &Brenetta Clarke, Deontae, Daleeah, Jason Jr., & Jamarro Ferguson, Tyra McKenzie, Charmaine Ferguson, Akela Johnson, Amia Demeritte & Geron Beneby, Malia & Michaela Newton & Kehlani Nicholson. Other Relatives and Special Friends: Marine Seaman Tenaj Wallace, Esteve Artis, Willy Leoniste, Milexia McGregor, the McGregor family, the Bodie family, the Clarke family, the Ferguson family, the Curtis family, the Forest community, the Revelation Church of Jesus Christ family, Anatol Rodgers High School Class of 2020, Maritime Cadets Corps., Sandals Royal Bahamian, Dermalogica Skin Centre, Bishop Deon and Pastor Troy Mott, Janet Grey & family, Susan Rolle & family, Garnet & Paula McGregor, Charles Clarke, Dwayne & Arthur Bodie, June Campbell, Cecilia Curry, Demris, Bethsheba & Valerie Ferguson and a host of other relatives and friends too numerous to mention
Relatives and friends may pay their last respects add Evergreen Mortuary, located on Village and Parkgate Roads on Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and again at the church on Thursday from 9:30 until service time
FNM members ‘expected to meet standard of behaviour’
time to take this matter to Bank Lane,” Mr Johnson said on Monday night.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Sands explained the meet ing was called to address some important internal FNM issues regarding what has been a long standing and vexing disciplinary matter with a particular party officer.
As for the outcome of the meeting, he said: “I can tell you that matter was put to council which is the second highest body of the party, second only to conven tion and a determination was made of disciplinary process to be followed in addition to the ordinary dis ciplinary process.
Asked about his claim that issues needed to be
aired out in court, Mr Johnson did not go into detail but gave general remarks.
“I will not be very explicit because council is governed by secrecy, however this has been in the public domain,” Mr Johnson said on Monday outside FNM headquar ters. “So what I will say is in the party we have seen that other people could get away with certain things and other people are chas tised for certain things. Our party was built on dissenting views. We’ve always been built on that so because people disa gree with a decision or a policy, people don’t take it kindly.”
Mr Pintard was asked about the matter at the party’s press conference yesterday. He was asked
if he felt the situation that unfolded with Mr Johnson is a sore spot for the party.
However, Mr Pintard shifted the attention to national issues that the FNM leader believes Baha mians are concerned about such as paying their BPL power bill.
“So when they look at the FNM, and if there’s any family discussions that are happening, that’s vigorous, they only want to make sure that listen, you all don’t miss this opportunity to make sure you’re all on the same page because this crew is not suitable in terms of governance. And we will make sure that you’re ready on day one to deliver on what they are failing to deliver on now,” he said.
“That’s the only way the public is really concerned about us. And we will be
PINTARD: WHY ISN’T ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY GOING TO CLIMATE EVENT?
By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.netFREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard questioned the makeup of the govern ment delegation headed for COP27 next week, saying the absence of officials from the Ministry of Environ ment “made no sense”.
His comments yesterday came days after an official of the Office of the Prime Minister announced that a 70-person delegation will attend COP27 in Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt, scheduled for November 6-18.
The delegation will include officials from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Office of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and the Department of Meteorology.
Mr Pintard said yester day, “For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Minister of the Envi ronment or the Minister of State would not have been involved in this dis cussion. I mean after all, it is an environmental con ference. It made no sense to me.”
Mr Pintard continued, “The Minister of Agri culture ought to be there. The Attorney General in my view ought to be home working on a robust leg islative agenda for this
government, which he has not been able to do. So, we don’t understand why he is there and the Minister of the Environment is not.
“He should be address ing the issues that’ll cause us to be blacklisted. That through their dereliction of duty, they have con tributed to,” he said at a press conference at FNM headquarters.
“His job at the end of the day would be to be advised by the technical team and then to execute, write a Cabinet paper based on those recom mendations to send to his colleagues.”
Mr Pintard said when he attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference two years ago, members of the delegation at the time all had a role to play and the trip was funded by a non-govern mental organisation.
“When I went to COP25, it was funded by the Organ isation for American States agriculture arm called IICA (the Inter-American Insti tute for Cooperation on Agriculture). On that same trip was the minister with responsibility for the envi ronment and both of us had a role to play on various committees.”
Mr Pintard added that in order to reduce the pressure on Bahamians, the Davis administration should focus on reducing
“the extravagant travel that they are engaged in on a regular basis.”
“They can cut the budget around the many consultan cies that they have put in place. Many of them are not working,” he said.
Last week, Prime Min ister Philip “Brave” Davis said he will continue to advocate for “justice and fairness” for small island nations during the cur rent climate crisis ahead of COP27 this month.
A day later, Rochelle Newbold, Mr Davis’ spe cial advisor on climate change and environmen tal matters, said climate financing will top the list of priorities for The Bahamas when a 70-person delega tion attends COP27 next week.
She said the government is only paying for its techni cal members to attend the event, saying some others who are going are funded by the private sector.
Mr Davis will be there among world leaders from November 6 to 12.
The delegation from The Bahamas will include Mr Davis, Attorney General Ryan Pinder, Agriculture and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting and a number of other people, including a strong youth presence, officials from the Department of Meteorology and Ministry of Health.
fine every now and again, there will be a little blip on the radar, but that’s all it is a blip. We’re going to make sure that the party behaves in a way that there is clear decorum in what we do. There is a standard of behaviour that every body must comply with and if they don’t they’ll be disciplined.
However, Dr Sands was open about the appearance that this matter may be a distraction.
“It is totally a distraction and yet we believe that the matter has to be dealt with. And we want the public to know that what is more important to Bahamians, the issues that Bahamians face every day.”
It is reported that a vote was taken at Monday’s meeting to bar Mr Johnson from future attendance.
Mr Johnson was asked if he was barred and the sus pected intent of the meeting was brought up.
He replied: “Well, that’s something that took place and that’s why there’s going to be a court matter.”
Dr Sands was asked to confirm if this vote took place.
“I think Mr Johnson would have given you that information themselves,” Dr Sands responded. “At the end of the day, I think the people of this country (are) shocked at the level of violence, challenges with the economy, with the reck less use of public funds by this administration, by the impending 160 percent increase in the electricity bills, etc.
“These are the things that they’re concerned about. They are not interested
or concerned about FNM affairs and any officer who decides to bring those issues to the public inap propriately, there obviously has to be some way to get focused once again.”
The party is battling the public perception of a rift between those who support Mr Pintard and those who support former party leader Dr Minnis.
Mr Johnson said Dr Minnis has done “won ders for this country” as he expressed his support for him.
“I believe he deserves a second chance to govern for The Bahamas. He has my unwavering support and I will work with him consist ently to be the government of the Bahamas once again, I make no apologies for that,” the vice chairman said.
SIR
PICTURE
1903-1914
DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt . Publisher/Editor 1919-1972
Editor 1972-1991
CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B.
1972-
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ANOTHER spate of murders has prompted questions over how effective the government’s strategy for fighting crime has been.
As we write this article, the murder count for the year stands at 113. Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said on Monday that at this rate, the murder count will outpace last year’s tally of 119.
He said: “It will surpass last year’s numbers. That’s not a debate.”
He then called on the government to deliver a crime plan that works, as the killings continue – and questioned ele ments already proposed.
One of those was the appointment of Pastor Carlos Reid and Rodney Moncur. Dr Minnis said: “Obviously those con sultants are not producing, they are receiving the people’s money but they are not producing because crime, vio lence and violent crimes and murders are going up.”
One of the aspects of those appoin tees’ work was to be the violence interrupter initiative, or so it seems. However, Dr Reid last month said that was still not up and running – which fairly reasonably prompts the ques tions of what is being done and what are people being paid for.
National Security Minister Wayne Munroe defended both of the appoint ments yesterday. He said there was only one consultant, Dr Reid, who was “con cerned with running programmes that intervene with fellows on the street and he does that”.
He added: “If you have any idea about how it works, you don’t go around and put cameras on people you’re talk ing to.”
Mr Munroe then described Mr Moncur as “an independent contractor” who “engages with the community far and wide”.
Except that while Mr Munroe now says Mr Moncur is not a consultant, that’s not what the Prime Minister’s office said. In April, the Office of the Prime Minister’s director of communi cations, Latrae Rahming, had described Mr Moncur’s role as being a “con sultant on crime” and as a “violence
interrupter”.
He said: “The Ministry of National Security has engaged former (oppo sition) Senator Rodney Moncur as a consultant on crime. We have said before that crime is a multifaceted problem that must be tackled from a community level and a policing level.
We have said that violence interrupters were a key component in solving the issue. We are using community leaders in our approach.”
Mr Rahming also noted the govern ment’s use of Dr Reid at the time, and said “there (are) a number of people who are violence disruptors. This is a key and new initiative the government is rolling out…”
For a key initiative, it’s taking a long time to roll. And whatever the peculiari ties of certain individual’s employment, it’s hard not to look at the soaring murder rate and think that whatever action is being taken, it doesn’t seem to be doing the job.
So when Mr Munroe leaps to the defence of current programmes while not really acknowledging what is hap pening on his watch, one wonders exactly what the strategy is that will actually stop this seemingly unending bloodbath.
All Mr Munroe does in response to Dr Minnis’ criticisms is point his finger at the previous administration and at global trends – and pointing the finger isn’t going to fix anything.
When is this violence interrupter ini tiative going to start? What are its stated goals? What is its budget? How much has already been spent? What will we do on top of that to stop another series of murders next weekend? Or the week end after that?
All around us, people are dying – and political point-scoring isn’t helping any of those in the path of the bullets.
What is the plan? And why is it taking so long?
These are questions the minister should be able to answer – and if the murder count continues to soar under his watch, he ought to expect tough questions. It is, after all, the toughest of tasks.
Delay over public service jitney buses
EDITOR, The Tribune.
I HAVE been relying on the service of the jitney for the better part of 15 years and I must admit that there were many days that I feared for my life just riding on those buses.
And oftentimes than not, senior citizens were being treated without the due respect worthy of the over sixty-ish. The tendency to pull off and not wait until we acquired seating, risking bodily harm increases... I have found that even when I am convinced that I was moving reasonably quickly, actually the desired effect could not be guaranteed... there is daily the struggle to get out of the bed and therefore, prayers to Father God asking Him to grant me the strength-to-get-upout-of-the-bed, is now a habit and He always grants it.
What am I saying? While some may indicate that age is only a number there are inescapable truths attached, countering that belief or thought processes.
So, management of the Road Traffic Department, we the retired citizens of this Bahamaland, believe that the time is rife for there to be some consid eration given to supplying senior citizens with the kind of bus service that would grant to people like me, the necessary time to board and obtain seating before
driving off? And I often wonder what were some of the training obtained by drivers? And if you were to complain... they would make the point for you to get off and catch the next bus?
Editor, who are these people? It seemed to me that many of those drivers were in primary school... during the time we senior citizens were manning the tiller (making our con tributions), protecting and serving the people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas... ought to mean something, but does not appear to, why?
While it might appear that I am gripping over nothing, I do believe that in many an instance the way a department goes about finding out the needs of a department and or ministry is by way of complaints... which helps them to fashion programmes, responses to situations occurring within their remit, etc?
Now, earlier today, I was caught stranded at Freder ick Street needing a jitney connected to Route #00, along with about fifteen people and right off the bat, a lady being quite upset with the delays, made a comment that I had never heard... and promised her
that that would be passed on, here it is thus: Maybe they need to put a button on the wall, pointing to the stop on Frederick Street north, where the # 00 comes. Further she said, if you need a bus just PRESS the Buzzer? Wow, this would help to revolutionise the industry, I think?
Editor, daily before stepping onto the jitneys, stresses me right out, as I am usually left wondering what kind of ride will this one be? This kind of antic ipation is really unfair, especially factoring that I am about to board a public service transportation, regulated by The Bahamas Government therefore, I should not be having panic attacks of this nature and regarding this service, why?
Another aspect of the headache is the vul gar-rude, without good manners- lyrics for the music they play and could care less about who elderly persons or little children hear and/or were annoyed, that music is for my enjoyment they would constantly say, and if you don’t like it, get the bus behind...you know, they say the bus behind, but often time no bus would be visible-behind?
FRANK GILBERT Nassau, October 31, 2022.Bosses already scheming around minimum wage
EDITOR, The Tribune.
I WOULD like to thank Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis for increasing the minimum wage from $210 to $260. This is some thing that the Free National Movement should’ve done after increasing VAT from 7.5 percent to 12 percent. In an age of inflation and VAT on breadbasket items, the extra $50 is a much-needed help.
However, despite the increase not coming into effect in the private sector until January 2023, I under stand that there are some bosses who are already putting measures in place to circumvent the increase,
such as cutting hours.
One lady at a large firm informed me that her bosses are already crying “poor mouth” over the mandatory increase, despite being millionaires.
These are women and men in their forties and fifties earning $210 per week or $5.25 an hour - pittance.
I think it is the height of arrogance and insensitivity to rail at these Bahamians for not having a college degree.
The truth is, not every individual is afforded the same opportunities as the privileged. $210 can hardly buy sufficient groceries to feed a family of five, let alone pay rent and the
utilities.
Families are having to decide which bill to pay and which grocery item they can do without.
I think the onus is now on the Davis government to counter the inevitable move by cheap bosses to avoid paying the $260, otherwise minimum waged workers will not benefit from the additional $50 the state has granted to them. The afore mentioned firm can afford to pay the $260. The issue is its ownership, possibly a miserly Scrooge who lacks conscience.
KEVIN EVANSSo what is the plan to stop the murders?
Munroe ‘not satisfied’ with DPP performance
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.netNATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe says officials are not satis fied with the Director of Public Prosecutions’ man agement of the office.
Mr Munroe said con cerns about how the office is being run as well as the issue of people on bail being murdered will be among the key items dis cussed when he and Garvin Gaskin, the DPP, meet in the days ahead.
The minister made the comments when asked whether his ministry planned to revise its crime fighting strategies given the recent spate of murders and the increasing number of men being killed while out on bail.
“From the standpoint of the ministry, I have engaged in talks with the chief mag istrate and chief justice with a view to getting imple mented the commissioner of police’s intent that when you come to court for a fire arms matter, the police will be finished with the presen tation of their case 14 days from the date that you go to court and with a hope that the magistracy can compel them the case to be con cluded within 21 days,” he told reporters yesterday.
“We’ve had positive feedback from that and
we hope to engage in that very shortly. With regard to persons on bail for murder who are waiting trials in the Supreme Court – that’s a more complex issue.
“I have to engage with the office of the DPP and I have asked Minister of State Jomo Campbell, who has responsibility for that office in the Office of the Attorney Gen eral, to arrange a meeting between myself, the com missioner and the DPP. We are not satisfied with his
management of the office in what we’re seeing, and we’re going to have a con versation over it.”
When asked to elaborate on his concerns about office operations, the minister replied that he didn’t want to speak in depth on the full list of matters.
However, he highlighted the DDP’s absence, or that of another higher-level offi cial, in certain murder cases and lamented the issue of alleged offenders being fined instead of remanded
when breaching their bail conditions.
Mr Munroe said yes terday: “The matters that are in the public domain because questions have been coming about it is they’re not pleased, for instance, that you could have a case for murder that is being defended by two (King’s counsel) and a number of junior lawyers, and he would not be doing it personally and people that are higher level would not be doing it.
“That’s regarded by the officers who work the case as being disrespect ful to their work and there is something to be said for that.”
The minister contin ued: “Currently, we are encountering the issue, as you would have seen and been documented, of persons being admitted to bail for armed robbery (or) murder being ordered to be electronically moni tored (and) breaching the terms of their bail, insofar as data is concerned, going back to court being fined in many cases, and not remanded.
“So, the issue there is that the courts respond to what is happening. He is inde pendently in charge of the prosecutorial system. I have not been advised that there have been any appeals of those decisions onward to the Court of Appeal.
“That is troubling to me as a practitioner who has been in practice for three decades.”
In view of these con cerns, Mr Munroe said he asked Minister Campbell to arrange the meeting as soon as possible, adding that “if it can be within the course of this week, that would not be soon enough for me.”
“It’s a problem that we have put together an entire unit - an electronic monitoring unit - headed by, I think it’s either a
superintendent or an assis tant superintendent. That is manpower directed towards the purposes that we moni tor people, and we need to have value and results for our efforts.
“I’m not satisfied that that is happening and my job as minister isn’t to do the police’s work, but to respond to the police when they have issues that arise, and they put it to me and I respond to that.”
This year’s murder count currently stands at 113 after four people, including two men on bail for seri ous crimes, were shot and killed between Saturday and Monday.
If this trend continues, the 2022 murder toll will outpace last year’s tally of 119.
When asked if the gov ernment was minded to stiffen legislation to crack down on the rising crime rate, Mr Munroe said The Bahamas already had “very high sentences” and added that he was satisfied with current penalties.
“Where we have to improve is getting the mat ters to trial and getting results,” he added. “It’s pointless to have a law that you get 40 years in prison if you never get to the end of the trial and so I’m satis fied that the penalty levels are fine. What we’re seek ing to address is to move to improve trial times.”
FATHER ADMITS HIS $259K DRUGS GUILT
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.netA FATHER was sen tenced to 18 months in custody yesterday after admitting to possessing $259,000 worth of mari juana police found because of a routine traffic stop of his son in 2019.
Demetrius Woodside and his son, Dominic Woodside, faced Magistrate Samuel McKinney on the final day of their trial. They faced charges of conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply and possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.
It was previously revealed in court that on September 30, 2019, officers on patrol in Montell Heights stopped Dominic in his vehicle in search of suspected drugs and firearms. An investiga tion of the defendant’s car uncovered a quantity of Indian hemp in a tool bag, of which the defendant said he was not aware.
After booking Dominic, officers acting on a search warrant proceeded to his
home at Chou Close on Carmichael Road. Once there they seized $259,000 worth of Indian hemp; the collective 259lbs of the drug were recovered in both the father and son’s respective bedrooms. Seven crocus sacks of Indian hemp were found in Demetrius’ room.
While the son maintained his innocence through out the trial, the father reversed his earlier position and pleaded guilty to both counts. He also told the court his son had nothing to do with this offence and asked for mercy on his son’s behalf.
Magistrate McKinney sentenced Demetrius to serve 18 months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for both charges, to be served concurrently. The father faced a further $15,000 fine in connection with the offence for which failure to comply will result in an additional nine months in custody.
The younger Woodside was officially discharged by the magistrate.
MAN ACCUSED OF TOUCHING 15-YEAR-OLD SISTER’S BREASTS
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.netA MAN was granted bail in Magistrate’s Court yes terday after being accused of touching his younger sis ter’s breast.
The 22-year-old accused, whose name is being with held to protect the identity of his sister, was represented by Robin Laing as he stood before Magistrate Samuel McKinney. There, he faced a charge of indecent assault.
On October 28, he is alleged to have indecently touched his 15-year-old sis ter’s breasts.
In court the accused pleaded not guilty to the offence. While his lawyer moved to have his bail reduced from $7,500, the magistrate denied the request due to the nature of the charge.
The accused is expected to return to court before Magistrate Algernon Allen Jr on November 4 for the fixture of his trial date.
AMERICAN WOMAN HIT POLICE OFFICER
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.netAN AMERICAN woman was ordered to compensate a police officer yesterday after admitting to attacking him at a nightclub over the weekend.
Brittany Okoh, of Miami, Florida stood before Mag istrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of assaulting a police officer.
On the night of October
30 at Sugar Hill night club, Okoh assaulted PC Alex Rolle while he was exe cuting his duties after he encountered her at the venue.
In court, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge and was ordered to financially compensate PC Rolle $300.
The accused was told that she would be allowed to return to the US after she pays the compensation.
Just who is in charge here?
THE news over the past few days has been quite interesting. A few stories have been dominating while others were blips. It can be useful to look at two or more seemingly unre lated news stories to make an assessment on the cur rent state of affairs. Asking questions “Who is in charge here?” and “Why was this the course of action taken” along with “Who is affected most?” can help us to get beyond the story itself and into what it tells us about where we are, and even who we are.
The change.org peti tion entitled “Removal of Christopher Columbus Statue Government House Nassau Bahamas” has, to date, received 16,277 sig natures. In 2021, on the National Heroes holiday weekend, someone took a sledgehammer to the statue of genocidal murderer Christopher Columbus at Government House. The statue had long been in this prominent position, and taxi and tour bus drivers stop there, holding up traf fic, to allow tourists to take photos of it. Finally, some one had taken an action toward it being removed. The statue was damaged, but remained, simply cov ered, for over one year.
In June 2020, more than one year before the sledgehammer event, it was suggested that Bahamians should march to demand the removal of the statue. This came less than one month after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota. Floyd’s horrific murder, captured on video, sparked widespread Black Lives Matter protests across the US and the world. Those protests inspired other actions in several countries where groups destroyed and moved racist and colonial statues.
Here, in The Bahamas, supporters of the Progres sive Liberal Party said that it was seeking to have the aforementioned petition, then with under 10,000 signatures, tabled in Parlia ment. At that time, Latrae Rahming (current director of communications in the Office of the Prime Minis ter) said the petition started “a conversation as to who we are and where we are”.
He added, “We must allow democracy to take its course, we must allow Parliament to accept the petition.”
On Monday of this week, it was reported that the statue of enslaved Chris topher Columbus was removed and is in stor age. Rahming said the removal was a joint effort by Government House, the Ministry of Works, and the Bahamas Antiquities Monuments and Museums
By Alicia Wallace
Corporation and that the government has not yet determined what will become of it.
My position on the statue is that it should have been removed a long time ago. While destroying it would bring great immedi ate satisfaction, it is likely more useful, for educa tion — about the past, the way it was taught, and the response of the people upon learning the truth — to store it in an appropri ate location where it is not elevated and is in no way perceived to be in a place of honour, for people to view it and learn about historical inaccuracies, how we come to the truth, and what we do about it.
Some people signed a petition. Some people have been debating whether the statue should be in a museum or destroyed. Some people have talked about this issue in the press. There has been very little, if any, public discus sion of the statue in recent months. Still, the statue has been removed. Does this make you wonder who is in charge here? Who made the decision, just in the last few days, to move it? Why was this course of action taken? Who decided that the removal would not be announced? Who was most affected by the decisions made and the subsequent action taken?
These questions are important, here, as we con sider what happened while we were not looking. They may be even more impor tant as we look at two other issues.
Since the 2017 report by the then Special Rap porteur on Violence Against Women Dubravka Šimonovic, the issue of marital rape has been in the news and in public discourse quite consistently. Equality Bahamas has been calling for the criminalisation of marital rape for several years, and it launched the #Strike5ive campaign in March 2020. It is clear that marital rape needs to be criminalised, first and fore most, by amending Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act to remove “who is not his spouse” from the definition of rape. That amendment would make it applicable, regardless of marital relationship. It has shared other necessary ele ments including a definition of consent and a clause on non-immunity on the basis
of marriage. Treaty bodies, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Human Rights Council have recommended that The Bahamas criminal ise marital rape. The calls for action have been clear and consistent.
Still, the government organised a ridiculous debate which it branded as “consultation”. The event was a disastrous display of misogyny and admissions of rape and supporting the rape of women by their husbands. The government wants us to believe that it is incapable of making the decision to recognise, pro tect, and expand women’s human rights. It would like us to believe that it needs the consent — imagine that! — of the people to protect more than half us.
What is different here? Who is in charge here? Is it the government, or is it another body? Is the entity that is truly in charge shirk ing its duties and trying to deceive us into thinking it is something or someone else? Why is the current course of action being taken? It is more than a lack of action of criminal ising marital rape. It is the ongoing refusal to accept responsibility, as the gov ernment, and fulfill its human rights obligations. Who is being affected most by this course (or lack) of action?
When it is convenient for the government, it uses its “discretion” and makes uni lateral decisions. When it is advantageous to the gov ernment, it stalls, debates, and consults.
The government is not the only entity that ignores that people most affected, seeking only to meet its own agenda.
Another news story that has caused upset and con fusion is the decision by The Bahamas Pharmaceu tical Association to advise member pharmacies to close starting on Novem ber 1. This is its response to the lack of response from the government to its own response to the price con trol measures announced. The association submitted its recommendations on October 27, six days after the general invitation was extended. Less than one week later, receiving no acknowledgment to its sub mission, it has taken this action.
Who is in charge here?
The government went ahead with price control measures, then invited stakeholders to share recommendations.
The Bahamas Pharmaceu tical Association did so, and has decided that it has waited long enough for a response. Why this course of action? The government, obviously, makes decisions without engaging with stake holders. Some stakeholders then decided to leverage their power. They have with drawn their services, daring the government to continue to ignore them.
Somehow, these entities have forgotten the people who are most affected by this course of action. It is not the government. It is people. People with illnesses. People with three pills left. People cannot afford to stock up on anything, medication included. People who just managed to get to a doctor on Friday and were waiting for their children to pick up the prescription this week. People who cannot survive with the medication they get from pharmacies. People whose prescriptions, let’s not forget, are held by a particu lar pharmacy, so that cannot just go to another one for a refill. People who are in pain, whose diseases must be slowed down, whose bodies need to be regulated,
for whom hospitalisation would cost too much or worsen outlooks.
Why are people so often forgotten? Why are people collateral damage? These pharmacies are concerned about the profits. Sure, that is the interest of businesses. We may have, however foolishly, expected some amount of care, or at least the appearance of human ity, especially from people choosing that particular area of work. Money, how ever, usually comes first. People are only as impor tant as the money they bring in. When they have no money, well, they may as well be dead anyway, right? This is what capitalism does. It shreds humanity. It takes human life entirely out of the equation, cen tering money. When businesses talk about profit margins, that is what they mean. This is not about their ability to keep their doors open to serve the public, but their ability to exploit people’s health and labour. They want to spend as little as possible, includ ing on salaries, in order to profit as much as possible.
The government is not without blame here. It has created this environment. It has prioritised certain insti tutional relationships over
the wellbeing of the people, especially those who are most vulnerable to sudden, sweeping changes. It was not long ago that we saw BPL would meet with hotels as one of its “main stakehold ers” after their complaints about the increased fuel sur charge. Meeting with hotels while ignoring the cries of the Bahamian people tells us everything we need to know.
The statue has been moved. We do not know where it will go. We did not have to do much, in recent months, to get it to happen. What will the government do now to address the issue of marital rape? What will it do to respond to the clo sure of pharmacies? Just as importantly, what will it do in response to this power flex by the private sector? What will the (segment of) the public (that is able to choose) do about the gross behaviour of businesses they patronize regularly? Pay attention to what is considered important by whom. Ask who is in charge. Think about the reasons behind actions. Always, always, always remember the people who are the most affected. They are, far too often, not in the stories, but suffering out of sight. Then, it is up to you do something about it.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi (they/them). This young adult novel fol lows Bitter, a young artist attending a school just for teenagers like her at a time of social revolution. The school, Eucalyptus, is a safe haven for the students as the town of Lucille is a place of unrest because of social injustice. Together, the students are navigating life in their particular cir cumstances, and they come to different conclusions about Assata which houses the young people on the frontlines of the protests and other forms of direct action. This book is a great way to start conversations
about activism and the various forms it can take, violent and non-violent resistance, mental health, and community care. The magical realism adds even more interest without dis tracting from the plot and the important themes.
2. Plan for a low-spend holiday. As the end of year holidays draw nearer, it can become more difficult to manage spending. It is helpful to make a plan a few weeks in advance, including how much you are going to spend and how much you want to save, put toward paying off debt, invest, and any other priorities. Start with what
you must do, in order of importance, then look for what you are able to do. Look closely at the num bers and be realistic about what is possible. Follow ing the reality check, make appropriate holiday plans and, just as importantly, note what you will not do. This may include purchas ing new decorations, going on a shopping trip, get ting new outfits for each holiday party you want to attend, or buying gifts for a long list of people. The numbers, your priorities, and having more than one month to mentally prepare will help you to commit and to follow through.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two NASA spacecraft at Mars — one on the surface and the other in orbit — have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet.
The high-speed barrages last year sent seismic waves rippling thousands of miles across Mars, the first ever detected near the surface of another planet, and carved out craters nearly 500 feet (150 metres) across, scientists reported last week in the jour nal Science.
The larger of the two strikes churned out bouldersize slabs of ice, which may help researchers look for ways future astronauts can tap into Mars’ natural resources.
The Insight lander meas ured the seismic shocks, while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provided stunning pictures of the resulting craters.
Imaging the craters “would have been huge already,” but matching it to the seismic ripples was a bonus, said coauthor Liliya Posiolova of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. “We were so lucky.”
Mars’ atmosphere is thin unlike on Earth, where the thick atmosphere pre vents most space rocks from
reaching the ground, instead breaking and incinerating them.
A separate study last month linked a recent series of smaller Martian meteoroid impacts with smaller craters closer to InSight, using data from the same lander and orbiter.
The impact observations come as InSight nears the end of its mission because of dwindling power, its solar panels blanketed by dust storms. InSight landed on the equatorial plains of Mars in 2018 and has since recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes.
“It’s going to be heart breaking when we finally lose communication with InSight,” said Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the lander’s chief scientist who took part in the studies. “But the data it has sent us will certainly keep us busy for years to come.”
Banerdt estimated the lander had between four to eight more weeks before power runs out.
The incoming space rocks were between 16 feet and 40 feet (5 metres and 12 metres) in diameter, said Posiolova. The impacts registered about magnitude 4.
The larger of the two struck last December some 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometres) from InSight, creating a crater roughly 70 feet (21 metres)
deep. The orbiter’s cameras showed debris hurled up to 25 miles (40 kilometres) from the impact, as well as white patches of ice around the crater, the most frozen water observed at such low lati tudes, Posiolova said.
Posiolova spotted the crater earlier this year after taking extra pictures of the region from orbit.
The crater was missing from earlier photos, and after pouring through the archives, she pinpointed the impact to late December.
She remembered a large seismic event recorded by InSight around that time and
with help from that team, matched the fresh hole to what was undoubtedly a meteoroid strike.
The blast wave was clearly visible.
Scientists also learned the lander and orbiter teamed up for an earlier meteoroid strike, more than double the distance of the December one and slightly smaller.
“Everybody was just shocked and amazed. Another one? Yep,” she recalled.
The seismic readings from the two impacts indicate a denser Martian crust beyond InSight’s location.
“We still have a long way to go to understanding the inte rior structure and dynamics of Mars, which remain largely enigmatic,” said Doyeon Kim of ETH Zurich’s Institute of Geophysics in Switzerland, who was part of the research.
Outside scientists said future landers from Europe and China will carry even more advanced seismometers.
Future missions will “paint a clearer picture” of how Mars evolved, Yingjie Yang and Xiaofei Chen from Chi na’s Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen wrote in an accom panying editorial.
SPACEX NAILS ITS BOOSTER LANDINGS AFTER MILITARY LAUNCH
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX launched its mega Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in more than three years Tuesday, hoisting satellites for the military and then nailing side-byside booster landings back near the pad.
Thick fog shrouded NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as the rocket blasted off at midmorning. The crowd at the launch site couldn’t even see the pad three miles (5 kilome tres) away, but heard the roar of the 27 first-stage engines.
By TOM KRISHER AP Auto WriterDETROIT (AP) — A small com pany called Sila has contracts with most major automakers to research or provide a promising new battery chemistry that can let electric vehi cles travel farther with a smaller battery.
The Alameda, California, com pany began more than a decade ago as a startup out of Georgia Tech, and co-founder and CEO Gene Berdichevsky says its chemistry can store more energy than current lith ium-ion batteries.
In current batteries, lithium ions move from anode to cathode, gen erating electricity by splitting into charged ions and electrons. Graph ite stores lithium atoms inside a battery until needed. Instead of graphite, Sila uses silicon, which can store more lithium.
Berdichevsky, who was an early employee at Tesla, talked with The Associated Press about the future of electric vehicles. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What do you see as the short comings of today’s lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, and how can your company change that?
A: The biggest shortcoming is cost. We’ve demonstrated that incredible vehicles can be made with today’s battery technology, very long range that consumers love and want to buy. The key now is to make every vehicle equally com pelling, and that means getting to lower-cost vehicles without sacrific ing performance, without making the vehicle have only 100 miles, 200 miles of range. Those are pretty
mediocre vehicles that people tend to not want to buy. To do that, you really need to drive down costs. The best way is to increase performance and to store more energy in fewer cells. By replacing graphite with sili con, every single battery in a vehicle can store 20% to 40% more energy. Then you can use 20% to 40% fewer cells to fill the battery pack. So the higher the performance of the chemistry, the fewer cells you need. The fewer cells you need, the lower cost the battery system can be for the same range. Silicon also allows you to increase performance. You can maintain the same number of cells and get much longer range.
That enables things like 500-mile vehicles.
Q: I know Sila’s silicon anode bat teries are in watches now. How long until they’re in electric vehicles?
A: Commercialising that requires a tremendous amount of work, par ticularly in terms of scaling up. Our silicon technology is currently in consumer devices, and we deliver about a 20% increase in energy den sity over state-of-the-art batteries today. We can do that in automotive cells as well. We’ve tested that with our automotive partners. But bring ing that to the market requires us to build a dramatically larger produc tion facility, which we started doing. We purchased a 160-acre site with a 600,000-square-foot building in Moses Lake, Washington. That’ll start up in late 2024 and go into full production in 2025. And then even tually 150 gigawatt hours, which is about 2 million cars worth of pro duction. You should start to see your first vehicles with our technol ogy toward the end of ‘25, early ‘26.
Q: You have a contract with Mer cedes. Is that the first brand to the battery chemistry? And what other automakers are in line?
A: The first announced customer is Mercedes. They’ll use our tech nology in their EQ lineup starting with the G Wagon. We’re work ing with quite a lot of different automakers and going through the very rigorous testing process to confirm the performance that we can deliver before before we can announce that we’re working with them.
Q: How does a silicon anode get rid of graphite and make the energy
storage capacity higher?
A: In a lithium-ion battery, there are two halves, the anode and the cathode. And these take up almost half the space in the battery. The way silicon works is it’s able to bond with many more lithium atoms than graphite can in a much smaller space. So you can take out the graphite which occupies half the battery and you can replace it with silicon-based material that will occupy maybe 25% of the bat tery. So now you end up with a little bit of extra space, and so you can shrink the size of that cell while storing the same amount of energy.
Q: When do you think we’ll all be driving electric vehicles?
A: We won’t all be driving EVs until probably the 2040s because there are so many vehicles on the road that will have to get turned over. Not only do you have to get to 100% of new cars sold being electric, but you have to do that for 10 to 15 years, because people do hold on to their vehicle. Turning the entire fleet over is going to take a until probably the middle of the century. I think the more exciting number is going to be when are we at 50%, 60%, 80% market penetra tion. The biggest constraint from us getting there by the mid-2030s is supply chain constraints. Can we find the nickel we need, can we find the lithium we need? Not find it but can we make those invest ments rationally? Can we ensure that permitting happens quickly, can we ensure that those invest ments become fruitful as as quickly as possible? I think it’s just going to be a question of the supply catching up with the demand, because the demand is obviously there.
Both side boosters peeled away two min utes after liftoff, flew back to Cape Canaveral, and landed alongside one another, just a few seconds apart. The core stage was discarded at sea, its entire energy needed to get the Space Force’s satellites to their intended extra-high orbit.
This was SpaceX’s fourth flight of a Falcon Heavy, currently the most powerful rocket in use. The first, in 2018, launched SpaceX chief Elon Musk’s red Tesla convertible; the next two Heavy launches followed in 2019, lifting satellites.
SHOOTERS SOUGHT IN RAPPER SHOOTING
THE fatal shooting of the rapper Takeoff has Hou ston police asking for the public’s help in identifying who opened fire outside a bowling alley early on Tues day, killing the 28-year-old member of the Grammynominated trio Migos and wounding two other people.
Kirsnick Khari Ball, known as Takeoff — onethird of the group along with Quavo and Offset — was shot around 2.30am.
An argument had broken out among a group of 40 people who were leav ing a private party at the downtown bowling alley, Houston police said.
Police Chief Troy Finner said Takeoff was “well respected” and that he has “no reason to believe he was involved in anything criminal at the time”.
BOLSONARO WON’T CONCEDE - BUT APPROVES TRANSITION
BRAZILIAN President Jair Bolsonaro yesterday stopped short of conceding the election to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, instead using his first public comments since his defeat two days ago to thank his supporters and encourage their protests, as long as they remain peaceful.
Moments after the remarks, which lasted less than two minutes, the out going president’s chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, announced that Bolsonaro had authorised him to begin the process of handing over power.
The conservative leader, who before the election had repeatedly questioned the reliability of the country’s electoral system, had little room for potentially reject ing the results.
NETANYAHU LEAD IN VOTE
FORMER Prime Min ister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to hold a narrow lead early in Israeli elec tions, according to exit polls, potentially paving the way for a return to power thanks to a boost from an extreme right-wing ally known for inflammatory anti-Arab comments.
The exit polls were pre liminary, and final results could change as votes are tallied overnight.
However, they pointed to a continued rightward shift in the Israeli electorate, further dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for possible conflict with the Biden administration and Israel’s supporters in the US.
Officials: Suspect in Pelosi attack was on ‘suicide mission’
SAN FRANCISCO Associated PressTHE man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home, beating her husband and seeking to kidnap her told police he was on a “suicide mission” and had plans to target other California and federal politicians, according to a Tuesday court filing.
David DePape was ordered held without bail during his arraignment yesterday in San Francisco Superior Court. His public defender entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. It was the first public appearance since the early Friday attack for DePape, a fringe activist drawn to conspiracy theories.
In the court filing, prosecu tors detailed the attack in stark terms as part of their bid to keep DePape behind bars. Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and woke up in a pool of his own blood, the filing said.
DePape’s intent “could not have been clearer”, Jenkins wrote in the filing. “He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi’s absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating on the near fatal attack on Mr Pelosi.”
Without being questioned, DePape told officers and medics at the scene that he was sick of the “lies coming out of Washington DC”, the filing said. “I didn’t really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I’m not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life.”
DePape allegedly said he had other targets, including a local pro fessor as well as several prominent state and federal politicians –- and members of their families. The filing did not nmae any potential targets.
“This case demands detention,” Jenkins wrote. “Nothing less.”
The 42-year-old defendant, whose shoulder was dislocated during his arrest, is scheduled to return to court Friday.
After the hearing, DePape’s public defender Adam Lipson said he looks forward to providing
DePape with a “vigorous legal defence”.
“We’re going to be doing a com prehensive investigation of what happened. We’re going to be look ing into Mr DePape’s mental state, and I’m not going to talk any fur ther about that until I have more information,” said Lipson, who noted that a no-bail detainer in state court is a moot point because DePape also has been placed on a federal hold in the case.
He later said he was pleased that Paul Pelosi was improving and urged the public not to pass judgment on what he called “a complicated situation”.
The attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi sent shockwaves through the political world just days before the hotly contested midterm elec tions. Threats against lawmakers and elections officials have been at all-time highs in this first nation wide election since the Jan 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, and authorities have issued warnings about rising extremism in the US.
DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. He also faces federal charges including attempted kid napping of a US official. Those charges are outlined in an affida vit detailing the assault, which was largely captured on police body camera imagery after authorities responded to a 911 call from the Pelosis’ Pacific Heights home.
In Washington, US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger provided a sobering update of security proto cols for members of Congress.
Manger said that although many improvements have been made since the Capitol attack, including the hiring of nearly 280 officers by the end of this year, “there is still a lot of work to do”.
“We believe today’s political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress,” he said
Manger said the attack on Pelo si’s husband was “an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during today’s contentious political climate”.
Speaker Pelosi was in Wash ington at the time and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members. She swiftly returned to San Francisco, where her husband was hospitalised and underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries.
District Attorney Brooke Jen kins said the assault on Paul Pelosi appeared to be premeditated, and she appealed to Americans to “tone down” the political rhetoric.
During a news conference after the arraignment, Jenkins said her office won’t release the 911 record ing or police bodycam footage unless they’re presented at trial.
CHINA FISHING FLEET DEFIED US IN STANDOFF ON THE HIGH SEAS
THIS summer, as China fired missiles into the sea off Taiwan to protest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, a much different kind of geopolitical stand off was taking shape in another corner of the Pacific Ocean.
Thousands of miles away, a heav ily-armed US Coast Guard cutter sailed up to a fleet of a few hundred Chinese squid-fishing boats not far from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Its mission: inspect the vessels for any signs of illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.
Boarding ships on the high seas is a perfectly legal if little-used tool available to any sea power as part of the collective effort to protect the oceans’ threatened fish stocks.
But in this case, the Chinese captains of several fishing boats did something unexpected. Three vessels sped away, one turning aggressively 90 degrees toward the Coast Guard cutter James, forcing the American vessel to take evasive action to avoid being rammed.
“For the most part they wanted to avoid us,” said Coast Guard Lt Hunter Stowes, the highestranking law enforcement officer on the James. “But we were able to maneuver effectively so that we were safe the entire time.”
Still, the high-seas confronta tion represented a potentially dangerous breach of international maritime protocol, one the US sees as a troubling precedent since it happened on the Coast Guard’s first-ever mission to counter illegal fishing in the eastern Pacific.
The Associated Press reconstructed details of the neverbefore-reported incident from the Coast Guard and six US nonmilitary officials who spoke of the operation in greater detail but requested anonymity to avoid jeopardising a multilateral process
seeking to force China to sanc tion the vessels. While diplomats in China accused the Americans of acting improperly, they didn’t pro vide their own detailed account.
The Coast Guard’s unprec edented voyage was prompted by growing alarm from activists and governments in Latin America over the activities of China’s dis tant water fishing fleet, the world’s largest. Since 2009, the number of Chinese-flagged vessels spotted fishing in the south Pacific, some times for months at a time, has surged eightfold, to 476 last year. Meanwhile, the size of its squid catch has grown from 70,000 tons to 422,000 — a level of fishing that some scientists fear is unsustainable even for a resilient species.
As revealed in an AP-Univision investigation last year, the Chinese flotilla includes some of the sea food industry’s worst offenders, with long records of labor abuse, illegal fishing and violations of maritime law. But they’re being drawn to the open ocean around the Americas — where the US has
long dominated — after deplet ing fish stocks closer to home and fueled by an increasingly fierce race between the two superpowers to secure access to the world’s dwin dling natural resources.
The illegal fishing patrol, which took place over ten days in August, was initially kept quiet. The Coast Guard, more than a month later, released a brief statement celebrat ing the mission along with photos from two ships it did manage to successfully board. But it made no mention of the three that ran away or gave any clue to the vessels’ nationality – a posture the Coast Guard maintained in its conversa tions with the AP.
But the incident didn’t go unno ticed in China.
Within days, Beijing fired off a formal written protest, according to the US officials. Additionally, the issue was raised when US Ambassa dor Nicholas Burns was summoned by China’s foreign ministry for an emergency meeting over Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, one of the officials said.
China’s foreign ministry told the AP that it has zero tolerance for illegal fishing and said it was the US that is flouting international norms by carrying out unauthor ised inspections that don’t follow COVID protocols, potentially put ting seafarers’ lives at risk.
“The behaviour of the United States is unsafe, opaque and unpro fessional,” the foreign ministry said in a statement to the AP. “We demand that the US side stop its dangerous and erroneous inspec tion activities.”
The Coast Guard disputes that assertion, saying all members of the boarding team, in addition to being vaccinated, were wearing masks, gloves and long sleeves.
The Biden administration also reported possible violations discov ered on the two boats it did inspect to the South Pacific Regional Fish eries Management Organization, or SPRFMO, a group of 16 members — including China and the US — charged with ensuring sustainable fishing in 53 million square kilom eters of ocean.
One of the most serious accusa tions is against the Yong Hang 3, a refrigerated cargo vessel used to transport fish back to China so that smaller vessels can stay on the water for longer periods. The vessel was among those that ran from the Coast Guard patrol, disobeying direct orders to cooperate from maritime authorities in Panama, to which the vessel was flagged. To obscure activities, some vessels, especially refrigerated cargo vessels, often fly under other flags but are named, managed and docked in China.
Ultimately, if history is any guide, China’s communist government is unlikely to punish a fleet of 3,000 distant water fishing vessels it views as an extension of its growing naval prowess.
Stadium chosen as ‘main base’
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.netWith the comple tion of the new Andre Rodg ers Baseball Stadium, the Bahamas Baseball Fed eration will not only get to host the fourth annual Car ibbean Baseball Cup next month, but will become the base for any and all future COCABE baseball tournaments.
The BBA, headed by Sam Rodgers, will host the Caribbean Baseball Cup December 4-11 with teams coming in from the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico,
EXECUTIVES DECIDE
Cuba, defending champion Curacao and Haiti. Yester day, the BBA announced its management team for Team Bahamas.
Geron Sands, a former national team player who helped the Bahamas to defeat Cuba 2-1 at the World University Games in 2006 and who serves as the co-founder of I-Elite Base ball, will serve as the head coach and third base coach.
Albert Cartwright, a former
Phillies power way to 2-1 lead
By DAN GELSTON AP Sports WriterPHILADELPHIA (AP)
— Bryce Harper ham mered his sixth postseason home run, whispered an assist to Alec Bohm before his solo shot and the Phil adelphia Phillies tied a World Series record with five homers to rout the Houston Astros 7-0 last night and take a 2-1 Series lead.
Brandon Marsh also homered, and Kyle Schwar ber and Rhys Hoskins hit back-to-back shots in the fifth inning to chase Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr.
Philadelphia used the long ball to end the long wait for its first World Series home win since Game 5 of the 2009 World Series.
Those Phillies couldn’t finish the job.
Ranger Suárez tossed three-hit ball over five shutout innings and inched this year’s team closer to getting it done.
Harper, Bohm, Marsh and the rest of the Phillies on the last team to qualify for the playoffs are two
wins away from ending the season as the last team standing. With a sparkling 6-0 record at Citizens Bank Park this postseason, the Phillies just may not return to Texas.
Another red, raucous, resolute crowd of 45,712 let the Astros have it from the first pitch with chants of “Cheater! Cheater!” for Jose Altuve and “Check the Bat! Check the Bat!” for Martin Maldonado.
The fans — already amped from the jump after another sliding catch by right fielder Nick Castel lanos in the first — didn’t wait long to go wild for the home run barrage. With leadoff hitter Schwarber on first base, Harper repeated his flair for playoff power when he ripped a two-run shot
USE NEW ANDRE RODGERS
minor league baseball player, co-founder of I-Elite and the first base coach for Team Great Britain, will be the bench coach.
Dominique Collie, a former NAIA College standout and former minor league player with the Dia mondbacks, will be the first base coach.
Trae Sweeting, former division one college stand out, former national team player who helped the
Bahamas to defeat Chinese Tapia at the World Games in Canada and co-founder of LDK – Learn Develop Kaizen – will be the outfield coach.
Donovan Cox, a former national team player and head coach of the Bahamas College team that participated in the Charles Johnson Collegiate Summer League, will be the bull pen coach. Avard Hart, a former national
team player, will serve as the team’s general manager.
BBA secretary general Teddy Sweeting, who is the chairman of the Local Organising Committee, said the members of Team Bahamas will be announced in the next few days.
But he noted that they are excited about the pro gress being made towards the completion of the sta dium heading into the tournament.
“I think December will be a very exciting month for baseball,” Sweeting said. “We are hosting the Carib bean Baseball Cup in the first time in the history of this country we will be host ing a qualifier for the CAC Games. So we are looking forward to that.
“It’s an exciting time for us. We finally realise how critical it is for us to come together with everybody on board. We’re heading into the direction that we should have been in about two years ago. We are on the right track and we have a lot of things to do.”
PANTHERS TOP UB MINGOES IN 3 SETS
THE University of The Bahamas women’s vol leyball team just could not sustain a push against The Panthers in New Providence Volleyball Association action and fell to them in three sets - 25-20, 25-13 and 25-21.
The Mingoes started the first set off slow as The Panthers riddled off nine straight points to start the match. The Mingoes even tually broke serve and started to mount a come back but the Panthers were just too strong for them and pulled out with the 25-20 set win. In the second set, The Mingoes were trying to keep it close but The Panthers again jumped out quickly to go up 17-9. Despite a strong service game in the set, The Min goes lost 25-13.
The third set, The Min goes were just about to hit their stride. The Mingoes started slow and stayed close at 16-11 and 19-14 but The Panthers held off another late surge to win the set 25-21.
Jada Coakley scored seven points (four kills) and Shanyhah Bowe scored five points (four kills) for The Mingoes in the loss.
Head Coach Raymond Wilson said he’s seeing the improvement in the team across games. “We have to learn to capitalise on the free ball more though,”
Rising stars to watch at World Cup: Pedri, Bellingham, Reyna
By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer
ROME (AP) — Spain’s Pedri González will high light the list of teenagers who could make an impact at the World Cup. Others include England’s Jude Bellingham, Germany’s Jamal Musiala and Ameri can teammates Gio Reyna and Yunus Musah.
All five players are 19, although Reyna turns 20 on November 13 and Pedri and Musah will both turn 20 during the tournament in Qatar.
The World Cup opens on November 20 and the final is set for December 18.
PEDRI GONZÁLEZ (Spain)
Like his childhood idol Andrés Iniesta, Pedri is becoming a fixture in mid field for both Barcelona
and Spain. While he does score goals occasionally, it’s Pedri’s passing and footwork with the ball that set him apart — just like Iniesta. “I always loved Iniesta and his way of play ing soccer, because of how he was both on and off the field,” Pedri told The Asso ciated Press in an interview last year. “He has been my reference and I have tried to model myself on him.”
A member of Spain’s team that lost last year’s Olympic final to Brazil, Pedri will attempt to help his squad go one step further in Qatar.
JUDE BELLINGHAM (England)
While playing for Borus sia Dortmund in October, Bellingham became the third teenager to score in four consecutive Champi ons League appearances after Erling Haaland
(five appearances ending in November 2019) and Kylian Mbappé (four appearances ending in April 2017) — with one significant difference: Bell ingham is a midfielder, not a striker like Haaland and Mbappé. That’s because Bellingham is able to use his 6-foot-1 (1.86-metre) frame to muscle off oppos ing players both while defending and attacking. A
strong World Cup will only increase Bellingham’s price on the transfer market, as he’ll be expected to follow Robert Lewandowski’s and Haaland’s examples and leave Dortmund for one of Europe’s top clubs after this season.
JAMAL MUSIALA (Germany)
Able to play any position in midfield, Musiala could be the key to Germany’s revival following a groupstage exit four years ago in Russia as defending cham pion. Born in Germany to a Nigerian father and a German mother but raised mostly in England — the team he played for at the under-21 level — Musiala said he “just listened to my feelings” when he decided to represent Germany at
CUP SEMI-FINALS HOPES
By REX CLEMENTINE Associated PressBRISBANE, Australia (AP) — England and Sri Lanka kept alive their semifinals hopes at the T20 World Cup with cru cial wins yesterday.
England ended New Zealand’s undefeated record by 20 runs.
Earlier at the Gabba, Sri Lanka rekindled its slim hopes by eliminat ing Afghanistan by six wickets.
New Zealand still leads their group on run rate from England and Australia. On Friday, the Black Caps face Ire land, and Australia plays Afghanistan. England and Sri Lanka meet on Saturday.
Jos Buttler and Alex Hales gave England a terrific start with 81 runs in 62 balls. Hales posted 52 off 30 deliveries with seven fours and a six, while Buttler top-scored with 73 in 47 balls with seven fours and two sixes.
However, New Zealand fought back to subdue England at the finish, taking four wickets for 23 runs in the space of 14 deliveries.
England made 179-6 and the target of 180 proved to be suffi cient on a two-paced pitch that slowed down considerably.
Fast bowler Mark Wood sent down some unplayable
off McCullers into the right field seats for the fast lead. That made Harper 2 for 2 on home run swings in Philly — he sent the Phillies to the World Series with a two-run drive in Game 5 of the NL Cham pionship Series to beat San Diego. Harper crossed the plate and again exclaimed “This is my house!” before heReaching a milestone in equestrian sport
EQUESTRIAN sport achieved another mile stone this weekend as The Bahamas became the third country after Jamaica and Barbados to obtain certification of competition officials from the Caribbean Equestrian Association (CEA), while also holding the inaugural Bahamas leg of the CEA Mini Jumping Challenge.
Overseeing the event were Heidi Mello, presi dent of the CEA, and Colleen Hoffman, presi dent of the Ground Jury at Spruce Meadows, the larg est show jumping venue in North America.
Both Mello and Hoffman are Level 3 FEI officials.
The CEA Officials Educa tion Tour was an initiative conceived by Mello, who became the new president of the CEA earlier this year, as part of an effort to upgrade the education of regional equestrian officials to international competi tion standards.
Equestrian Bahamas President Cathy RamsinghPierre said the federation jumped at the opportunity to participate and learn from such esteemed pro fessionals. “As our sport grows, we aspire to hold
higher levels of competi tion here in the country.
However even regionallevel competitions require certain levels of official certification, and like many other Caribbean coun tries we do not have these.
Competent officiating is the bedrock of any sport, and equestrian is no differ ent in that respect.”
Six senior members of the federation successfully participated in a rigorous 4-day certification exercise to become CEA-Certified Candidate Jumper Stew ards and Candidate Jumper Judges. The course encom passed theoretical and practical elements and a written exam.
On Saturday, the practi cal day of the clinic, young riders had an opportunity to participate and learn alongside the adults about various procedures, such as horse inspections, that take place at International com petitions. Then on Sunday came the big day - the inaugural Bahamas leg of the Caribbean Equestrian Association Mini Jumping Challenge.
The Mini Jumping Chal lenge (MJC) is one of several competitions con tested by the eight member
nations of the CEA - Anti gua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, Ber muda, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Fifteen riders took part in the competition, which featured three different classes according to fence height.
Results were tallied for individuals in each class, and for The Bahamas as a team, and will then
be ranked against riders from other CEA member islands. The MJC is run in each CEA member country over the course of the calendar year, after which overall results from the region are tallied and awards distributed.
CEA president Mello had strong words of encouragement for all involved, saying, “As Pres ident of the Caribbean Equestrian Association, I
have seen many firsts for Equestrian Bahamas. This is their first year as mem bers of the CEA…their first time competing in the CEA Mini Jumping Chal lenge…and [their] first officials to be regionally credentialed. Equestrian Bahamas has a great future in both international and national equestrian sport. I wish them every success to obtain their reachable goals.”
RUBLEV BEATS ISNER TO STAY IN HUNT FOR ATP FINALS SPOT
PARIS (AP) — Andrey Rublev improved his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals by cruis ing past John Isner 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the Paris Masters yesterday. The seventh-seeded Rublev beat Isner for the first time in four meetings. Isner dropped serve twice in the opening set and Rublev capitalised on three forehand errors by the American to break for a 3-1 lead in the second.
“From the base line I was feeling really con fident,” Rublev said. “As soon as I was returning or the ball was in the game, I feel like I have always advantage, I was not even nervous.”
Isner slammed 11 aces, but Rublev did not face any break points and proved the better player in rallies, making only five unforced errors to 13.
Rublev, Felix AugerAliassime, Taylor Fritz, and Hubert Hurkacz are contending for the two remaining ATP Finals spots. The Russian virtually occupies the last spot ahead of Fritz and Hurkacz.
Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Med vedev and Novak Djokovic have already qualified for the eight-man tournament.
In first-round matches, No. 14 seed Pablo Car reno Busta ousted Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-3, French qualifier Coren tin Moutet stunned Borna Coric 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Daniel Evans overcame Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and Jack Draper beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 6-4.
TOTTENHAM, FRANKFURT ADVANCE IN CL, BAYERN STAYS PERFECT
By DANIELLA MATAR AP Sports WriterTOTTENHAM and Eintracht Frankfurt both came from behind to win their respective games and secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
At halftime in the final round of group matches yesterday, Marseille and Sporting Lisbon were going through from Group D.
But instead it was their opponents who progressed as a stoppage-time winner from Pierre-Emile Højbjerg saw Tottenham beat Mar seille 2-1 to top the group and Frankfurt won by the same score in Lisbon to secure second spot on its Champions League debut.
“During the first half we didn’t play well, it was difficult,” Tottenham goal scorer Clément Lenglet said. “When we go back in the dressing room it was an important moment for the game … during the second half we played a better game, with a lot of intensity.”
The top two finishers in the other groups yesterday had already been decided,
PHILLIES
ripped off his helmet, exposed his Phillie Phanatic headband and was mobbed by teammates in the dugout.
Harper’s homers shake the stadium to the point they should be measured on the Richter scale rather in feet — and they seem as automatic these days as a Phillie Phanatic spin on his ATV. Harper has hit four postseason homers that gave the Phillies the lead
although not necessarily the order.
Porto beat Atlético Madrid 2-1 to snatch top spot in Group B after Club Brugge was held to a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen.
Napoli kept hold of first place in Group A despite dropping its first points in the Champions League this season in a 2-0 loss at sec ond-place Liverpool.
Bayern Munich did manage to progress with a perfect record as it beat Inter Milan 2-0 to make it six wins out of six. The four places in Group C had already been decided with Inter having secured second spot ahead of Barcelona.
FINAL DAY DRAMA
In a rare occurrence for a group, all four teams had entered the final round of games with a chance to advance.
And which teams would go through and in what order changed several times over the night.
But Højbjerg scored with the last kick of the game at Stade Velodrome for a goal that lifted Tottenham to the top of Group D above Frankfurt, which was in first
and showed that, yes, Bryce Bombs do go off in Novem ber, the first time more World Series games will be played in this month than October. Oh, and Harper might have a second career as a homer whisperer.
Harper beckoned Bohm from the on-deck circle and back to the dugout for a quick word of advice.
Maybe Harper saw McCull ers tipping his pitches?
Whatever the quiet counseling was, it worked, and Bohm lined his first
place until the Denmark midfielder’s goal.
That goal also meant Marseille finished in last place and will have no involvement in European competition in the new year. Lenglet had headed in the equalizer for Tot tenham in the 54th minute after a woeful first half from the English side which didn’t have a touch in the opposition penalty box before the break. Totten ham had fallen behind on the stroke of halftime when Chancel Mbemba headed in a corner.
postseason homer and the 1,000th in World Series his tory into the left field seats for 3-0 lead.
Marsh took the baton on the long-ball relay and knocked one into the right field seats that was dropped by a young kid from Dela ware. The home run stood after a brief review — as it seems nothing can interfere with Philadelphia’s playoff push — and it was 4-0.
With that, McCullers had allowed four homers to his first nine batters.
Frankfurt also came from behind, with Kolo Muani scoring a 72nd-min ute winner for the visitors. Arthur Gomes had put the hosts ahead in the 39th and Frankfurt equalized with a penalty kick converted by Daichi Kamada in the 62nd.
NO CONSOLATION
Atlético Madrid doesn’t even have the consola tion of the Europa League playoffs.
The Spanish team was the heavy favorite to pro gress from its group but was left lamenting a last-place finish after losing at Porto,
The right-hander who got his left triceps inked with nods to Houston got absolutely tattooed by the Phillies. Schwarber, the NL home run champion, again dumped a two-run shot into a thicket of Eng lish ivy, Arborvitae and Holly beyond centre field, and Hoskins connected on solo shot for a 7-0 lead that ended McCullers’ night.
McCullers became the first pitcher to give up five home runs in a World Series game.
which secured top spot in Group B.
Few expected Porto to even advance after losing its first two Champions League matches this season but the Portuguese team had already secured its place in the last 16 with a match to spare.
And first-half goals from Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustáquio helped Porto win its fourth straight Champi ons League match to finish a point above Brugge.
Brugge’s Canadian winger Tajon Buchanan hit the crossbar in the opening seconds of the second half.
PERFECT AGAIN
It’s back-to-back perfect group stage records for Bayern.
Benjamin Pavard headed the German side in front in the first half and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting sealed the win against Inter in the 72nd minute with his seventh goal in his past six matches.
Barcelona ended its dis appointing Champions League campaign with a 4-2 win at Viktoria Plzen, which — in contrast to
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he said. “The area that we really need to work on is that we have a characteristic that we allow a team to six and nine points and then playing from behind. When you are playing against experienced teams you cannot give them a head start of nine points.”
Wilson added that the team has the capabilities but just needs to pull it all together.
Bayern — fell to its sixth straight defeat. Ferran Torres scored twice and Marcos Alonso and teenager Pablo Torre grabbed a goal each for the Catalan club.
The hosts got on the board with a pair of goals by Tomás Chorý.
NOT SO PERFECT Napoli was looking to become the first Italian team since AC Milan in 1992 to have six straight wins in its group.
However, late goals from Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez ended the Italian side’s unbeaten start to the season in all competitions.
Liverpool finished level on points with Napoli but second on the head-to-head record after losing 4-1 in Italy in their Champions League opener.
Rangers was left with an unwanted record after losing 3-1 at home to Ajax, which secured a place in the Europa League’s qualifying playoffs.
Rangers finished Group A with six straight losses and a goal difference of minus 20 — the worst group stage record ever.
“I feel that our team knows how to play and can play at this level,” he said.
“But we have to learn how to side out quicker but all in all this was a better match and I see some good things and good promise.
“We just need to stay more consistent in playing our game.”
The Mingoes now have an 0-2 record and are scheduled to play The Johnson Spikers 7:30pm tonight at The D.W. Davis Gymnasium.
OAKTREE MEDICAL CENTER HOPS ON BOARD AS CARIFTA TITLE PARTNER
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.netWITH the return of the CARIFTA Games in April to the Bahamas for the ninth time in 50 years, the Oaktree Medical Center came on board as the major sponsor with a donation of $300.000.
The presentation was made by Oaktree Medi cal Center’s Director Sr Don Deveaux and his wife, Kristi, the general manager, made the pres entation to the CARIFTA Local Organising Commit tee’s chief executive officer Lynden Maycock.
Among those present were Mike Sands, president of the North American, Central American and Car ibbean (NACAC), under whose jurisdiction the games fall under; Drumeco Archer, president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations and Rev. Harrison Thompson, a consultant at the Minis try of Youth, Sports and Culture.
After prayers were offered by Pastor Vaughn Cash and a rendition was made by Nikita Thompson, Deveaux made the cheque presentation, saying that while it appears to be a “large amount of money, saying the lives of our youth is priceless.”
He noted that he and his wife stand as strong advo cates of sports and youth develop and the CARIFTA Games embodies strength, unity and team work. He noted they are not selfmade and have crossed the finish line on their own, but they stand on the shoulders of so many who have self ishly helped to make this archipelago a world-class gem.
“When thinking about making a sound invest ment, some may say, why not technology, why not other important areas,” Deveaux said. “For us here at Oaktree Medical Center, we believe, not only in caring and providing com passionate medical care, but most importantly we believe in investing in the human capital, investing in the human soul, which to us represents the youth of this nation.”
Sports, according to Deveuax, has the power to change lives, so they want to start with the youth.
“If we don’t pour into them, how can we build the future,” he asserted. “The social decadence that we have seen throughout the
BBA
Addressed to BBA president Sam Rodgers, who also serves as the vice president of COCABE, the letter signed by George R. de Lira and secretary gen eral Manuel Fries, reads as follows: “After a sporting greeting of affection and respect, we write this com munication thanking the organising committee of the 4th Caribbean Baseball Cup for the hospitality given to the COCABE execu tives from September 28 to October 3.
“COCABE through this letter wants to inform you that the board of executives of COCABE has made the decision to choose the Andre Rodgers Baseball
country over the years is contributed to the lack of youth development, so why not change that.”
Since the games got started in 1972, Deveaux said founder Austin Sealy started something that caught a fire and since 1977 when they honoured him, the Bahamas has won eight of the Austin Sealy awards as the most outstanding athlete for each of the past 48 editions of the games.
He congratulated Mary ann Higgs-Clarke (1978), Lavern Eve (1982-1983), Pauline Davis-Thomp son (1984), Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (1995), Anthonique Strachan (2011-12) and Shaunae Miller-Uibo (2013), who are strong women and four of them were St Augustine’s Col lege alumnus like himself.
“This donation truly represents a sacrifice,” he said. “Many people see the success, but the sacri fices that goes on behind the scene. My wife Kristi and I believe that success requires faith, hard work and dedication. We believe that through God, we can heal this nation through life-changing events like the CARIFTA Games.”
He said Oaktree Medi cal Center is a community centre and as the Bahamas has struck gold in hosting the 50th anniversary of the games, they are delighted to work with the organising committee and the gov ernment of the Bahamas to see the event become a success.
“Thanks again for the partnership. Our team here at Oaktree is ready and excited for this event to come together,” he said. “We invite the country and corporate Bahamas and Caricom to support this initiative.
“Together, we are lim itless. God bless the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Come go with us. Let’s cross the finish line together.”
Maycock, playing a ren dition of a song that will be the war cry for the Baha mas as they go after the Jamaicans and the Trini dadians at the games and he ensured Deveaux that the Lord will enlarge his territory because of the tremendous donation that he made to the LOC for CARIFTA 2023.
“Dr Deveaux would have given 10 percent of what the team will be receiving this year in spon sorship,” Maycock said. “That sponsorship level is
Stadium as its main base to organise future COCABE baseball tournaments on the island of Nassau, Bahamas.
“We thank the BBA for their willingness to share the office at Andre Rodg ers Baseball Stadium with COCABE.
“COCABE will have its main office in the same stadium together with the BBA.
“With nothing more to add, we say goodbye with a sports greeting.”
Sweeting said the com pletion of the stadium is coming in the right time.
“We can now see the relevance for the purpose for the completion of the stadium,” he said. “We have already agreed to the hosting of an 18 youth qualifier in October 2023,
three million dollars from corporate Bahamas.
“November 30th, those financial statements will be posted for the Bahamian people to see where their money will be spent. So for the first time the people of the Bahamas will be able to go to the CARIFTA web site page and see how their monies will be spent.”
Maycock said they anticipate the Baha mas government providing funding for the capital works, but the sup port of corporate Bahamas will take care of the opera tions of the games, which he described will be like none ever held.
“Oaktree Medical Center is a world-class medical facility that pro vides high quality, holistic patient centred, affordable medical services,” May cock said.
“As the emblem of their logo, the Oaktree represents strength and resilience. Oaktree Medi cal Center is a shade for those who need help and support.”
Sands said he’s delighted to be a part of the historic presentation by Oaktree to the LOC for CARIFTA 2023.
“In my knowledge, this is the first time that a medical institute has come on board to the extent that Oak tree has come on board,” Sands said. “Again, I want to thank you on behalf of NACAC, which encom passes 36 nations in the region.”
He noted that he found one of the original found ers of CARIFTA, which came out of Caricom, and he intends to introduce the Trinidadian to the Baha mas when the games are held here in April, along with Austin Sealy, whom
many regard as the founder of the games.
“This is going to be the most exciting CARIFTA Games that we have ever had,” Sands stated.
“I’m satisfied that these CARIFTA Games will be the best ever and I want to congratulate the LOC executive officer Lynden Maycock and his team for the tremendous work that they are doing.”
Archer said while we live in a country whenever you turn on the television, there’s always a report about crime and the hei nous events that take place in what he calls the Goliath of our day. But he noted that the Deveauxs have become the David in their commitment to the country. “He (Don) has an amazing story and if he had to tell you his story, he was a trou bled boy, who was put out of school from the Baha mas Baptist College and he went to St Augustine’s College, but his family had financial challenges attend ing SAC,” Archer said.
“It was a time in his life when things went very low and he has emerged from being hopeless to seeing a ray of hope. Through hard work, we all can achieve it. Track and field is no dif ferent. It’s a sport rich with culture and heritage, but it is also a sport where we attract the grassroot every day.”
With the assistance of companies like Oak tree Medical Center, the BAAA is able to carry out its mandate to assist in the development of these ath letes and he commended the Deveauxs for making their contribution to CAR IFTA 2023.
Rev. Thompson, in join ing in the chorus in saluting the Deveauxs and Oaktree,
called it a tremendous blessing on their behalf to support the young people and the country’s athletes.
“If ever a time we need corporate citizens to come on board and support the athletes, the time is now,” Thompson said.
“So on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Youth, Sports and Cul ture and by extension, the government of the Baha mas, we want to say sir, congratulations.
“And as we go into our 50th anniversary of the Bahamas and the 50th anniversary of the Baha mas that the Bahamas will bring home gold this year in our golden anniversary.
“To our friends in the Caribbean, we invite you to come. We want you to come and enjoy the scen ery and everything, but you will get beat.”
“Golden Girl” Tonique Williams, who heads the media team for the LOC, said she had met the Deveauxs and the entire Oaktree team and she was very impressed with the work that they are doing.
“He spoke extensively about his work here and Oaktree Medical. There’s so much that he’s doing, but he was able to share from his heart. When I heard that Oaktree Medical was the title sponsor, just reit erated what I already felt,” she said.
“This is a business, led by Don and his wife, who have a heart for people and they have a heart for the youth. So I’m proud to stand beside him as he donates this cheque to CARIFTA where I tell people I got my start right here at CAR IFTA in 1992. CARIFTA was what really propelled me in track and field and so I want to say congratu lations to you and your entire team.”
An emotional Ken nedy Knowles, a student of St John’s College and a member of the Red Line Athletics Track Club, headed by Tito Moss, said it’s just an honour to be a part of the track and field and hopefully the team that will represent the Bahamas at the games.
“I feel having the games here is going to be very exciting. We haven’t had it since 2018, so I’m looking forward to running in the trials and hopefully I can make the team,” she said. “It’s here, so I believe our athletes will show up and show out. So I’m really excited that it’s going to be here.”
ANALYSIS: JAZZ, SPURS OFF TO SURPRISING FAST STARTS IN WEST
By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports WriterDENVER (AP) — A year ago, Mike Conley Jr was on a team mentioned as a championship contender. This year, the Utah Jazz aren’t in that conversation. That doesn’t change Con ley’s approach.
“We’re trying to win every day,” Conley said. So far, the Jazz are win ning more days than not. And two weeks into the NBA season, there are some surprises — some good, some bad, with the Jazz finding themselves on the more fun side of that ledger.
Conley and the Jazz are off to a 6-2 start after Mon day’s win over Memphis. Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs are 5-2, which matches the team’s best start since they were 6-1 on the way to winning the NBA title in the 201314 season.
If the Jazz and Spurs were tanking, they’re defi nitely doing it wrong. Not even the lure of landing the winning lot tery ticket that will provide 7-foot-3 French teen Victor Wembanyama — who has skills often compared to Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Dirk Nowitzki — is enough to get the Jazz and Spurs to try and not win. Quite the contrary. They’re playing hard, playing the right way, playing defence and it’s working.
“They’re young enough they don’t know any better,” Popovich said of his squad. “They just keep playing hard. ... They’re pretty much obeying the basketball gods, doing all the simple things that help win games.”
They should be feeling pretty happy in a couple other cities, too. Cleveland was 5-1 entering Monday, as was Portland. On the flip side of the surprise coin — Brooklyn was 2-5, the Los Angeles Lakers started 0-5 before getting their first win, and Miami was 2-5 entering a game yester day against Golden State. The reigning champs aren’t exactly setting the world ablaze either, off to a 3-4 start.
It’s early. There’s almost a whole season left to go. But San Antonio and Utah are surprising just about everybody so far — well, everybody except them selves. “We just do our job,” Conley said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what people say.”
It wasn’t uncommon to think the Jazz and Spurs might be among the teams that vie to be among the odds-on favourites for Wembanyama (the bottom three teams each have a 14% probability to land the No 1 pick).
The Spurs are extremely young and feature a lineup consisting of hardly house hold names. The Jazz spent the summer trading away three of their biggest pieces in Donovan Mitch ell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic.
so that is our next item on the drawing board. “So we’re really excited because baseball is heading in the
P1 AquaX Bahamas World Championship returns to Atlantis resort this weekend
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.netAFTER a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the P1 AquaX Bahamas World Champi onship will return to the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island this weekend.
Dubbed the GOAT or the Greatest of All Time by friends, colleagues and fellow competitors, the three-day event is sched uled from Friday to Sunday and will conclude the P1 AquaX personal watercraft race season with a mix of more than 30 professional and amateur riders from North America, the Carib bean and Western Europe.
According to Jason Spen cer, the vice president of marketing, special events and entertainment, the championships will begin with a series of qualifying races on Saturday start ing at 11am with the gates
T20
constantly above 150 kph. He also claimed the fast est ball of the tournament when a delivery to Glenn Phillips was clocked at 154.7 kph. Phillips gave New Zealand a chance. After a brilliant century against Sri Lanka on Saturday, Phillips threatened to snatch the momentum and Moeen Ali didn’t help England’s cause when he put down the dan gerous batter on 15.
But with 49 runs gettable from 18 deliveries, Phillips tried to clear medium-pacer Sam Curran over long on but was caught inside the ropes by substitute fielder Chris Jordan. Phillips’ 62 came off 36 balls with four fours and three sixes.
New Zealand fell short at 159-6 and Curran and Chris Woakes took two wick ets apiece to complement Woods.
Wanindu Hasaranga claimed 3-13 as Sri Lanka restricted Afghanistan to 144-8. The legspinner is the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 13.
Sri Lanka wasn’t really tested in its run chase to 148-4. Dhananjaya de Silva posted a half-century, his first since January 2020.
De Silva and Kusal Mendis shared a 34-run stand for the second wicket as Sri Lanka got off to a good start. Sri Lanka badly needed it after losing four wickets for eight runs in its previous game inside four overs. Mendis needed nine deliveries to get off the mark but finished on 25 off 27.
De Silva was dropped on 39 by Gulbadin Naib as he failed to hold on to a return catch. He scored the win ning runs, an elegant cover drive for four off Fazalhaq Farooqi to finish unbeaten on 66, his career-best score. De Silva faced 42 balls and hit six fours and two sixes.
Sri Lanka won with nine deliveries to spare.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa walked in with Sri Lanka needing 45 in 39 deliveries and played a cameo with 18 from 13, including three fours.
Afghanistan may not have star legspinner Rashid Khan for its last group match against Australia. He limped off the pitch after hurting his knee while fielding.
opening from 10am and will wrap up on Sunday with the finals scheduled to start at noon and the awards pres entation at 7:30pm.
“The site is looking very great and there is a lot of excitement on the property and around the island,” Spencer said. “The con testants and the drivers are on property. We expect that this will be a great weekend.”
Veteran rider Chris Mac Clugage, considered the sport’s most decorated and highest winning world champion, will be one the favourites at this year’s P1 AquaX and Pro Enduro champion Jimmy Wilson from North Carolina..
Jimmy Wilson’s Broward Motorsports team-mate Dustin Farthing from Georgia and 2021 Pro class champion Erminio Iantosca will also be serious contend ers at the event, according to AquaX. Thomas Favolini “The Flying Frenchman” ,
will also return to Nassau after the 2019 World Cham pionship where mechanical
be vying for the Amateur International Cup in the AM 300 Class. The event will be broadcast in the United States on the Bally Sports Regional Networks and CBS Sports Network, with international coverage on leading sports channels in more than 100 million homes in over 50 countries.
This is the second year that the championships will be staged at Paradise.
But after taking a twoyear break after the initial championships in 2019, Spencer said they are look ing forward to putting on another amazing event for the world to see.
“We plan to put on an unique offering that guests don’t get to see on a normal basis,” Spencer said. “The P1 AquaX Bahamas World Championship is one of those events. So our guests are excited about this event.
“In addition to watching these exciting races, our team here does an amazing
job just setting up that area out there and having the food trucks and beverage outlets, so it’s going to be fun. We look forward to hosting it again this year.”
All of the racing can be viewed free of charge.
For Spencer, it’s a signifi cant event for Atlantis as it continues to be labelled as the leader in hosting major international competitions in the Bahamas.
“It’s special for Atlantis and just for the Bahamas in general to continually be recognised as an ideal and targeted destination for these types of events where everyone across the world can come and enjoy the Bahamas,” he stated.
“This is a beautiful place. We have a great infrastruc ture and staff to host these types of events and we are seeing this more and more with these types of events coming to the Bahamas and particularly here at Atlantis.”
KENTON Roker came to town from Grand Bahama and won the New Providence Cycling Asso ciation’s Catch Me If You Can Cycling Road Race on Sunday in Clifton Pier.
In the last official road race for the season, Roker was too much to handle as he wasn’t caught by the rest of the field.
Jeff Tynes was second, Barron Musgrove Jr was third, Felix Neely fourth and Kevin Daley rounded out the top five.
NPCA president Barron ‘Turbo’ Musgrove said although they experienced their share of challenges this year coming out of the COVID-19 restrictions, the cycling community was very supportive in making it an exciting season.
“We had a very good year. In New Providence,
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the senior level. Already known for his passing skills, Musiala is also show ing off his scoring abilities this season with eight goals in 15 appearances in all competitions for Bayern Munich. His impact was witnessed when he was involved in three of the four goals in Bayern’s 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in September.
GIO REYNA (United States)
The son of former United States captain Clau dio Reyna never saw his dad play for the national team. That’s because Gio was too young when Clau dio made his last national team appearance in a 2006
we saw a lot more people coming out to cycle,” Mus grove said.
“So we are trying to target those people in terms of getting them into cycling. The New Provi dence Cycling Association wants to be more innova tive to get more cyclists involved.
“Next year, we want to have more community
World Cup loss to Ghana. His mother, Danielle Egan Reyna, also played for the United States briefly in 2003.
An attacking midfielder or winger, the younger Reyna is back in form fol lowing an injury-plagued 2021-22 season. He curled a strike inside the far post for Borussia Dortmund in a win over Stuttgart in the German league last month.
Reyna’s previous appear ance against Stuttgart had ended when he sustained a muscle and tendon injury just after kickoff — ending last season prematurely in April.
YUNUS MUSAH (United States)
Born in the United States to Ghanaian parents, Musah grew up mostly in Britain and played for
rides, more fun rides and we want to get into more parts of the islands so that we can attract cyclists from different parts of the island. So we will be speaking to more of the community leaders, neighbourhood watch and some of the MPs to join us as we do these rides.”
Musgrove said the NPCA and the Bahamas
England’s youth teams before ultimately decid ing to represent his birth nation.
A midfielder, Musah helped Spanish club Valen cia to last season’s Copa del Rey final but was the only player to miss his spot kick in a penalty shootout, which led to Real Betis winning the trophy.
Having recently returned from a groin injury, Musah is a first-choice midfielder for United States coach Gregg Berhalter, along with Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie.
ALSO WORTH WATCHING
Slightly older play ers who appear ready for breakout performances include Alphonso Davies of Canada, Rafael Leão of Portugal, Boulaye Dia of
Cycling Federation, headed by Roy Colebrooke, will now switch its attention to mountain bike cycling where they will be able to go into different turfs off the road to compete.
“Hopefully we can see even more participation because the bikes are even more cheaper than the road bikes,” Musgrove said. “We also don’t have
Senegal, Kim Min-jae of South Korea and Moham med Kudus of Ghana.
Born in a Ghana refugee camp to Liberian parents, Davies, who turns 22 on November 2, is a regular at left back or on the wing for Bayern Munich. He made a big impact in help ing Canada qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
The 23-year-old Leão was instrumental in help ing AC Milan win the Serie A title last season and has been even better in the Ital ian league this campaign.
With Rafa Silva having recently announced his retirement from Portu gal’s national team, Leão will likely be Cristiano Ronaldo’s preferred strike partner in Qatar. Among the early high scorers in
to deal with all of the traf fic on the streets. So we’re looking at having more off road bikes with the moun tain bikes in racing in areas like parks and other areas.
“We started off the year strong in road racing and we finished strong. That is the main point.
“We hope to do the same thing with our mountain bike racing.”
Serie A with Salernitana this season (on loan from Villarreal), Dia worked as an electrician before his soccer career took off. He scored against Liverpool in the semifinals of last sea son’s Champions League.
Napoli fans protested when defensive stalwart Kalidou Koulibaly was sold to Chelsea and the lesserknown Kim was brought in as a replacement at center back.
But Kim has been a big part of Napoli’s sensational start to the Italian league and was named Serie A player of the month for September.
An attacking midfielder, the 22-year-old Kudus had scored nine goals in 16 appearances for Ajax in all competitions by the end of October.
Food stores: No sign of price control crackdown
“There’s a lot of uncer tainty, that’s all I can say; plenty uncertainty. The uncertainty is real. The sad part about it is it’s being caused by the Government. That’s the sad part about it. It’s not anything we’re doing to ourselves. It’s being caused by the Government. It’s very, very concerning.
“The very people they say they’re trying to help are going to be the very people that they are going to hurt in the end. It’s going to create a lot of unemployment. I’ll tell you that. They’re going to do what they’re going to do because they’ve always done it. No consultation, no questions asked, so that just tells you they’re going to do what they’re going to do. What can you do?”
However, a former chief justice wrote almost 30 years ago to this day that the Government using its price control powers “in bad faith, capriciously, arbi trarily, whimsically or with any ulterior motive” could be subjected to a successful legal challenge via Judicial Review in the Supreme Court.
Sir Brian Moree’s opin ion from 1992, which was being circulated in industry circles via social media, is
understood to already be in the hands of legal rep resentatives for the food retail and wholesale sector.
It could form a template, some three decades later, for legal action should the Government move to ram its 38 product category expansion down the private sector’s throats.
Some of the conditions required for a legal chal lenge, as cited by Sir Brian, could be in play presently. And he also wrote that “it becomes apparent that the unreasonable fixing of max imum prices may amount to a deprivation of prop erty”, which could violate the Bahamian constitution’s Article 27.
“Overall, therefore, I am of the view that the discre tion vested by the Price Control Act in the minister responsible for consumer protection is not unlimited and is subject to Judicial Review by the courts,” Sir Brian wrote in a docu ment dated December 1, 1992. “The discretion must therefore be exercised in accordance with the inten tion of Parliament.
“Where the discretion is exercised in bad faith, capriciously, arbitrarily, whimsically or with any ulterior motive, or where the discretion is exercised
in a manner that is unfair or unreasonable, the courts will interfere by means of their power of Judicial Review to restrain the exer cise of the same.
“As the discretion vested in the minister under the Price Control Act was intended by Parliament to be exercised for the pur pose of regulating the prices of goods and availability of services, the use of the same by the minister to regulate prices, whether intention ally or not, with the result that a party affected would be forced to abandon a business venture, would be unreasonable and ultra vires the minister, and would therefore be subject to Judicial Review.”
The legal opinion was produced for Ronald Lightbourn, of Lightbourn Trading Company, who wrote to then-prime min ister, Hubert Ingraham, on November 20, 1992, echo ing what food retailers and wholesalers are experienc ing now. He wrote: “We wholesalers have not been pressing your new govern ment on the subject of price control, but we are stressed to the limit and can hold off no longer.
“All price-controlled items are being sold at about 6 percent below our
operating expenses, and represent 30 percent of our total turnover - much higher if groceries only are taken into account... We do expect you to be fair by allowing us to cover our operating expenses (18 percent) and make a small margin (2 percent) as well. These are gross margin percentages, 20 percent gross being the equivalent of 25 percent mark-up.”
Returning to the present day, the Retail Grocers Association has warned that the Government’s ini tial proposal will expand price control to roughly a further 5,000 items, leaving between 40-60 percent of inventory subject to markups where it is being sold below cost or at a loss.
With a greater proportion of stock being sold at a loss, this will make the food and pharmaceutical industries’ ability to survive increas ingly precarious without significantly adjusting their business operating models and slashing costs. As a result, the Bahamian pri vate sector is adamant that the Government’s proposal will place companies, jobs and incomes in peril unless all parties can achieve an acceptable compromise for easing the cost of living crisis impacting consumers.
This could also result in product shortages through retailers and wholesalers refusing to stock loss-mak ing items, while these firms also have to increase prices and margins on non-price controlled items to compen sate for selling these goods as effective “loss leaders”.
Under the Government’s initial proposal, food whole sale margins, or mark-ups, are capped at 15 percent for all 38 product line items listed, while those for retail ers are set at 25 percent across-the-board. Those goods impacted, some of which are already price controlled, are baby cereal,
food and formula; broths, canned fish; condensed milk; powdered detergent; mustard; soap; soup; fresh milk; sugar; canned spa ghetti; canned pigeon peas (cooked); peanut butter; ketchup; cream of wheat; oatmeal and corn flakes.
The remainder are macaroni and cheese mix; pampers; feminine napkins; eggs; bread; chicken; turkey; pork; sandwich meat; oranges; apples; bananas; limes; tomatoes; iceberg lettuce; broccoli; carrots; potatoes; yellow onions; and green bell peppers.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that DINESHA UTILE of Andros Avenue, Nassau, 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 2nd day of November, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that ELDA TOUSSAINT RAYMOND of Fire Trail Road, P.O. Box CR 55016 Nassau, 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 2nd day of November, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
(242) 323-2320
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31-Mar-2021
NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE
SCORPX LTD. (In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (4) of the; International Business Companies Act, 2000, SCORPX LTD. is in Dissolution. The date of commencement of dissolution is the 31st day of October, 2022.
Aegis Corporate Services Limited Building Six, Caves Village West Bay Street, P.O. Box SP-63771 Nassau, Bahamas Liquidator
THE SUPREME COURT PROBATE DIVISION
In the Estate of Doral Louise Sturrup also known as Dora Louise Major Sturrup late, of number 6 Jasmine Gardens in the Southern District and formerly of Bakers Close, Oakes Field in the Western District of the Island of New Providence, one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, deceased.
NOTICE Is hereby given that Joan Deveaux of Monastery Park; Anthone Sturrup of Faith Avenue North; Kim Sturrup of Jasmine Gardens and Dawne Sturrup of Seaview Manor all in the Island of New Providence, aforesaid will make application to the Supreme Court of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas after the expiration of fourteen days from the date hereof, for a GRANT OF LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION of the real and personal estate of Doral Louise Sturrup also known as Dora Louise Major Sturrup late of #6 Jasmine Gardens in the Southern District and formerly of Bakers’ Close in the Western District of the Island of New Providence, one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, deceased.
Dated the 2nd day of November, 2022.
Joan Deveaux, Anthone Sturrup, Kim Sturrup, Dawne Sturrup Intended Applicants
Pharmacies reopen with PM meeting set for 4pm
through the back door, got in touch with people we knew in government and said: ‘Look, here’s what we’re asking for’.
“‘We’re willing to open our doors but want the Government to sit down with us and have a sensible and rationale conversation on a strategy for the way forward as it relates to price controls’. If they agreed to meet with us, we’d open the pharmacies tomor row [today]. We will now move forward in good faith. That’s what we’ve been asking for all along; to sit down in good faith and have a conversation that is fruitful and leads to the way forward as it relates to price controls.”
Private pharmacies closed yesterday over fears that they would suffer fines and penalties for not implementing the new price control mark-ups and margins, as detailed in the Government’s original pro posal, by the November 1 deadline. Uncertainty over whether sanctions would be imposed stemmed from the Government’s failure to respond to the indus try’s alternative solutions, and its announced deter mination to press ahead with enforcement come yesterday.
The Bahamas Pharma ceutical Association, in its October 27 letter to the Government, urged that it retain the 25 percent and 50 percent price control margins for wholesalers and retailers, respectively, which have been in place for 40 years on prescrip tion drugs. The revised mark-ups, unveiled in midOctober, range from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharmaceutical wholesal ers. For retailers, the range is from 35 percent to 40 percent.
The medicines covered include vaccines, anti-dia betic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, anti-hypertension medicines, cough prepara tions, cardiovascular agents and serums. “There’ll be no change in price but we’ll be open to serve the public,” the pharmacy source said of the industry’s position today.
They added that the proposed price control expansion, and margin reductions, are “the begin ning of the fight with the Government at many levels;
I don’t think it’s the end.
Over the coming weeks and months we’ll find ourselves in places of resistance to the Government, and we’re going to have to stand our ground so we have a voice at the table. We are stake holders. We must be heard, sit at the table and come to some sensible agreement on the way forward”.
The Association, in statement released ear lier yesterday calling for a meeting with the Prime Minister, said the price con trol reforms unveiled by the Government would impact “some 60-70 percent” of retail pharmacy and whole sale revenues and “threaten their ability to survive in an already-challenging busi ness environment”.
Referring to Mr Davis’ national address in midOctober, in which he promised a major price control expansion covering food and medicines to help ease the cost of living crisis for middle and low income Bahamians hit by soaring inflation, the Association replied: “Sounds great, doesn’t it? But not so fast. What if the reduction in mark-ups were so low that store owners are unable to pay their staff or their other bills.
“After all, in that same national address, the Prime Minister announced that there would be an increase in minimum wage and, just one week prior, on October 4, the Govern ment announced that there would be an increase in electricity bills. In addition to that, many properties were reassessed earlier this year, which resulted in a significant increase in real property tax for many businesses.
“Shipping costs have also gone up since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cost of doing busi ness is significantly more now than it has ever been.
On October 12, without any consultation with grocers, pharmacists or wholesal ers, the Government issued a price control amendment with mark-ups so low that they were indeed below the
operating cost of these busi nesses,” the Association’s statement continued.
“With the list of prod ucts affected by the Government’s price control amendment representing some 60-70 percent of the revenue generated by local pharmacies and pharma ceutical wholesalers, it would be hard to make up that revenue on anything else. Current mark-ups have been in place for more than 40 years and, in spite of the increase in overhead, there has been no increase in mark-ups since that time.”
The Association said its members have frequently partnered with the Govern ment, including over the National Prescription Drug Plan, where they “took a significant reduction in mark-ups” and also the wholesale sector’s provision of medicines to the public sector clinics “at very low prices”.
Mr McCartney, mean while, told Tribune Business that the Government’s orig inal price control proposal was “a recipe for disaster” given that the mark-up cuts would result in pharmacies selling too great a portion of their inventory at a loss. This, he added, could force smaller pharmacies to close and others to cut staffing levels as they were forced to realign costs to cope with reduced revenues.
“It’s not sustainable to put this thing in play,” the former DNA leader said. “We’re going to lose big time.” He agreed that the proposed price control expansion was tantamount to government overreach, and unwarranted intrusion and interference in the pri vate sector’s affairs, saying: “There’s no doubt about that.
“The Government is almost trying to control private business, and that’s a recipe for disaster. I’ve always maintained that I understand what the Gov ernment is trying to do, but consultation is some thing that should have been done with all stakeholders. The Government made a
decision without consulting that could potentially close these businesses if imple mented or cause the loss of jobs, and they seem so hard-headed.
“They met after the fact with the Association, asked the Association to pro vide some suggestions. The Association provided some suggestions but they still issued, without any discus sion, this suggestion that price controls would be implemented or enforced from November 1. It makes you wonder whether or not the meetings you have with the Government are in good faith on its part,” Mr McCartney continued.
“You sit down with them and listen and, notwith standing that, they are still hell bent on putting price controls into effect on that same date. It’s a bit disheart ening, a bit disheartening.” Public opinion was divided on the pharmacy closures, with some supporting the move by saying the sector’s “backs are up against the wall” with the price con trol mark-up cuts placing some businesses in a “life or death” situation.
Others, though, described the closures as “premature” and a move that could alienate many Bahamiansespecially those in need of critical medicines, who had to endure frustration and inconvenience yesterday in seeking them from public clinics where queues were longer and inventory short ages more likely.
One well-placed source described it as a public rela tions ‘own goal’ that could let the Government off the hook, and enable it to play the ‘us against them’ tactic by stoking public sentiment
against so-called “greedy” merchants. “I think it was foolhardy. The pharmacies did not endear themselves to the public through their actions in any way, shape or form. It’s an essential service and a very sick population, where a lot of people are dependent on prescription drugs,” they said.
“Things are hard for people. So hard, in fact, that people are unable to afford their full prescription and are getting two to three pills at a time - they can’t get a week’s dose - and are liter ally living day to day. It’s like the person pulling up to the gas station and putting $2 in their tank. It’s going to play into the Government’s hands by allowing it to por tray them as greedy.”
Rev C B Moss, the wellknown community activist,
yesterday blasted the Phar macy Association and its members over the closure.
“This decision is appall ing beyond words as these seemingly heartless people are prepared to use the public as pawns and place their health, as well as their lives, on the altar of eco nomic expediency. They should have remained open until an agreement was reached, or the Govern ment took action against them,” he argued.
“We are hereby demand ing that this ill-advised decision be rescinded immediately. If it is allowed to stand then we advise the public to identify stores that remained open and patron ise them;,never again going near those who chose a few dollars over our lives.”
MARINA FOR SOUTHERN NEW PROVIDENCE
can presently be reached by driving due south past Checkers’ Fox Hill outlet.
Florida-headquartered Legendary Marina, whose principal is Peter Bos, assembled the near-17 acres it requires for the project via a series of three real estate transactions worth a combined $4.15m. Docu ments show the sellers included Peter Andrews, the Bahamas Waste chair man, and fellow Bahamian businessman, Anthony Myers. The duo have close business ties as they both, for example, sit as directors on the Board of Bahamas Hot Mix (BHM).
Mr Myers yesterday con firmed to Tribune Business that the real estate deals had closed, adding that the other sellers also include Star Insurance and the Winner family estate. “I hope they make something of it,” he said of Legendary Marina. “I hope they do it. We could never quite make it work. It’s a difficult site, but he has a lot of energy and knows the market very well. I’m sure it will come off.”
Phylicia Hanna-Woods, the Bahamas Investment Authority’s (BIA) director of investments, confirmed that the Government’s National Economic Council (NEC) had given “approval in principle” for the Leg endary Marina Resort at Blue Water Cay to proceed in a June 16, 2022, letter to
the developer’s attorney, Allyson Maynard-Gibson KC, the ex-attorney general and Cabinet minister.
The approval granted permission for the inves tor “to own and operate a mixed-use community with a wide range of amenities including a marina, dry boat storage facility, clubhouse and residential compo nent, swimming pool, utility services, resort accommo dations and related amenities on Blue Water Cay subdivision situated on the eastern side of Fox Hill Road and south of Yamac raw Lake”.
The approval was con ditioned on Legendary Marina obtaining the nec essary Town Planning Committee permits, for which a Town Meeting is being held on Novem ber 21, 2022; approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Manage ment Plan (EMP); and all other necessary go-aheads being obtained from the rel evant government agencies.
Mrs Hanna-Woods’ letter, though, said the NEC, which is really the Cabinet or a Cabinet committee, had rejected Legendary Marina’s bid “to own and operate restau rants and retail facilities” - activities that are normally reserved for 100 percent Bahamian ownership only via the National Investment Policy.
Instead, the Govern ment “recommended that
the developer joint ven ture with a Bahamian for the operation of restau rants and retail facilities”.
The southern New Provi dence coast is relatively shallow, and the NEC approval indicated that Legendary Marina plans significant dredging - both for its marina and a channel that will give vessels access to deeper water - with the fill created used to reclaim land from the sea for the bulk of the project’s real estate.
A Crown Land grant for “reclaimed land to be used in the project” was rec ommended, along with a seabed lease to Legendary Marina of an area - and on terms - that have yet to be agreed. The “approval in principle” also called for a Heads of Agreement to be negotiated between the Government and devel oper, with the latter gaining access to the tax breaks and other incentives available under the Hotels Encour agement Act.
Legendary Marina’s pro ject, if if gains the necessary approvals and proceeds to full build-out, will join an already-crowded New Providence marina market and, in particular, pro vide direct competition for nearby Palm Cay as the only south-eastern location that can serve as a jumpingoff point for boaters headed to Exuma, Eleuthera and other Bahamian islands. Legendary Marina’s web site makes no secret that
this will be among its key selling points.
Detailing what will set it apart from rivals, Leg endary Marina said its proposed Nassau expansion “intends to be a full-ser vice marina located near Yamacraw settlement on New Providence. The main feature will be what we believe is a first-of-its-kind in The Bahamas; a boat storage building capable of storing boats up to 53 feet in length inside, constructed to withstand winds up to a Category Five hurricane”.
The developer added that this will be modelled on the boat storage facility at its marina in Destin, Florida, which it has just last month sold to a Texas-based marina owner and operator, Suntex Marina Investors. “At full build-out, the boat storage building will measure 580 feet by 345 feet with an eave height of approximately 60 feet,” Legendary Marina said of its New Providence plans.
“Our facility will be capable of storing up to a maximum 600 vessels with lengths up top 53 feet any where from three to five levels.” Explaining why this facility, and dry storage, is so attractive for boat and yacht owners, Legendary Marina added: “Boaters who come to The Bahamas by air will now have an abil ity to safely store their boat ready for use when they arrive.
“We anticipate that many people who were
previously hesitant to boat in The Bahamas, and con cerned about crossing the Gulf Stream, by being able to store their vessel in our facility will now travel to and boat in The Bahamas, thereby increasing tour ism and stimulating the Bahamian economy.” Boat owners will be able to use a phone-based app to request that their vessel be launched as needed.
The NEC’s June 16, 2022, approval for Legendary Marina came around the time when a politicallylaced row broke out over whether the Davis admin istration had bypassed the normal Budget process when it instructed Customs to eliminate the 10 percent duty on “pleasure vessels” after this was “inadvert ently omitted from the Budget measure sheet”.
The Government justi fied the move as making it cheaper, and easier, for per sons to register their boats in The Bahamas rather than in Florida and elsewhere. It was also designed to spur the creation of a Baha mian yacht registry, and will also likely help Legendary Marina in encouraging per sons to store their vessels at its New Providence facility.
The developer added that its project will include “marine service capabili ties”, and said its affiliation with OneWater Marine will help train Bahamian marine mechanics via a combina tion of apprenticeships and manufacturer-sponsored
training. It also pledged to work with the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) and other schools to build “a pipeline of employment opportuni ties for Bahamians”.
“This will bring marine repair business to The Bahamas instead of owners taking their boats back to Florida, as many do,” Legendary Marina said. “Having in-house marine parts and service tech nicians at our facility is just another way that our marina will be set apart from others. The ability to obtain repairs by factorycertified mechanics in The Bahamas will encourage boat travel to The Baha mas and boost the tourism economy.
“The full development will be much more than just a marina. The full buildout will include gas and diesel sales, a restaurant, pool, hotel, beachfront rental villas, marine store, marine service centre and more.” Legendary Marina executives met twice with Keenan Johnson, the Town Planning Committee chair, and Charles Zonicle, head of physical planning, this summer prior to submitting their plans.
The second meeting involved an August 31, 2022, site visit to Legend ary Marina’s Destin facility in Florida where they were accompanied by Mrs May nard-Gibson and other Town Planning Committee members.
Minister: ‘We won’t tolerate’ price control law breakers
for pharmacies to open and we expect them to open.”
While the Association is complaining that it sent proposed alternatives to the Government, but has yet to get a response, Mr Halkitis countered that they have not given the Davis admin istration enough time to assess its merits.
“We are in a position that maybe we will answer them on some of the issues, but that does not mean that we stop, or we freeze, because that is the danger when we use this word consultation and you see what happens; we get in this seemingly endless back and forth,” the minister added.
“Then you have people going to newspapers saying we will disregard the law, and they think that that is a way that they can do that. We will not tolerate people disregarding the law.” The Government also has a plan to deal with pharmacies closing indefinitely in pro test against the new price controls.
Mr Halkitis said: “Under the Pharmacy Act there’s certain responsibilities and obligations to act in the public interest, and we hope it doesn’t come to that. But we think that our commit ment to them is if you are implementing, but you’re not completely imple mented, we will not come with a hard enforcement.
“But we cannot tolerate people saying due to the effort of government to bring relief to the consum ers, they’re saying they’re not doing it. That’s not something we’re prepared to contemplate.”
There is nothing in the Pharmacy Act that would provide for the government forcing a pharmacy to open. However, Part IV section (3) does allow for disci plinary action to be taken against pharmacies that “abandon” their patients, but there is nothing that allows the Government to force a private pharmacy to open.
Mr Halkitis said: “I think the best bet is for them to go to their stores, open their stores, provide
a service to the public. We are not unreasonable. We are not unique in terms of being buffeted by inflation; the consumers have taken it on the chin.
“The Government has done its part, we believe, by reducing Customs duties, eliminating Customs duties. We get to this point because we have yet to see those savings being passed down to the public, and this is an effort to do that. This is one tool in our toolkit and we believe we are being reasonable.
“We’ve foregone enforce ment for a couple of weeks. We believe that the right stance is to begin to imple ment and, if you have issues, you can easily say to us: ‘I’ve reached a certain percentage of implementa tion’. We can understand that. But to take this issue that we are not complying at all, and we are freezing, that is not tenable and that is not something we’re will ing to accept.”
Price controls have always been a controver sial instrument among the private sector, especially
anachronism that have no place in a modern 21st cen tury economy. The private sector views price controls as an inefficient, distortion ary mechanism that creates more unintended conse quences than the supposed problems they solve.
They can result in prod uct shortages through retailers and wholesalers refusing to stock loss-mak ing items, while these firms also have to increase prices and margins on non-price controlled items to compen sate for selling these goods as effective “loss leaders”.
Under the Govern ment’s initial proposal, price-controlled mark-ups range from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharma ceutical wholesalers. For retailers, the range is from 35 percent to 40 percent. The medicines covered include vaccines, anti-dia betic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, anti-hypertension medicines, cough prepara tions, cardiovascular agents and serums.
Old Fort Bay dispute heads for legal battle
homeowner, and Old Fort Bay Club member, said the “middle access gate” clo sure resembles the divide between two countries at war with each other. “For the past 22-plus years the so-called ‘middle gate’ inside Old Fort was essen tially a speed bump and the road was unguarded, open and accessible to all in the community who were well within their rights to cross over,” the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Now the gate looks like an international border crossing between two nations at war with each
ASIAN
By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer
ASIAN shares were mostly higher Wednesday ahead of a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve on an interest rate increase to curb inflation.
Oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel and U.S. futures were also higher. Stocks ended lower on Wall Street after an unexpectedly strong
other...... The proposed path construction that was due to start on October 31, and be completed on November 17, reeks of desperation, grandstanding... How many construction projects of this nature are approved and completed within such a short timeframe?”
Another added: “It’s very sad. On Monday morning last week, the Old Fort Bay Property Owners Asso ciation began putting up wooden panels on the gate to block any way of looking into the Old Fort Bay com munity. It’s truly pathetic.”
Others said the Associa tion and Bahamas Hot Mix had been “steamrollering” ahead with the pathway’s
construction, having begun work on October 26 some five days ahead of the advertised month’s end start. This newspaper was shown photos of Baha mas Hot Mix employees working on the project on Sunday, which several residents are interpreting as an effort to complete the build-out prior to any Judicial Review action or injunction being obtained, rendering it a nullity.
Raven Rolle, a Callen ders & Co attorney acting on behalf of Fred Smith KC, in an October 26, 2022, letter on behalf of the Islands at Old Fort Bay property owners, demanded that all construction work
“cease immediately” until copies of all permit appli cations were presented and the issue of public consulta tion was clarified.
Writing to Luther Smith, the Ministry of Works per manent secretary, Ms Rolle said “there is much uncer tainty surrounding the type of ‘roadworks’” that the Old Fort Bay Property Owners Association and Bahamas Hot Mix obtained approvals for.
“A review of the ‘approved design’ reveals that the ‘roadworks’ will see the creation of a eightfoot wide footpath along the public road, and will entail the construction of a drainage well with heavy
duty frame and cover which will require excavation, and a Type D Kerb,” she added.
“The approved design will also result in the removal of trees along the private road and public road.
“We write to you with some urgency as we under stand that Bahamas Hot Mix commenced works on the project today. Our clients, as affected stake holders and interested parties, were entitled to be consulted before any approval was given and were not consulted nor, to our knowledge, was there any notice of public con sultation published to the general public.”
AWAIT FED RATE MOVES
report on the job market raised concerns the Fed will keep the pressure on infla tion with big rate increases. Chinese benchmarks extended gains after strong advances a day earlier driven by speculation the government might be pre paring to gradually relax stringent COVID-19 restric tions. Since that was not followed by any official
confirmation, the enthusi asm could quickly fade.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.6% to 15,554.91 while the Shanghai Com posite index added 0.5% to 2,983.76.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was up less than 0.1% at 27,685.42. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 6,999.90. South Korea's Kospi was up less than 0.1% at 2,336.44, erasing gains
that came earlier in the morning.
South Korea's export growth fell in October as demand from China fell. But the Bank of Korea's min utes for a policy meeting last month showed a "hawkish theme of bringing inflation under control against dovish surprise by two dissents," according to the Bank of America.
"Sentiments in the Asia session could largely hold on to some wait-and-see as well, but eyes will remain on Chi nese equities after its stellar performance yesterday," said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
The Fed is beginning a two-day policy meeting Wednesday that's expected to yield its sixth interest rate increase of the year as the central bank fights the worst
Calling on the Ministry of Works to provide copies of all permits and appli cations, as well as proof there was public consulta tion, Ms Rolle added: “We hereby demand that all construction work cease immediately upon receipt of this letter until the above issues are clarified or resolved.
“Failure to immedi ately cease construction work will result in the par ties being constrained to institute whatever neces sary action in the Supreme Court, including but not limited to an order seek ing an injunction, Judicial Review, damages and costs.”
inflation in four decades. The widespread expecta tion is for the Fed to push through another increase that's triple the usual size, or three-quarters of a percent age point.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 3,856.10 after having been up as much as 1% shortly after trading opened. The Dow Jones Industrial Aver age fell 0.2% to 32,653.20 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9%, to 10,890.85. The Russell 2000 rose 0.3% to 1,851.39.
Today Thursday Friday Saturday
Sunday Monday Tuesday
nassau
High Ht.(ft.) Low Ht.(ft.) 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 5:14 a.m. 3.0 11:28 a.m. 0.5 5:34 p.m. 3.0 11:55 p.m. 0.2 6:08 a.m. 3.1 12:25 p.m. 0.3 6:25 p.m. 3.0
5:56 a.m. 3.3 12:40 a.m. 0.1 6:12 p.m. 2.9 12:17 p.m. 0.2 6:40 a.m. 3.4 12:23 a.m. 0.0 6:56 p.m. 2.8 1:04 p.m. 0.1 7:22 a.m. 3.4 1:03 a.m. 0.0 7:38 p.m. 2.7 1:48 p.m. 0.1
7:18 a.m.
‘First-of-its-kind’ marina for southern New Providence
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.netA “first-of-its-kind” resort and marina development is seeking government approvals to construct on New Provi dence’s southern shore a 600-vessel boat storage facility that can withstand Hur ricane Dorian-strength storms.
Legendary Marina Resort at Blue Water Cay, according to documents filed with the Department of Physi cal Planning, is also seeking permission to develop a 100-slip marina, marine
Pharmacies reopen with PM meeting set for 4pm
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.netPRIVATE pharma cies will reopen this morning after the Govern ment relented and agreed to a meeting between the Prime Minister and indus try representatives today to address the price control dispute.
Branville McCartney, the former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, whose family owns Wilmac’s Pharmacy, con firmed to Tribune Business that himself and other retailers will open “in good faith” - but not with the Government’s expanded price control regime and reduced mark-ups - fol lowing yesterday’s closure after the Davis administra tion agreed to return “to the bargaining table”.
“They got a note about an hour ago indicating a meeting will be held tomor row with the Government, and the group is deciding to open,” he said of the Bahamas Pharmaceutical
Association (BPA) and its members. “Negotiations are in play. Part of that will be for us to open, and the other part of that is to get the Government to the bargaining table and have a discussion.
“The pharmacies will open tomorrow [today] but at the regular prices because we are still in negotiations with the Gov ernment. That’s what we wanted; to get the Gov ernment to the table so we could discuss the situa tion. Hopefully this results in something positive to the benefit of all with the outcome of that meeting. I hope and pray something positive comes out of that
which will be for the ben efit of all.
Shantia McBride, the Bahamas Pharmaceuti cal Association’s (BPA) president, did not respond to Tribune Business calls and messages seeking confirmation and further comment. However, other pharmacy sources, speak ing on condition of anonymity, affirmed that the meeting with Philip Davis KC will take place at 4 pm today and also feature Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, who has ministerial responsibil ity for consumer protection and price controls.
“Hopefully that will be the turning point in
service facility, boutique hotel, rental villas and a mixed-use office/retail com ponent at a location right at the southern end of Fox Hill Road.
No details were provided for the number of jobs, or value of investment, that is involved in a development which will be largely constructed on land reclaimed from the sea via dredging. Maps and renderings obtained by Trib une Business show the development is proposed for a site almost due south of the Freedom Farm baseball field, which
Food stores: No sign of price control crackdown
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.netFOOD stores yesterday told the Government “don’t leave us hanging on” as its tough talk about enforcing the expanded price control regime failed to materialise into fines and inspections.
the conversation,” one source said of today’s encounter with pharmacy retailers and wholesalers.
“The industry representa tives went down to the Prime Minister’s Office, and didn’t get any sort of response. We then,
Minister: ‘We won’t tolerate’ price control law breakers
By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.netA CABINET minister yesterday warned “we will not tolerate people disre garding the law” as food stores openly defied the Government’s November 1 deadline to implement expanded price controls while many pharmacies closed.
Michael Halkitis, minis ter of economic affairs, said before the weekly Cabinet
meeting that ongoing con sultation and negotiations between the Government and private sector does not necessarily mean enforce ment of a particular law and/or regulations will be suspended as he signalled that action could be taken to force pharmacies to re-open.
The Bahamas Phar maceutical Association (BPA) on Monday advised its members to close yesterday so that they would not be fined for not implementing the Davis
Old Fort Bay dispute heads for legal battle
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.netRESIDENTS in an Old Fort Bay subdivision are hoping the Chief Justice will today sign an Order blocking further construc tion - at least temporarily - of a controversial “multiuse pathway” that has deepened the upscale com munity’s divide.
Multiple Tribune Busi ness sources, speaking on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorised to talk publicly, said only Chief Justice Ian Winder’s signature remains outstanding on an Order that will permit property owners in the Islands at Old Fort Bay community - one of the subdivisions that makes up the full development - to launch a Judicial Review chal lenge to the permits and approvals granted for the pathway.
It is understood that the proposed Order will
administration’s price con trol reforms, which would significantly expand the number of items where prices are capped as well as slash retail and wholesale mark-ups.
Admitting that the Association’s action took the Government by sur prise, Mr Halkitis pointed out that the price control regime expansion is sup posed to be temporary, lasting only three months for the pharmaceuti cal industry and some six months for the food sector
also contain an interim injunction halting fur ther construction by the Old Fort Bay Property Owners Association and its contractor, Bahamas Hot Mix (BHM Construc tion), until a November 8, 2022, hearing where all sides are present to argue whether the bar should be extended for the duration of any Judicial Review proceedings.
The move will fur ther escalate the dispute between the Old Fort Bay Property Owners Asso ciation and residents of other subdivisions that form the upscale western New Providence commu nity, especially the Islands at Old Fort Bay and Bay Creek.
Tribune Business
although the Government has the ability to extend both.
“During that time we would look at working towards methods where we can have a more perma nent solution,” Mr Halkitis said. “In the case of the pharmaceuticals, out of the three months now we’re already two-and-a-half weeks into that and we’re still having talks about con tinued consultations. We think it’s more constructive
previously reported how a row over security fees mor phed into the Association closing the “middle access gate”, effectively splitting Old Fort Bay in two.
The dispute over the pathway’s construction, seen by Islands at Old Fort Bay and Bay Creek residents as the Associa tion’s solution to the loss of “free” golf cart and bike access that residents in Old Fort proper have suf fered as a result of the gate closure, which has denied them access to West Bay Street via the other subdi visions, is only serving to further heighten tensions.
One Islands at Old Fort Bay resident and
Philip Beneby, the Retail Grocers Associa tion’s (RGA) president, told Tribune Business he was unaware of any of its 130 members being sub jected to financial penalties or enforcement actions despite the industry-wide position that the revised price controls would not be implemented by the Government’s November 1 deadline.
Speaking as Michael Halkitis, minister of eco nomic affairs, asserted that the Davis administration “will not tolerate people disregarding the law” through non-compliance with the newly-amended price control regulations, the Association president said it has heard “abso lutely nothing” from the Government in response to its proposed alternatives.
Food retailers had pro posed a joint venture with the Ministry of Social Ser vices, whereby the sector
will provide a 10 percent ‘free’ food top-up to what ever low income consumers spend in food stamps. Other proposals included a drasti cally slimmed-down price control list, with higher mark-ups for Family Island retailers and perishable items, plus the elimination of VAT on “breadbasket” food items via zero ratings.
Bahamian food mer chants, and their wholesale suppliers, have taken the stance that the Govern ment’s proposed price control expansion to 38 product categories cannot be enforced since negotia tions/consultation with the Government remains ongo ing. Asked whether any enforcement of the revised regime had occurred yes terday, Mr Beneby replied: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Calling on the Govern ment to inform the industry if it has changed its position, and will move to enforce ment even though it has yet to respond to the food sec tor’s proposed alternatives, he added: “They should correspond with us in terms of what they’re doing. Don’t leave us hanging on; say something. Many of the retailers feel they will not last long enough.
‘hopes and prays’ for good outcome
Says price control plan ‘recipe for disaster’
Industry warns 60-70% of revenue to be hit