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VOLUME:117 No.09, DECEMBER 3RD, 2019
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SEE YOU IN COURT
Defiant Bethel vows to fight legal moves on shanty towns By LEANDRA ROLLE lrolle@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel yesterday said that the government “will prevail” in the courts against injunctions filed to stop the demolition of shanty towns in the country. “Iron will meet iron… the struggle to eradicate these unacceptable, unsafe and very dangerous conditions will continue in the courts and we expect that we will prevail because all we are asking is for every single resident in The Bahamas to live their life in healthy and safe and sanitary way,” he told reporters at Government House yesterday. “No amount of glossy affidavits and words can justify or hide the fact that it is well documented that these shanty towns are unsafe conditions, particularly for the young girls as well and not to mention surrounding communities and not to
LEADING CHARGE TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
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mention the adults who live in these areas.” Mr Bethel was responding reports that Rights Bahamas had filed an affidavit to further prevent the evictions and demolitions of shanty towns in Abaco and the wider Bahamian community. Rights Bahamas has previously said the organisation would not relent in taking legal action over the demolition of shanty towns, branding the move as “xenophobic and petty”. “The applicants seek judicial review of the respondents’ proposed plan to demolish homes and other buildings in several specific organic Haitian ethnic communities in New Providence, Abaco and elsewhere in The Bahamas,” Rights Bahamas president Stephanie St Fleur said in an affidavit obtained by the local
DAVIS WAS THE BRAINS - GIBSON By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
SHANE Gibson said Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis was the “mastermind” behind the defence strategy that helped him get acquitted last week of bribery charges. “A lot of people don’t know this,” Mr Gibson said last night. “We had a wonderful team of lawyers who represented me. But the catalyst, the mastermind behind the entire defence, was our leader.” SEE PAGE SIX
WARRANT ISSUED FOR ARCHER
SEE PAGE FIVE
VAT EXEMPTION LEVEL MAY RISE TO OFFSET BPL LEVY By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE government is “likely” to raise the $300 VAT-free threshold on electricity bills to minimise the impact from Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) $650m refinancing, a Cabinet minister revealed yesterday. Desmond Bannister, minister of works, told Tribune Business that Dr Hubert Minnis will make a public announcement on the issue amid fears the additional charge added
to BPL bills for servicing this mammoth borrowing could push many Bahamian households above this mark and expose them to the extra burden of monthly VAT payments. “That’s one thing the government is considering; raising the VAT threshold on electricity bills,” Mr Bannister confirmed. “I gave an indication that the prime minister will make an announcement, but it’s likely that what he’s going to do is increase the threshold for VAT.”
FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
FACE-TO-FACE
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
TIGER ON TARGET TIGER Woods put down a marker for the Hero World Challenge which starts in Albany tomorrow when he won the inaugural Hero Shot at Baha Mar yesterday, defeating Jordan Spieth in the final round. Full report - see Sport Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
A BENCH warrant was issued yesterday for Omar Archer, the Minnis administration-appointed registrar of contractors, after he failed to attend a hearing in a new court action against him. Kyle Dean, a young Progressive Liberal Party supporter, is seeking a restraining order against Mr Archer, accusing him of stalking and defaming him. SEE PAGE SIX
GUNMAN ON RUN AFTER FATAL SHOOTING A MAN was fatally shot yesterday after an argument with another man at a home off Carmichael Road turned deadly, police said. At the scene, Supt Shanta Knowles said the incident happened shortly after 6pm, when two men were at a residence on Dominica Way and got into an argument. One of the men left, then returned with a gun and shot the other man before escaping, she said. “We are speaking to
THE SCENE LAST NIGHT people in the community and witnesses who are giving us information as
to his correct identity, and, of course, we have a team of officers in search for him (the shooter),” Supt Knowles said. Grieving relatives screamed in anguish at the scene, suggesting the killing was a result of a domestic dispute connected to a woman the victim knew. “Y’all just don’t know who y’all mess with, y’all just don’t know the
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
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PETER YOUNG
WHEN POLITICAL RIVALS SHOWED SOME RESPECT
SEE PAGE NINE