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VOLUME:118 No.12, DECEMBER 8, 2020

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‘It’s time to stop Pinewood floods’ Rahming won’t support another budget that doesn’t deal with issue

By TANEKA THOMPSON Tribune News Editor tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

PINEWOOD MP Rueben Rahming said he will not support another budget that “neglects” his constituency and does not include financing to address long standing flooding issues in the area.

Mr Rahming said while he believes Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is the best person to lead the country, he does not “blindly support” the Free National Movement. He told Parliament he does not want to be put in a position to choose between his constituents and party loyalty, saying in that case, the government would “lose

against my conviction”.

“Pinewood has suffered an injustice for a long time and my politics doesn’t supersede my divine conscience,” Mr Rahming, high commissioner to CARICOM, said in a passionate address in the House of Assembly.

“I remember every time I stand here, that this seat does not belong to the FNM, it does not belong to Reuben. This belongs to the residents of Pinewood.

“This administration has been doing good by Pinewood and this country. I don’t blindly support this administration no way — my conscience wouldn’t allow it.”

SEE PAGE THREE

MINISTER of Education Jeff Lloyd expects face-toface learning to resume in all public schools by February 2021, with institutions in New Providence and Abaco likely to start with “blended learning” environments.

“We are working with the Ministry of Health and the health officials and they want to get past Christmas and, you know, see whatever comes out of that Christmas experience and

then possibly (we’re going to be) looking somewhere around early February,” he said, when asked when face-to-face instruction would resume.

He added: “We’ll be back to face-to-face in the early part of the new year. Soon as the Ministry of Health gives us the okay and we’re ready to move and we’re more than likely gonna be starting in New Providence and Abaco with blended learning.

“Now there are some SEE PAGE TWO

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

LAWYER Fred Smith, QC, said it is “astounding” that the government’s top attorney has claimed “ignorance” over the alleged illegal “appalling” detainment of several Cameroonians at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

Human Rights Bahamas (HRB) on Sunday raised alarm over the issue alleging that a group of men, women and one child seeking asylum in The Bahamas after fleeing their war-torn country have faced many injustices.

Apart from being detained at the Detention Centre for periods of time that contravene the laws of this country, the Cameroonians have also faced “abuses” and are being deprived of the right to communicate with family and lawyers, HRB has said.

The human rights group has threatened to take legal action against the government over the matter.

SEE PAGE TWO

BACK TO SCHOOL IN FEBRUARY BUT SAFETY FIRST, SAYS LLOYD

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

SMITH BLASTS AG FOR CLAIM OF IGNORANCE ON DETAINEES

ANTI-OIL MESSAGE TAKEN TO THE US OIL activists took their protests over drilling in The Bahamas to Miami - with a billboard on a barge off the shore of Miami Beach. The move comes amid new claims that The Bahamas could be held liable in US courts for any oil spillage in Bahamian waters. See page seven for the full story.

Photo: Logan Fazio

‘FNM MPS ARE ONE AND DONE’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

AS he declared his intention to run in the 2022 general election no matter how the government adjusts the constituency boundaries, Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine predicted that many FNM MPs will be “one and done” representatives.

He went on to hint that he could run either as an independent or for another political party outside of the FNM, under whose banner he was elected in 2017.

SEE PAGE THREE

‘WE DON’T KNOW HOW LONG WE CAN SURVIVE’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AN EX-CABINET minister yesterday said it was “unbelievable” gyms have been allowed to re-open while his family’s business remains closed, adding: “We don’t know how much longer we can survive.”

Leslie Miller, the former Tall Pines MP, suggested to Tribune Business it must have been an “oversight” by the Prime Minister and

FORMER Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller. his office in allowing gyms to re-open while keeping the likes of Mario’s Bowling and Family Entertainment

Palace, cinemas, nightclubs and bars closed in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arguing that Mario’s, with 24ft high ceilings and 76,000sq ft, was far better suited to maintaining social distancing and other COVID-19 health protocols than smaller-sized gyms once patron numbers were limited, Mr Miller pledged to call Dr Hubert Minnis’ office today.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

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DESIGNS ON MORE THAN JUST GRAPHICS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

BACK TO SCHOOL IN FEBRUARY BUT SAFETY FIRST, SAYS JEFF LLOYD from page one

schools because of the size of the population, they can go face-to-face 100 percent, but naturally that means that there are fewer students and there’s more space but the bigger schools like Anatol, CV Bethel, Doris Johnson, more than likely we’re gonna begin with blended learning in the initial stages.”

An emergency order released last week said schools can now operate with either virtual or faceto-face learning so long as the institution providing the latter service has been given permission from the Ministry of Education.

Asked how many schools have applied for permission since the new order was issued, Mr Lloyd said he could not say offhand but added there was interest from several private institutions.

“As many as there probably are, especially private schools that is, and private preschools and early childhood you know years—I can’t tell you the numbers.

Every single day we’re receiving five or six (to) me personally,” he said.

“Then you, of course you got the permanent secretary and the director who themselves also (are) receiving requests.”

He said in order to receive permission to resume in person instruction, these schools must be registered and their COVID-19 plan has to be reviewed.

While there are concerns about students falling behind this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, Mr Lloyd assured work is being done by teachers to assist these students.

He told the media at the House of Assembly: “That’s why our teachers are so dedicated and deserve all of our praise because they have been working overtime to (help) those students and we are now right this minute. . .devising strategies as to how we can remedy that and as you know traditionally students who have not met the minimum requirements in a particular year – there’s the summer school.

“So we have the summer, we have the breaks during Easter breaks and so on.

All of those and every other conceivable, creative tactic will be employed to make sure that our students do not fall through the cracks.”

Public schools across the country reopened on October 5, however, those in New Providence, Abaco and Eleuthera were only allowed to offer virtual learning. Some private schools on these islands have adopted a hybrid model, allowing virtual and on campus learning, while a few offer face-to-face learning.

THE TRIBUNE

Smith blasts AG for claim of ignorance on detainees from page one Asked about the situation on Sunday, Attorney General Carl Bethel said he was unaware but told The Tribune an investigation would be ordered into the allegations. To claim ignorance, Mr Smith said, is unacceptable, adding there was “no need” to investigate.

“It is astounding to me that the attorney general would claim ignorance of the thousands of people who have been held and continue to be held illegally at the Carmichael concentration camp,” Mr Smith said.

“Ever since we were able to get the release of dozens of illegally held detainees, the attorney general had promised, as had the former government, to investigate who is at the Detention Centre and whether they are being held illegally. This is very simple. There is no need to investigate.

“Anybody at the Detention Centre who is not being held for investigation for 48 hours before being brought before a court should be released. The constitution is clear. The criminal procedure code is clear. Once arrested for suspicion of any offence, a person must be brought before the magistrate or released.

“This is not complicated.

Case after case after case has repeatedly emphasised that you cannot hold anybody whether it is Bahamian or foreign indefinitely.”

Mr Smith further said he was disappointed that the Free National Movement

government has not proven itself to be an administration to govern by the rule of law.

“The AG and his lawyers know there are literally hundreds of people that I represent and thousands who I don’t who have been and are being held illegally.

“In the (Douglas) Ngumi case and now the Cameroonians who have fled political victimisation in their country, they came to the Bahamas because we are known as a country that respects the rule of law and because we have signed on to the various covenants and treaties to provide political asylum to refugees.

“Instead, they have been tortured, abused (and) beaten,” he alleged. “The poor woman (one asylum seeker) has been separated from her young child. They have been deprived of communicating. They have had to do it in secret and clandestinely sending little notes to communicate with us.

“They left their country where they were in fear of being abused and raped and imprisoned and they came here and are being made to suffer even worse treatment. The prime minister, I was there at his swearing in, he promised to govern by the rule of law and that has simply not happened.

“They have continued the illegal practices of the previous PLP administration.

“They (detainees) are not criminals. Why do they have to take their phones from them? Why don’t they communicate with their lawyers? It is appalling that our little Bahamas, where

FROM left, Ndi Thong, Anye Celestine Ngang and Elvis Forwang. we say it is better, is treating people so savagely, so brutally, so insensitively, with no compassion and no respect for their human dignity.”

HRB said on Sunday: “Less than a week after (Immigration) Minister Elsworth Johnson insisted that the Bahamas is a ‘country of laws’, it has emerged that his Immigration Department is (allegedly) illegally detaining seven asylum seekers who fled a violent sectarian conflict in Cameroon where they were targeted as members of a minority group.

“The seven are from an English-speaking region in the northwest of that country, which since 2017 has struggled to resist forcible assimilation by the much larger French-speaking majority and government.

The struggle that so far claimed 3,000 lives and

displaced more than half a million people.

“The asylum seekers have not been charged with or convicted of any crime in the Bahamas and the government has no legal justification for holding them indefinitely, some for more than a year and a half,” the statement said.

However, one of the asylum seekers was arraigned last week.

“All have been interviewed by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), and are in the process of having their political refugee status officially confirmed.”

According to HRB, the detained asylum seekers include Patrick Awara Tarh, who fled his country after many of his political colleagues were arrested and jailed; and Violet Acha

Werengie, who fled Cameroon for Nigeria after being tortured, raped and almost killed by four-armed government troops. Her young child, Sama Eliana Itoh, from whom she has been separated, is also among the asylum seekers.

Others include Carine Valerie Nguesap, Anye Celestine Ngang, Ndi Tinong, and Ahmed Mbia Mambingo. They are all said to be in immigration’s custody except Ms Werengie, who is currently in “Fox Hill prison” after being arraigned in court on assault charges last week.

Elvis Forwang and Perpetua Forwang — two siblings who are no longer detained at the Detention Centre for health reasons but remain under immigration surveillance — are also among the group, HRB said.

BPL AIMS FOR RATE REDUCTION BOND BY FEBRUARY

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power & Light Chairman Dr Donovan Moxey said yesterday that officials are working feverishly to close the power provider’s rate reduction bond by early next year.

“With respect to the bond offering, we’re still working very, very hard to get that deal closed,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.

“As you know, minister spoke about the fact that we have a target date of closing the bond by the end of January of next year and so we’re working hard and all for the teams are really focused on that date and so I’m very optimistic we will be able to get that done by the end of January of next year.”

BPL’s bond offering is a part of the utility provider’s efforts to obtain the required financing to help refinance the company’s debts and also fund major infrastructure upgrades to transform BPL and the energy sector.

Yesterday, Dr Moxey said finances secured via BPL’s bond offering will help replace outdated components at its substations, which was attributed as one of the causes for recent power outages in the capital.

“We have generation, we have transmission and distribution. As we said a while back, with the building of station A, the additional 132 megawatts, we have no issues with generation in New Providence,” he said.

“The challenges that many of us would’ve seen with (recent) outages is really in our transmission and distribution system and

in particular we’ve had a lot of incidences at the substation level and obviously, we’re addressing these issues as best as we possibly can.”

He added: “But, one of the things that we did indicate is the number of the components within these substations need to be updated sorely and that bond funding is really what’s needed in order to make those investments.

“And unless we have the investment ball to really make significant infrastructure investments is very tough to maintain a certain level of efficiency if you will as well with these systems over time so these investments really need to be made.”

Last month, Dr Moxey told Tribune Business that Citibank and CIBC First Caribbean will likely act as “joint book runners” and placement agents in finding

investors to purchase the bonds, adding that the latter’s expertise in private placements will likely be more suited to the issue’s needs.

Bond repayments will be financed by BPL’s residential and business consumers via a new line item, which was initially equivalent to 15 percent of their current consumption, which will be added to their bills.

The final charge, though, will depend on the interest rate BPL is able to obtain from bond investors. The utility has said electricity cost savings that will result from the upgrades financed by the bonds will offset the extra charge and result in Bahamians paying the same price – or slightly less – for their energy.

Yesterday, Dr Moxey was also asked to give an update on BPL’s agreement with Shell for New Providence’s new power plant, which

expired last month.

However, he said: “Yes, the Shell agreement did expire for us on November third but we’re still in communication with Shell.

We’re still in discussions with Shell and we are still focused on doing the best possible deal for the Bahamian people.

“One of the things that we want everybody to know and understand is when we talk about a 20 to 25 PPA (power purchase agreement), you want to make sure given that long-term commitment that you’re doing everything in the best interest of the Bahamian people and so that means, if we take a little bit longer to do what we need to then that’s our focus because at the end of the day, getting the Bahamian people the best possible deal long-term is extremely important for us and that’s what we’re doing.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 3

MAN SHOT AS HE WAS WALKING A MAN is in hospital after he was shot yesterday morning.

Police said sometime around 11.50am, a man and two women were walking north along Market Street.

As they got near the intersection of Brougham Street, they were approached by a group of males. One of the men produced a handgun and discharged it in the direction of the trio, injuring the male.

The victim was taken to hospital, and police said his condition was not known up to press time. The suspect fled the scene on foot.

An investigation is continuing.

POLICE cordon off the scene of yesterday’s shooting.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh

‘It’s time to stop Pinewood floods’ from page one “I’m the kind of man I want to see the war I’m going into, I want to see the battle... don’t cover my eyes when I go. So everything I say is blatant and deliberate and I mean it with all my heart.”

He also said: “I mean it with all my heart saying that Dr Hubert Minnis, in my opinion and I will stand alone at that until God tells me different, is the best person for this country. And I am afraid of the alternative, I really am.

“But I want my people to know that what Pinewood

needs falls within the money category. So I am speaking to each one of my Cabinet colleagues... Pinewood needs deliverance in this term. “We have paid into this Consolidated Fund after countless MPs after MPs and if God is going to take a simple shepherd boy (to get the job done)... we need to do what we need to do for Pinewood.”

Mr Rahming said he has always been supportive of the government in the House of Assembly and was “calling in that debt right now”.

“In this upcoming budget, the people of Pinewood expect to have

monies allotted for the fight against that flooding in that constituency,” he said.

“And no one could tell me that after 25 years that they have not invested enough in this country, in the Consolidated Fund, to be justified an allotment of whether it’s $5m, $10m — we have done miracles in these hard times.

“Whether COVID is here or not I am standing here saying Pinewood deserves it... Do not leave Pinewood, do not put me in that position because you will lose against my conviction. They are God’s people, so I am asking you... I am standing here not questioning

your loyalty and love for Pinewood. I am standing here because I believe I can count on it.

“I am asking y’all to ensure that by next year’s budget, that there is a clear line item, that there is an allotment for relief and satisfaction for my constituency. That is all I ask.

“Please ensure that these people experience ‘people’s time’ and a lot what needs to be allotted. I have to say it because it was in my spirit.

I cannot and will not support a budget that neglects Pinewood, not again. They will not have another MP that will sit by and watch bridges built, roads covered,

monuments built, great things done for everyone else — and I’m happy because we’re all Bahamians — and Pinewood is left behind. I cannot do it.”

The Pinewood community has been plagued with devastating flooding for years, despite frequent promises from politicians that the matter would be addressed.

In 2013, then area MP Khaalis Rolle said a new drainage system for the area could cost the government as much as $13m. He started plans for the new drainage system, however, the initiative was never carried out under the Christie administration.

In August 2019, Mr Rahming said more drains would be installed in the area, but warned they are not a “panacea” for the issue. At the time, he estimated $10m was needed to address the flooding issue in Pinewood — money which he said could not be allocated at the time.

In October, area residents said the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were exacerbated by heavy flooding brought on by rainstorms. The flooding pushed rainwater into homes, damaged items and was so high some residents were seen paddling in kayaks.

‘FNM MPS ARE ONE AND DONE’ from page one

“I’m sorry to tell you many of you in here is one and done,” Mr McAlpine told the House yesterday during his contribution to the debate on an amendment to the Parliamentary Elections Act. The amendment will bring into force a permanent register which officials have said means persons on the existing register will not be required to register again.

“If you was listening it wouldn’t get this far,” the outspoken MP said in response to heckling from seated government MPs. “We wouldn’t be where we are today if you was listening. You ain’t listening to me. You ain’t even listening to Papa (former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham). You ain’t listening to nobody.

“I am sorry to tell you, for many of you in here it’ll

be one and done. Many of you have disappointed the Bahamian people (and) not just the Bahamian people, your family and your friends, even some of them have made up in their minds not to vote for you next time.

“Mr Speaker, I can’t tell you who’s winning the next general election, but I can certainly tell you who’s not.”

Earlier in his contribution, Mr McAlpine suggested there may have been a plan underway to deny him a nomination.

However, he said, nothing would stop him from challenging the seat, including any plans to alter constituency boundaries.

“Pineridge intends to run in the next general election, God spares life. Pineridge also intends to be returning to this place after the next general election again, if God spares life.

“Pineridge may be many

ARAGONITE BILL GOES TO COMMITTEE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PARLIAMENTARIANS voted yesterday to move a bill that would repeal the Ocean Industries Incorporated (Aragonite Mining Encouragement) Act to a Select Committee on Natural Resources, effectively ensuring that the Bill will not be debated in the House of Assembly during a second reading.

The action came a week after House Speaker Halson Moultrie took the rare decision to side against members of the governing party and allow Pineridge MP Fredrick McAlpine to table the private Bill. That was the first time this session that a private Bill was allowed to have a first reading.

Before Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells, the leader of government business in the House, moved to send the Bill to a Select Committee in Parliament yesterday, Speaker Moultrie said he realised the document Mr McAlpine tabled is a “money Bill” after his decision last week, noting that the constitution rests the power to bring Bills that affect the Consolidated Fund in the hands of Cabinet.

Article 59(3) of the constitution says: “Except on the recommendation of the Cabinet signified by a minister, the House of Assembly shall not (a) proceed upon any Bill (including any amendment to a Bill) which,

in the opinion of the person presiding, makes provision for imposing or increasing any tax, for imposing any charge on the Consolidated Fund or any other public fund or altering any such charge otherwise than by reducing it or for compounding or remitting any debt due to The Bahamas...”

Speaker Moultrie said: “All members of the Parliament are eligible and privileged to bring a Bill to this Parliament. Notwithstanding having said that, certain information was brought to this presiding officer’s attention since (the last) sitting. Upon review of the (Bill) I discovered in that (Bill), provisions that touch taxes, duties levied, fees and also in that (Bill) on section three it deals with royalties due to the government based on the mining of aragonite and other materials. As a consequence, the Bill before this House is a money Bill because it seeks to repeal an act that touches the Consolidated Fund. The constitution which I relied on totally on Wednesday, I must rely on today.”

The Bill for an Act to repeal the Ocean Industries Incorporated (Aragonite Mining Encouragement) 1971, was drafted by Bahamian Evolution, a group that demonstrated in Rawson Square last week.

Those backing the bill argue the country has not benefited enough from its natural resources.

things, but Pineridge is not politically naive. I don’t follow constituencies’ names. I follow the people of the constituency. You’re not going to play political games with me and that’s when they would turn around and take the name Pineridge, stick it on West End and then turn it into Pineridge thinking that I’m crazy enough to go run in West End which is now named Pineridge.

“I’ve seen that before in this place. It happened right there where the honourable member for Bamboo Town is MP. Bamboo Town was someplace else. The people were someplace else, but another set of people had the name Bamboo Town.”

He continued: “If the powers that be seek to be spiteful while continuing down the road of pettiness, deciding among themselves to remove Pineridge as a constituency, then I will go

where the majority is.

“You better listen, don’t worry about me, I will then see where the majority of the people are and will be running in that constituency either way. I have become a threat to the government’s candidacy.

“You may give me a nomination. You may not give me a nomination. It will become very difficult however for any candidate who the governing party may nominate against me even if he is a present incumbent.

“I ain’t stupid. Removing Pineridge and putting my people into another constituency from the voter’s registration will not matter.

“I represent and (have) represented Pineridge to the best of my ability and by extension Grand Bahama that wherever I run, the people of Grand Bahama will remember me as I have remembered them,” Mr McAlpine said.

FREDERICK McAlpine MP in Parliament yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

PAGE 4, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Churches to get creative for Christmas

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

LOCAL church leaders will be using creative means and technology to host watch-night services and midnight mass in order to adhere to COVID-19 social distancing protocols.

Bahamas Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander outlined these measures yesterday as he praised the government’s decision to allow special worship services during curfew hours this holiday period.

The religious leader said even though churches have been given the greenlight to resume watch-night services, they will not take on the usual format this year due the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

BISHOP DELTON FERNANDER He said some special services may be held virtually, while others may be conducted in outside spaces well suited for social distancing, such as parking lots.

“We’ll have what I call the hybrid moment today,” he said.

“The hybrid moment means that we will all be streaming and all be packaging programmes and some will be totally cyber and there will be some in the physical space according to the protocols, according to what the space allows.

“And even this year, some will be in parking lots.

In parks and they will use a drive-up model and have worship that way so we will be very, very creative so that we can make sure… because there’s no Junkanoo and so there’s going to be more people without excuses on why they can’t come to church and so, we’re going to have facilities seeing a larger volume than normal.”

Asked if officials were concerned about overcrowding at the watch-night services, Bishop Fernander

replied: “Well, I think that we have got to take those models and things into consideration. I have spoken to denominational heads and they’re going to run multiple services and this may be the first time ever you have to book your time at worship.

“You’re going to have to go to a Facebook site that is free or some other more digital apps to say ‘I am coming to the 10pm services (or) I am coming to the 9pm service (or) I am coming to the 11pm service.’

“So, unfortunately, this year we’re going to have to run multiple services unless you have the massive facilities that you can take the volume of people that are coming.”

His comments came a day after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the loosening of several

COVID-19 restrictions ahead of the Christmas holiday season.

Social gatherings will be permitted with a maximum of ten people beginning December 24 to January 3, 2021.

During the same period, religious services may also be held during curfew hours after 10pm to accommodate midnight mass, watch-night services and other liturgical services.

“This applies to New Providence, Abaco, Grand Bahama, Exuma and Eleuthera, as other islands do not currently have evening curfews,” Dr Minnis said in a national address on Sunday.

Bishop Fernander expressed gratitude for the move on behalf of the BCC. “We are very thankful,” he said. “We started the dialogue and we kind of

pointed out the importance of the advent season to the church and the importance of there being some kind of lifting of the spirit of the country.

“And so, we’re going to do our very best to enforce all of the protocols that we’ve been doing and try to make this time of celebration — maybe the only one we have to gather as a country – meaningful and impactful and safely, so we are very thankful.”

On Sunday, Dr Minnis also called on religious leaders to make requests to the competent authority in the event they required additional provisions to appropriately celebrate the Christmas season.

He said such requests will be given consideration with appropriate consultation with public health officials.

MINNIS: PEOPLE WILL DO THE RIGHT THING

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis expressed no concern yesterday that some people will take advantage of relaxed COVID-19 rules during the Christmas holidays.

He announced during a national address on Sunday that residents can attend traditional Christmas and watch night church services after the 10pm curfew and families and friends can get together for Christmas dinners with a maximum of ten people. He said the provision extends from December 24 to January 3, 2021.

Asked by reporters yesterday whether he is concerned some young people will exploit the Christmas privileges to be out after curfew, he said: “Bahamians are honest and respectable. I respect them for that and I’m sure and certain that they will comply with laws and regulations.”

Nonetheless, Dr Minnis has repeatedly appealed to young people this year to take the virus seriously and follow COVID-19 rules.

On Sunday he said: “In order to celebrate Christmas and because we are doing generally well at the

moment, I wish to advise you of the relaxation of a number of measures.”

Retail operators on the islands of New Providence and Abaco will be able to provide services between the hours of 6am and 9pm on Sunday, December 13, and Sunday, December 20.

These islands are still under a daily 10pm to 5am curfew and other public health protection measures are still in place. On inter-island travel, Dr Minnis said: “Travellers from New Providence and Grand Bahama to the rest of the Bahamas will be required to obtain the travel visa, to complete the daily health questionnaire and take the rapid antigen test on the fifth day after their travel.

“This is the same protocol in place for international travellers to the Bahamas.

Additionally, the requirement for people travelling from Exuma to the remainder of the Bahamas to take an RT PCR test will be removed.”

He said the requirement for an RT PCR test for travellers from New Providence and Grand Bahama to the remainder of the Bahamas will remain in place.

His address came hours before Ministry of Health officials said zero COVID19 cases were recorded on Sunday.

FUSION CASH ‘NEARLY DEPLETED’

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

FUSION Superflex’s cash reserves are “nearly depleted” after being closed since March with the entertainment centre’s CEO telling The Tribune the facility needs to reopen soon before the business suffers “permanent” damage.

Carlos Foulkes said Fusion has a reopening plan and has written to the competent authority requesting to resume business, but has not heard anything.

“It has not been easy, that is certain,” Mr Foulkes said yesterday. “We are prepared for reopening.

We would like to get our employees back to work.

It’s been difficult.

“Cash reserves are nearly depleted and so we would need to get back into operation before the business suffers permanent damage.

“We have 400 staff members who are just sitting there with nothing to do and many of them call and email and come out to the property and ask questions and some of them have difficult times making ends meet. It’s not easy for staff members.

We try to help where we can. My management team has assisted privately, as it’s only so far you can go without income.”

He added: “We have submitted a proposal to the competent authority. We have not heard any word back from them, but will

reach out again this week.”

He said Fusion has come up with creative ideas and sanitisation protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“Of course we have one of those advanced, HD/ AC systems in the country,” he said. “We have UV lights already built into our systems so it’s clean air delivery and extraction in and out of the theatre space. We have sufficient outdoor space on the decks.

“We can minimise space between box office agents and customers by having them use online purchases of tickets and kiosk machines. We are ready to go. It’s just a matter of getting an indication as when we are allowed to go.”

Fusion Superflex has planned reduced use of the facility; separation of seats; empty rows between decks between groups of guests and not every seat will be sold.

“We have basically reduced the theatre down to 30 percent occupancy level,” he said. “So we will never sell a full theatre and we are willing to go with the additional social distancing that has been laid out by the law and by our own health consultants.

Mr Foulkes said as soon as the company is given the green light, it will purchase new stock and get back to business.

Fusion officials have repeatedly agitated to be able to reopen, after being closed for most of the year due to the pandemic.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 5

‘COVID-19 prompted register change’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames said yesterday that the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Minnis administration to move from a register every five years to a continuous register.

“While concrete action regarding the change has long been discussed in different forums, the current reality is that the global pandemic has forced the inevitable,” he said. “This change will eliminate the need for long lines and reduce the costs of registering the same persons every five years.

“Shorter lines mean better adherence to social distancing, as recommended by the World Health Organisation and other leading scientists and a decrease in the spread of COVID-19. Less expense means more funds to achieve other national goals for our people

which has never been so important.”

Mr Dames noted that once the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill is passed, the Bahamas would join more than 16 countries in the Commonwealth that have moved away from a quinquennial (once every five years) register to a continuous register, including Jamaica, Barbados, Canada, Ireland and South Africa.

Mr Dames said the 2017 register has more than 187,000 registrants.

He said that according to the parliamentary commissioner, “it is projected that no more than 20,000 new voters will need to be added to the register”.

Mr Dames also explained why the administration has created a provision allowing voters 65 and older to vote as special voters in an advanced poll.

He said: “According to the World Health Organisation, older persons and those with underlying health conditions are most

MINISTER of National Security Marvin Dames in Parliament yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

vulnerable during this pandemic. Indeed, persons age 65 years or older represent 80 percent of the hospitalisations worldwide and have a 23-fold greater risk of death than those under 65 years.

“With this in mind, this administration thought it necessary to ensure this vulnerable group be provided with special accommodation…this administration is making the necessary amendment to ensure that our senior citizens are afforded every opportunity to remain safe, while exercising their right to vote.”

During his contribution to debate on the bill, Exuma and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper said broader reform is necessary to strengthen the nation’s democracy.

He said: “…We have to actually action it, not just talk about it like fixed election dates or a two-term limit for the prime minister and the ability to recall MPs, like this administration campaigned (on) .

Likewise, the Freedom of Information Act, like you marched for with We March.”

Mr Cooper called on political actors to finally make a move on campaign finance reform, an issue Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis campaigned on but has taken few steps to facilitate.

He said: “If a country as large and awash in money as the United States of America can regulate money in elections, not that they don’t have challenges with that, then so can we.

“As the Organisation of American States pointed out in its report on the last general election: ‘The Bahamas has no regulations regarding political-electoral financing or disclosure of

UP TO $10M NEEDED TO EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT AID

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

AN additional $4m to $10m is needed to extend the government’s unemployment benefit assistance through January 2021, National Insurance Board Minister Brensil Rolle revealed yesterday.

In a national address Sunday, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the government made the decision to extend the unemployment benefit, adding that the food assistance programme will also continue for the first quarter of 2021.

Asked how much more money was needed to fund the unemployment extension programme for an additional month, Mr Rolle

said: “It depends. Roughly four to six million dollars on that extension and that depends also on how many persons have come back to work so it could be any range (from) $4m to $10m.”

Mr Rolle said NIB has been left strained from this exercise.

However, he said a policy decision has not yet been made on whether NIB contributions will increase.

“NIB is strained,” he said. “Our funds have been impacted.

“We have spent over $180m in this exercise so we say to you help us educate the public and let’s see what the results are.

“If you are successful in convincing the Bahamian public there will be an increase,” the minister also said.

NIB will have to navigate how to best handle the extension and a decision over contributions at a time when its Director Nicolla Virgill-Rolle has until February before she officially leaves the post.

It was confirmed last week that Mrs Virgill-Rolle is set to become Lyford Cay Foundations’ new executive director.

As for the search for a new director, Mr Rolle said selections had not yet been narrowed down.

“The director is obligated to work for NIB until February of next year,” Mr Rolle said, adding, “The process of examination of finding somebody is going to take us some time and NIB at the administrative level is well able to continue beyond that time.”

sources of funding. There is no public funding for political parties or candidates, meaning electoral campaigns are privately funded.

The origin of private funds is not regulated and there are no prohibitions on foreign and anonymous sources.

“The Bahamas sets no limits on campaign spending and political parties are not required to disclose their finances. In 2012, the OAS recommended that The Bahamas consider

adopting a legal framework on the financing of political parties and campaigns, including rules that limit campaign spending and prohibit anonymous and foreign contributions, mechanisms to oversee the money moving in and out of campaigns, and a greater disclosure of information on the use of campaign funds.’”

Mr Cooper said the public does not know who funds election campaigns.

“It is dangerous to think that the deepest pockets

can bombard the public with spending and get an administration into office who is beholden more to the financiers than the Bahamian people,” he said.

“Not only is the perception awful, but it is a recipe for potential corruption and inside dealing. We have no idea what foreign interest may be involved in financing election campaigns.

This, too, is a dangerous threat to the integrity of our electoral process, and to our democracy.”

In Memory Of

George Francis Carey

formerly of Nassau, who passed away at the age of 96 in Frankfurt, Germany on November 22nd of this year.

George Carey was born in Nassau in 1924, where he lived until the age of 90 when he and his wife Ellen moved to Frankfurt to be closer to their family.

Some of you will remember George Carey as one of the first home grown Bahamas tennis champions. He was a self-taught talent who won his first national title in 1949, dominated men’s tennis in the Bahamas for the following 15 years and regularly won the junior veterans and veteran’s events into the late 1960s and 1970s.

Others will remember him as a trusted colleague and manager and as one of the stalwarts of the former Taylor Industries where he worked for almost 50 years.

Friends, who had the pleasure of knowing him, will think of him as a true gentlemen with a positive word for everyone and a passion for tennis. His family will remember him as a caring father, grandfather and a perfect example of how we should interact with others. His greatest love was his family and his wife of 63 years, Ellen Carey who also left us recently so we can take comfort that they are together again.

He lived a long and full life and although sorely missed, he will always be remembered by those who love him dearly.

George is survived by his sons Peter and Patrick and grandchildren Brandon, Jason, Sam and Isabelle. He will be remembered as a former Bahamas tennis champion, a loyal friend, a loving husband, caring father and a true gentlemen.

PAGE 6 , Tuesday, December 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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Speaking up for constituents TWO MPs stood up in Parliament yesterday to raise their voices against the current state of affairs in the government.

One, predictably enough, was Frederick McAlpine, who these days always seems like an argument in search of an excuse. In his contribution on the Parliamentary Elections Act, he seemed to talk more about himself than the issue at hand. A banging drum soon becomes background noise, and McAlpine is in danger of becoming just that.

The other MP to speak out was a different case entirely. Rueben Rahming is not one to speak out against his own party often – which lends his words extra weight, not least because he was speaking out on behalf of his constituents, not himself.

Pinewood is a constituency that has long been in need of help. Under the previous PLP administration, plans were suggested to help deal with the flooding that affects the area every time there’s a heavy rainfall – but they did not come to pass. Former MP Khaalis Rolle believed a new drainage system would cost $13m.

That was in 2013, seven years ago. What has been done since? Ask the residents of Pinewood, who every time storm clouds roll over get ready to deal with rising water.

In October, Desmond Bannister, the Minister of Works now newly minted as Deputy Prime Minister, said that recent flooding showed new ways of preventing flooding are needed because climate change is rendering traditional mechanisms obsolete. He talked of wells having been deepened – but said climate change meant those wells were filling up anyway.

Mr Rahming is the constituency MP, and this is an issue he’s raised before.

Last year, he warned that drains were no fix on their own, and estimated $10m was needed to address the issue. No money was allocated then – and he’s drawing the line now. Why? Because someone needs to. We all know the problems affecting the Pinewood area. Can we really leave people to be flooded in their homes year after year without doing something about it?

Bahamians deserve better from the government that represents them, and Mr Rahming is doing exactly what a constituency representative should do,

by standing up for the needs of those he serves.

The elephant in the room of course is climate change. What is bad now will only get worse. Waiting any longer won’t help anyone in Pinewood. Residents there need a solution, and they need it soon. No more kicking the can down the road.

We applaud Mr Rahming – standing up for constituents rather than for oneself is exactly what MPs should be doing.

Safe schools

When it comes to the latest news on COVID-19, it is sometimes hard to work out where we actually are given the mixed messaging. Let us take today’s stories, for example. On one hand, you have Leslie Miller talking about not knowing if Mario’s Bowling will survive after not being allowed to open up yet, and the Fusion cinema saying it’s running out of cash reserves to keep going. On the other, you have Education Minister Jeff Lloyd saying he expects schools to be back to face-to-fact learning in just a couple of months.

Getting students back to school is absolutely something that will be welcomed – if it can be done safely. Teachers have done their best trying to teach students remotely. Students have managed as best they can – though many have not engaged in online classes, for whatever reason, and those students more than any other will most need a return to normality. Parents have become tutors at home too, juggling lessons on maths and foreign languages alongside their day jobs where possible. It’s been far from ideal, it has to be said.

But the key has to be safety. We are encouraged that Mr Lloyd says the guidance will come from the Ministry of Health, and we hope that the ructions between the government and teachers can be set aside to ensure a safe working environment, and for schools to be a place where children can come and study without the fear of bringing home COVID-19, and sparking a new wave of infections.

Getting this wrong could cost people their lives – so we absolutely need a united front to make things as safe as they can be. Will we see that? Over to you, Mr Lloyd. Take the lead.

We can do better EDITOR, The Tribune.

FEUDALISM declined in Europe from 12th century to 15th century. In the 1300s the bubonic plague swept across Asia and Europe. Over the next two centuries this disease killed millions. The death of so many led to economic and social changes.

The Magna Carta(1215) limited the king’s power and strengthen the rights of the nobles and the creation of parliament. The common people benefitted as the nobles used them to gain more power through parliamentary democracy and capitalism. The relationship moved from serf and lords to employer and employee.

The war between France and England between 1337 and 1453 shifted power from the feudal lords to the monarchs and common people.

Before the 18th century people used to live and farm and work from homes.

Just before the Industrial Revolution (18th century) manufacturers started to gather workers in one place under supervision for a wage.

I see a similar shift happening today caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the war on terrorism and Global debt of US $277 trillion by year’s

end (Institute of International Finance). Capitalism the current dominant economic system whose main advocate is the United States is unlikely to recover. The US is no longer practising capitalism with government buying corporate bonds, ETFs and giving forgivable loans to big corporations like Microsoft. 20% of US companies are zombie cooperation being kept afloat by government money.

When the US tried to raise interest rate to 2.5% in December 2018, the stock market crashed. The Federal Reserve started to take the interest rate to zero. Because of US debt of 27.4 trillion interest rate will stay near zero indefinitely. The future implementation of artificial intelligence, automation, biotech and other technology will decrease the need for workers. Just the present work from home where possible orders cut the need for transportation and other goods and services like office space, gas and work clothes.

The present economic system is outdated and fit for the 19th century. The IMF is calling for a new Bretton Woods which is a new economic order.

Spin finance minister has

introduced universal basic income as a response to the novel coronavirus and it will become permanent. The entire world has introduced some sort of universal basic income in the form of unemployment relief or food subsidy. From about the 1800s the masses have experienced growing freedom and an improved standard of life due to democracy and economic growth.

For most of civilisation the common people have lived a meager existence.

It seems like we will revert back to the mean (norm).

It’s a mathematical axiom that over a long period of time phenomenon goes back to the mean. It is a highly likely probability, but human ingenuity and determination can prolong humanity’s high standard of living. No more serf and lords, but equal human beings. Presently our rulers are governments which replaces the kings and business person who replaces the lords. It’s a modification that benefits the common people, but we can still do better.

BRIAN E PLUMMER Nassau, December 7, 2020.

It’s right to hunt for oil EDITOR, The Tribune.

AFTER careful and extensive research into the oil industry and the safety measures available to ensure that there would be minimal possibility of an oil spill during the drilling of a sole exploratory well by your firm in Bahamian waters, I and my assorted nonprofit organisations, Common Cause and The National Republican Arena (ARENA) have decided to publicly support your efforts.

I note that several socalled environmental groupings and fringe off shoots, have called upon the central government to cancel what would appear to be valid Heads of Agreement by force majeure (an unexpected or intervening natural phenomenon).

The arrivals of Hurricane Dorian and now COVID-19 have been cited as such aspects of force majeure.

We do not agree with this bogus posture for several reasons.

Firstly, the onetime exploratory drilling is restricted to one well which, if samples are procured will immediately be capped.

Secondly, the area where the drilling is slated to be done is not a recognised marine protected or sensitive preserve.

Some 90-odd miles away from Andros, thousands of oil tankers and other huge vessels traverse that area every day of the year, without any major reported

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net incidences of oil spillage or substantial leakages.

The Cay Sal area is ‘protected’ but a balance must be found.

Thirdly, and most importantly, The Bahamas is in a severe financial crunch.

We (ordinary Bahamians) need all of the financial resources which we may have to be utilised for national development and reconstruction.

While I am able to understand the bulk of the concerns of opponents, the question that begs an answer is: Where were these so-called opponents all of the past several years when the negotiations were going on and while the stocks were being publicly sold on various stock exchanges? It is not as if The Bahamas Petroleum Company was acting in a vacuum.

Fourthly, to move for a Judicial Review after almost a decade of setting up and financing the anticipated exploratory well drilling operations and having expended millions of dollars/pound sterling by the company (based on a legal and valid Heads of Agreement with a competent Bahamian government), the wrong message would be sent to local and international companies that would want to do business with the government of the day.

It is incumbent that at all times the word of a PLP or FNM or anything

other administration must be trusted and enforceable.

The contractual commitment of the government de jure could not be accepted or guaranteed… in other words with legal certainty… no more, no less.

The people at The Bahamas Petroleum Company would have to be dead stupid and irresponsible to commit to the drilling of a sole exploratory well without putting in place all of the recommended and legally demanded protocols.

I need not add that adequate insurance would also be ensured in the event of a leakage or spill.

It is a wise position of successive governments to support this drilling to at least determine if we have a viable and sustainable source of oil.

Our Sovereign Wealth Fund that has been talked about for eons is badly in need of some extraordinary funds.

The potential discovery and eventual marketing of oil… at the total expense of The Bahamas Petroleum Company… is one way to do so.

We totally support the firm’s efforts and, if only for the sake of the unwashed masses, we say: ‘Drill baby…drill…’

At what price do we protect the environment while tens of thousands of Bahamians need bread and some money now? To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr Nassau, December 7, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

15-YEAR ROBBERY JAIL SENTENCE OVERTURNED

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal recently quashed the 15-year armed robbery sentence of a man who was accused of breaking into a home and robbing its occupants in 2018.

On February 13, 2018, a Star Estates residence was broken into and its occupants were robbed by masked gunmen. Shervin Munnings, Jr, was arrested and charged with armed robbery sometime later.

At the trial, the prosecution presented evidence generated from an electronic monitoring device, which proved that the appellant was in the area at the time of the robbery and indicated that he had left the area at a high rate of speed.

During the proceedings, Munnings Jr elected not to give evidence in court. He was later convicted of the offence and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

He appealed his conviction on the grounds that the judge erred by admitting evidence pertaining to the monitoring device to go before the jury, despite the fact that there was no evidence in the case connecting him to the offences that could prove he broke into the house, or played any part in committing the offences.

Last week, Justices Sir Michael Barnett, Roy Jones and Milton Evans quashed Munning Jr’s sentence and conviction after ruling that “mere presence is not enough to ground a conviction”.

According to a judgement posted on the court’s website, at the time of the incident, the occupants of the home that was broken into told police they believed that Max, a man that was formerly employed at Lyford Cay, had robbed them.

“One of the witnesses gave evidence that one of the masked men who robbed them said, while holding them at gunpoint ‘y’all playing with Max

motorbike’,” the court documents said.

“The appellant was not known as Max and he has never worked at Lyford Cay and there was no connection shown between Max and the appellant”.

Around 7.30am on the day in question, two police officers, acting on information, proceeded to Montel Heights where they arrested Munnings Jr in connection with the matter.

“At the time of the offence the appellant was on bail and he was being electronically monitored,” the court documents said.

“When the appellant was interviewed by Sergeant 2504 Brian Moss in relation to this matter, he denied any involvement and informed Officer Moss that he was at home at the time of the incident.”

In his judgement, Justice Evans said “even great suspicion is not enough to convict an accused person.”

“Accepting the principle that mere presence is not enough to ground a conviction, the fact that the sum total of the evidence in this case merely places the appellant in the area of the scene of the crime is in my view fatal to the respondent’s case,” he stated.

“They have been unable to show what role if any he played in the crimes for which he was convicted.

At the end of the day the appellant’s conduct may have been suspicious.

However, it is a cardinal rule of our law that suspicion, even great suspicion is not enough to convict an accused person.”

He continued: “For the foregoing reasons I would allow the appeal and quash the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant.

Due to the fact that I have found that the no case submission should have been acceded to I do not find that a retrial would be in the interest of justice. The appellant should therefore be acquitted.”

PROBATION FOR PHONE THEFT

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 22-YEAR-OLD man who bought a stolen phone chip was placed on probation for one year.

Police arrested Carlos Joseph after they found him with an Aliv phone chip from a cell phone that had been stolen sometime in November. He pleaded guilty to one count of dishonestly receiving during a hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The court was told that the complainant had told police that an unknown person had broken into his car and stolen his $200 Alcatel cell phone around 2.50pm on November 21.

The prosecution said an investigation was launched

and the officers conducting the inquiries were able to trace the SIM card back to Joseph. He was subsequently arrested and taken to a nearby police station.

In an interview with officers there, he said he bought the SIM card “off the street”.

Joseph told the magistrate a man had approached him and offered to sell him the chip at a cheap rate.

In response, Magistrate McKinney told the accused it would have been safer to purchase a SIM card from a store. He insisted receiving stolen goods was just as bad as stealing them and said as an adult, Joseph should have known the difference between right and wrong.

He placed the accused on probation for 12 months and ordered him to be of good behaviour.

HAITIAN TRIO GIVEN FINES

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

THREE Haitians who could not verify their status when approached by immigration officers last month were each fined $300 in court yesterday.

Kervinsky Jeanvil, 29, and Jhon Cene, 31, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes after they were found in New Providence on November 26, having landed in the country without leave of an immigration officer. They each pleaded guilty to one count of illegal landing.

The court was told that both accused were sitting under a cabana when immigration officers approached them and asked them to verify their status in the country. The prosecution said neither man was able to provide the required proof.

They were arrested and taken to Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

When officials made system checks there, they discovered Jeanvil and Cene had no records, which meant

they had entered the country illegally and had made no efforts to regularise their status.

Jenny Joseph, 31, also pleaded guilty to illegal landing during her hearing before Magistrate Forbes.

The court was told Joseph was arrested near Love Beach on November 25. When officers asked her to identify herself, she couldn’t. She was taken to the detention centre where checks of their system were made to verify her status.

The prosecution said all system checks came back negative. In an interview with officials, Joseph admitted to entering the country on a Haitian sloop in February. She was cautioned and charged.

Magistrate Forbes accepted the guilty pleas and fined them each $300 or 12 months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. He said once the fine was paid or the sentence was completed, Jeanvil, Cene and Joseph would be handed over to the director of immigration for deportation.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 7

‘Bahamas could be held liable in US for oil spill’

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net ACTIVISTS from the Only One conservation platform are calling on Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to put a stop to proposed oil exploration, saying The Bahamas can be made liable in US courts should some form of spillage occur.

The Only One platform was founded in 2019

by Blue Sphere Foundation, Lonely Whale, and SeaLegacy organisations.

It is committed to harnessing the power of media and technology to create and amplify stories that inspire action to protect the ocean, the planet, and each other.

The organisation erected an e-billboard on a boat which patrolled a beach in Miami recently which reads: “Stop oil drilling in The Bahamas. Sign the petition at stopbahamasoildrilling.com.”

The website has a statement on the proposed oil exploration by Bahamas Petroleum Company, pushing viewers to sign the petition with a message for Dr Minnis.

“We are at a pivotal point in Bahamian history,” the statement read. “The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) has announced its

THE STENA ICEMAX, which is on its way to The Bahamas to start exploratory drilling. intention to begin offshore oil drilling in our pristine waters in a matter of months.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis has one last chance to protect our nation’s economy and precious natural resources from the devastating ravages of oil pollution before it is too late.

“We ask you to join us in this urgent petition asking the prime minister to cancel all existing oil exploration licenses, reject all proposed renewals and impose a permanent ban on fossil fuel exploration anywhere within our maritime borders.”

The statement noted that this is the 10th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which dumped nearly 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, fouled 16,000

miles of coastline along five US states, utterly destroyed fisheries and caused an unprecedented and as yet untold level of damage to marine life.

“The Deepwater Horizon rig was an exploratory well, just like the one BPC intends to drill,” said the statement. “Even a partial repeat of that disaster would devastate our tourism, commercial fishing, diving, and marine recreation industries. Tourism alone generates 50 percent of our gross domestic product, while these other industries are vital to the survival of many far-flung communities. Simply put, drilling threatens our very way of life.”

The statement emphasised that any

environmental damage to the US coast also exposes the Bahamas to the very real threat of massive liability actions in US courts.

“Those affected could also bring The Bahamas before international courts where our reputation would be publicly tarnished for all to see,” the activists said.

“Considering the swiftness and massive reach of the Gulf Stream and its close proximity to BPC’s proposed drilling site, the possible range of environmental devastation along the US coastline – and therefore the potential liability – is beyond calculation.”

BPC plans to drill an exploratory oil well in waters 90 miles west of Andros on December 15.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Deidre has designs on dena’s devotion - to more than our youngsters graphics djust a better future

THE TRIBUNE TRIBUNE columnist Deidre M Bastian.

A8MAIN

r 3, 2020

T

THE TRIBUNE

Face to Face

“The theme spoke to the spirit HE of the Bahamian name Deidre people, M most Bastian especially is our youth, ‘Resilient a familiar one Youth: Re-engineered for to devoted Tribune readRe-emergence’.

Over the the ers.

She has been course behind of the pandemic brains “The Art we of have seen-our young people Graphix” a column in the rise up and show their resil- By FELICITY DARVILLE Tribune business section ience, a whether their twice month ontoThursstudiesI or to assisting family days. enjoy her column that people a membersit to through than helping 5,000 young men was across because is cope usually filled part of her purpose, and she these daunting days and we the nation. with great tips and advice has been on a mission to are day by daydesign seeing them They also recognized and for graphic and touch as many livestoasYouth posre-engineer, reshape and paid special tribute other creative projects sible ever since. retool in the themselves, media field. through She is Frontline Workers who “I became a life in coach courses, new and have been helping the aonline professionally trained innovative businesses, capi- because throughout my COVID-19 and graphic designer and brand fight against talising on technology and working tirelessly the in life, I wasover always marketing analyst who has walk carving out their own niche. past eight months. Sandena willingly shared industry the go-to person,” she We are confident that they explained. says they were very proud secrets and artistfully tipsready and are re-emerging that the would 2020 call National “People and tricks with anyone willing to positively contribute ask Youth Month was “truly me for help in situato her column. to read the building of the Last new national”, including - friends and particifamily. week, celebrated tions normal Deidre for The Bahamas.” pants froma just aboutfor every So it was passion me herTo12th anniversary as a celebrate the month, and Family Island and there was I felt it was my duty columnist, and she decided Sandena and also had great to help others.

Becoming a to herdo something team that is not life coach wasparticipation something I often done in journalism designed from youth she decidedthat to become the couldn’t avoid.living, workevents “I am humbled by interviewee. could reach ing or studying each opportunity to This led to an intriguing everyone, abroad. and conversation including awhere I dis- motivate, influence “Honestly, it who needs covered that Deidre is so inspire anyone Virtual Crazy feels as though much than a graphic assistance.” I’ve Praisemore Party; been Deidre was graphic artist.

The same passion Virtual Influherea for years the Bahamas for helping others through designer at and encers Summit; years…

Cor-I aOnline newspaper Master column is Telecommunications of course the same passion that led poration (BTC) Classes; a spentfor many many Deidre become a certi- years before years she launched Virtual toScavworkADJUSTING the own new business nor- ing - Osh fied life coach. realisedto her Cort enger Hunt; She closely Virtual Youth mal, Sandena leading the divi- with the MinMarch; Virtual sion of youth in its first Virtual istry - from an Youth Parlia- National Youth Month. outside perment and even spective - and a Virtual Youth Awards. I wondered how, if at all, the Patrons were recognised, experience would be differincluding retired Chief ent now that I would be a Superintendent of Police part of the inner workings,” and Youth Band Leader, she told me.

Ronald Campbell and post“To date, it has been a humously, Dr Judson Eneas, fantastic ride. I have learned veteran nephrologist and so many things, I have been founder of the Gentlemen’s stretched and the growth Club that impacted more has been phenomenal, my

Graphics, home-based life has beena impacted and graphic She enricheddesign by thebusiness. people I’ve studied publishing met anddesktop the rooms I have at thethe College of The Bahahad opportunity to sit mas continuing education in. The decision-making programme and jockeying software discussions, the programming Learnand weighing ofat positions, the Tree hard International. and honest coning She versations.

The look the studied media and on adverfaces of eager young tisement design at people Miami hearingTechnical great news,and the comceleLakes bratoryscience times with the team puter at Langevine that I have theand privilege to International Synergy lead - these are all interestBahamas.

Learning is a lifeing mixtures indicative of long assignment for Deidre. life itself.

The lessons She also obtained an learnt assoare innumerable.

COVIDciate’s degree in computer 19 has made journey all science from the Success Trainthe more interesting and we ing College, and a Master’s are navigating our way in in business administration this new normal. Our nature from Nova Southestern is to adapt and adjust; as the University.

Division of Youth we are “Writing and graphic doing just that!” design has always been my As easy as it is to say “adapt passion,” she told me.people and adjust”, some “My column is do. based find this very hard to But around devoting my Sandena me embraces change. time to sharing my knowlShe “thoroughly enjoyed” a edge 13-yearand legalgiving careerback. beforeI making an about-face and venturing into youth advocacy and leadership.

She says of her legal career: “It was transformational and foundational all at the same time. I had amazing experiences and learned more about myself than I ever thought possible.

The law has helped to shape and fashion my life and I use it now as a foundation upon which I am building.”

Her educational foundation was laid at Romper Room Pre-School, followed

by Uriah McPhee Primary School. I remember during our time at Saint Augustine’s College together, Sandena always spoke proudly about her primary school. After we graduated from SAC, She went on to pursue her studies at Bahamas Baptist Community College, followed by The University of the West Indies (Bahamas and Cave Hill Campuses) and then the Eugene Dupuch Law School. She earned her Bachelor’s of Law (LLB) and Certificate of #22 College Gardens and formerly of Matthew of Legal Education.

Ever since her childhood Town, Inagua will be held at 12:00 noon on days running around WilThursday, November 4th, 2020 at Woodlawn liams Lane off Kemp Road, Gardens, Soldier Road. Officiating will be Canon Sandena knew she wanted Peter Scott, assisted by other members of the Clergy. to be a lawyer, as she was captivated by Matlock. Her Left to celebrate her life and legacy are her Sons: dreams higher education DEIDRE with her daughter, Cortnee, son, Trevor Jr, and granddaughter, Aasia of Princess.

Geron, Donovan, Wade, Trevor Turnquest, Dr. were backed by a strong family heritage.

Dexter Turnquest, Hon. K. Peter Turnquest, Member She is of the lineage of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Reverend John Julius of Finance and Lionel Turnquest; Daughter: Stacia Brown, originally of Little Morgan; Sons-in-law: Ronald Morgan; DaughtersFarmers Cay, Exuma who in-law: Valerie, Lynette, Tyra and Sonia migrated to Kemp Road : Geron Turnquest Jr, Dr. Scott Seymour, Gemayel where her maternal grandx Turnquest, Danavio Turnquest, Tony and Kyland mother, Annie Delores Brown and Nellie H McPhee quest (Erin), Jordan Turnquest and Kevin Turnquest II; still live side by side in the r, Ashley, Jaydawn, Dr. Nicolette, Jayde and Dauntae same yard to this date. Her s, Dr. Brittney, Ava, Megan, Krysti, Nathalie, Alexis paternal grandparents, manda Morgan-Devoto (Matthew); Great Grandsons: Whifield Joseph “Sheddy” William Devoto, Braylon Morgan, Ayo Martin and Mortimer and Edith Maud reat Granddaughters: Jayda Edgecombe, Genesis Johnson-Mortimer lived just odfrey Cunningham, John and Oswald Lightbourn; a heartbeat away, through the same street. ss Willamae Cunningham, Rev. Persis Cunningham, Sandena grew up with all la Lightbourn, Anna Cooper, Gretchen Jones, Fronia of her family, and recalls that Roberts, Barbara Turnquest, Jennifer Turnquest, “we showed and shared love, a Turnquest; Brothers-in-law: Carlton Jones, Chester long summer days and the quest, Dudley Turnquest, Kenneth Turnquest and Pastor best Christmases ever, and s nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and the food - on both sides of the opher, Cardinal and Kendal Bain, Pauline Rolle, Sharon family - was some of the most scrumptious I’ve ever had”. r, Doreen Gardiner, Glendina Gardiner, Sylvia Watson, “Today, with my own adson, Veronica Ferguson, Janice McKinney, Barbara family, my husband Pastor , Aldrea, Dawson, Tyrone, Dexter, and Cedric Bain,

Funeral Service For

Remilda Turnquest, 81

y, Reginald, Mark ,Melinda and Tammy Cunningham, Cates, Nanette Dorsett, Dawn Patton, Carol Adderley, , Fern Bowleg, Nicoya Parkinson, Paige Campbell, hael, Tessa, Merse, Dr. Theodore, Dyontalee, Amber, ce, Marla, and Jeremy Turnquest, Dudley Turnquest II, rkley Turnquest II, Kara Deveaux, Matthew Trotman, ie, Francis Maynard, Laurel Lundy, Lynn, Britta, Tara, ightbourn, Lakeisha Forbes, Shelomi Roberts, Vashti s, Anna Pilgrim, Deborah Roberts, the Darville, the es; Special friends: Aluria Tompson, Prescola Roberts host of other relatives and friends too numerous to

started writing the column because I was bombarded with daily questions regarding graphic design.

I receive many emails thanking me for the simple explanations and layman’s terms that I give my readers to help them with their own pro“A prophet may never jects. This is what I draw be honoured in his own from. My hope is to continue to inspire, motivate home,” she said.

“We may never gain and help people always stay support by people we on top of their game.” are relatively close with, A media professional especially if they are intimiat heart, Deidre is even gaining new skills in vid- dated by the ‘great thing’ eography to expand her we may become. In this same vein, sometimes the repertoire.

SANDENA Neely - then and now. rejections we experience A recent column was are not about who we were dedicated to helping readsuch as Charles Jevon O Neely and Reagan Mentors in the past, but who we may ers daughter develop aand strong social Beneby, Autherine Turnour son Jevon become in the future.” media presence.

She delves Louise Jr, our kitchen is named quest-Hanna, intohonour the steps for paternal building Simmons and the late Patty in of my “I am humbled brand awareness Mommy’s in order Michelle Miller and by many grandmother, to use social media as an others took her under their Kitchen,” she reflected. each opportunity effective marketing tool. wings. “I love and enjoy “I feel her spirit as I cook to motivate, She explains that social delectable delights daily. youth work, I continuously influence andto it, it is media is “both a science my life My parents raised me up so commit and Iancan art” thatonrequires building,” said that stand moun- nation inspire anyoneshewho “meticulous strategy”.

She resolutely. tains, they literally raised assistance.”

“This is what made the me up to be abletoto make walk ona needs explains ways transition from the legal stormy seas.

I am blessed to brand consistent across full timeM youth work not only call platforms, them parents, social media and field to Deidre Bastian but with age of andthematuthe importance mes- such a full circle moment. rity, over theofyears they’ve saging and course, the Accepting the position to ready to the Head is of the Division become trusted friends. graphic my art in having a suc- be Deidre become canassignbe to Youth all is ashe divine “Theymedia have campaign. nurtured me of cessful serve and as the an fulfilment example of to in “The the fearfundamentals and admonition of ment she will coachI’ve of how moment for which litof the Lord andand theybrandhave athose graphic design to take back their power. been preparing for all instilled in me- the virtues ing is vital hence the erally myislife.

It is my complete that the focus,” preamble our of She already working on a column’s she to said. to serve the young Constitution that honour second book.

With all speaks that of -keeps great nation. is, self-discipline, This of our Prince William Deidre busy, she industry, still ful- people “I enjoy working with our loyalty, and goal abiding School graduate has filled a unity personal of High Minister, Lanisha T Rolle, respect for Christian values. come a long way.

Knowing becoming an author. In leadership at “I thank teaching the thesenior importance of team nurturlate 2019,them sheforpublished ministry andof I have the me the importance of good the ing the dreams children, “Unplug - Take Back Your to work to with somea citizenship and civility. My pleasure Deidre decided create Power”. the most platform dedicated youth husband and my children are of Facebook called the book, shemyencourtheInwind beneath wings practitioners in the youth “God’s Awesome Chilagestheyreaders to nights “put officers, technical and supand see the long dren”. rejection in its place” in teamItof showcases the Divisionthe of and they help me think port talentsWe andare educational jourorder to difficult become who they Youth. a team that is through moments neyinvolved of Bahamian werethey destined to be. and children. consistent and ground me when all I lose my footing. We cel- with our level of output and the drive for excellence.” ebrate and love hard.”

In addition to her menSandena has a heart big enough to share with the tors in youth, Sandena is young people who have driven by the support of crossed her path. She has her “village”, including her been involved with youth siblings, other family memadvocacy and youth work bers, mentors, colleagues for more than two decades and even peer mentors . She started out as a Youth who have all spurred her to Parliamentarian, Youth “do more, reach further, go Ambassador, Member of higher and stand stronger”.

Sandena shared this the National Youth Policy Consultative Team, member advice with young people: 1. Start where you are, and ultimately Co-Chairperson of the National Youth use what you have, do what Advisory Council, and all you can - always - that is around volunteer and part- non-negotiable.

2. The best way to predict ner of the Division of Youth from the days at the Col- the future is to create it - be lins House, Pilot House, the disciplined, be diligent and Pan Am Building and to the always be creative.

3. Capitalise on the great present Ministry building on Thompson Boulevard. value of mentorship.

“I wanted to showcase the achievements of children.

“I feel this platform will encourage kids to do better, and it would also help their peers.

“If their peers see what they achieve, they would say, ‘I can do it as well’.

Sometimes parents send the information to me and I post it on the platform. It’s not only for Nassau.

“It’s for the entire Commonwealth of The Bahamas. I have had parents in the Out Islands send their children’s report cards... anything their kids are doing, they send it to me and I give them a place to shine.”

She looks forward to creating more valuable content for her column in the years to come: “The Art of Graphix keeps me on the cutting edge of software, which is a win-win for me, as I am not only imparting knowledge; I am learning as well.

“Sharing is what life is all about. There is no better way than through a device that reaches millions of people, not only locally - but globally via technology.”

She gave this advice: “Everything that comes to you belongs to you, but you must create the capacity to receive it!”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 9

How China spread its wings over the world - including the Caribbean DANGEROUS TIMES IN AMERICA

A FRIEND has kindly lent me a new book about the business activities of the Sassoon historical special status and Kadoorie families in of Shanghai as a mercanChina and Hong Kong tile city which, as home during the last century. to about half of China’s Entitled “The Last Kings banks and factories, was of Shanghai”, it is written the country’s economic

by British journalist and centre in the 1920s. With author Jonathan Kauf- its “international settleman, and was published ments and concessions”, earlier this year. Impres- administered by the British sively comprehensive and and protected by British evidently well researched, troops, business in Shangit is billed as the story of hai thrived and the city rival Jewish dynasties that became known as the Paris helped create modern of the Orient.

After Britain had China.

I found it a most interest- invaded China in the ing read because it explains middle of the 19th century what in part makes China to protect the opium trade, tick – the nation’s atti- the Sassoons later cornered tudes and priorities - and the market for it and, when its motivation in spread- opium was later banned, ing its economic wings invested in property, stocks far and wide, including in and companies, factories the Caribbean. It is surely and buildings – and they important to understand went from strength to all this in determining strength in the succeeding how to deal with China as years.

So its power Shanghai ‘Sir Victor Sassoon – grows and had made its rivalry the heir to the family them rich, with the US but this was intensifies. fortune who was an against a active industrialist This background book might and, in his heyday of extreme also evoke poverty, in the 1920s, one of interest overcrowdamongst the richest men in ing and the Bahamians the world – settled in despair of because the masses the author Nassau after having that gradudescribes left Shanghai for the ally sowed how Sir last time in 1948 the seeds Victor Sassoon – the before the communist of commuheir to takeover the following nism.

Future the family year.

He established Chinese fortune who was his headquarters here leader Mao Tse-tung an active and “built a scaledhad himindustrialist down tropical version self lived in and, in his Shanghai heyday in of his one-time where the the 1920s, Shanghai empire”.’

Communist one of the Party began richest men in the world – settled in to grow in the 1920s. But, Nassau after having left after a communist insurShanghai for the last time rection was quelled by in 1948 before the commu- Nationalist leader Chiang nist takeover the following Kai-shek, he was forced year. He established his to flee the city. Later, headquarters here and the Party gradually built “built a scaled-down tropi- momentum and the Comcal version of his one-time munists gained power in Shanghai empire”, buying 1949.

Reportedly, in Shanga pink office building he hai the notion of called Sassoon House had and establishing an insur- extraterritoriality ance company and other been increasingly chal“investment vehicles”. lenged and eventually they Victor Sassoon died in took over the Sassoon and Nassau in 1961 at the age Kadoorie businesses.

Meanwhile, as of eighty.

In addition, the book recounted in the book, by is revealing about the then in Hong Kong the

Kadoories had quickly understood that the world had changed. India had gained its independence and Britain was seen to be in retreat. They realised that the territory was caught between Red China and the Free World and that in order to survive and prosper it had to adopt a policy of wary neutrality, maintaining strict impartiality in any issues with a “political tinge”.

At the same time, while not wishing to provoke China, there was no reluctance to show the Hong Kong populace the benefits of capitalism in developing living conditions that were better than in mainland China.

Hong Kong was useful to China because it was a window on the West and offered a way for it to do business with western companies and earn foreign exchange without capitalism infecting China itself.

As Victor Sassoon had said so tellingly, “the Communists do not like foreigners but they will do business with us to the extent it suits their interests”.

Until President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 when the US began restoring diplomatic and economic relations, in the eyes of the West the country had been cut off from the world for 30 years.

After the disaster of the Cultural Revolution followed by Chairman Mao’s death in 1976, new leader Deng Xiaoping sought to unleash the country’s potential by embarking on a reform programme to modernise and rejuvenate China’s economy with foreign help, open it up to the West and join the global economy.

But, as explained in Dr Henry Kissinger’s seminal work entitled “On China”, published in 2011, the Chinese approach to world order has always been vastly different from that of the West, in its belief in the special nature of its ancient past and the powers of Chinese Emperors and a distrust of the “barbarians” both on its doorstep and further away.

During the course of his informative narrative, Jonathan Kaufman observes that the Communist Party

DECEMBER - A MONTH OF WARTIME DISASTERS OF ALL the terrible occurrences of the Second World War, the Japanese surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is one which sticks in the memory of most people.

Termed by President Roosevelt “a day of infamy”, it is widely recalled not only because of the horror of the attack and the huge loss of life and ships - with more than ninety vessels of the US fleet in harbour - but also on account of its strategic significance insofar as it marked a turning point in the war; namely, the immediate entry of America into the conflict.

Thereafter, most people knew there could only be one outcome. Hitler’s and Mussolini’s fates were sealed and Japan would likewise be defeated, however long it took.

In his book chronicling the history of the war, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote that “to have the United

States at our side was to me the greatest joy” for he knew that, with effective application of overwhelming force by the Americans, the Allies would, indeed, ultimately prevail.

But what is perhaps less well known is that Japan simultaneously attacked Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Guam and Midway. Historians are clear that it was intent on acquiring a Pacific empire and coveted the colonial possessions of the British, the French and the Dutch.

To protect the great naval base of Singapore, Britain had despatched a surface fleet to intercept Japanese invasion forces while they were still at sea. But, only days later, Churchill was in for a terrible shock. On December 10, the British battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were spotted off Singapore and attacked by Japanese fighter-bombers. Without their own fighter cover, both were sunk and two

months later Singapore fell to the Japanese army.

Churchill wrote that, after being given this news by telephone, he was thankful to be alone at that moment because in all the war “I never received a more direct shock”. That was his low point.

But, by contrast, less than a year later after the victorious Second Battle of El Alamein in the desert of North Africa he uttered his famous words about the war – “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

The tide had turned for the Allies. But, apart from the massive deployment of their forces in Europe, including, of course, in the D-Day landings and beyond, it still took the Americans four long years after Pearl Harbor to defeat the Japanese in the Pacific. After the attacks on December 7, 1941, however, it was clear that there would be no other conclusion.

The Peter Young column has tried to erase the history of China from the time of the opium wars up to the Party’s takeover of the country.

According to him, the Party claims that, despite their creating wealth and stimulating development, business dynasties like the Sassoons and Kardoories exploited the Chinese working class, leaving people to live in squalor, ignorance, poverty and a haze of opium.

The author concludes that, as China embarks on what many consider to be the “Chinese century”, those concerned still like to portray their country, even as it rises inexorably, as an historical victim – and claim that it was only Mao and his devoted army of communist guerrillas who toppled those rapacious capitalists and enabled China to stand on its feet again.

He says, nonetheless, that the issues China now faces are the need to work with foreigners and balance nationalism and political control with openness, diversity and change.

This means that, if it is to succeed in the long term, “it will not be just because it emulates the spirit of Beijing, centre of China’s political power, with a leadership that embraces a repressive state and quashes dissent” – rather, it will be because it also emulates Shanghai as the city that helped to propel China into the modern era.

IN this column two weeks ago, I suggested that in the aftermath of a close election result president-elect Joe Biden ought – perverse as it might seem - to welcome President Trump’s legal challenge of the outcome on the grounds that resolution of the matter in the courts would serve to strengthen his (Biden’s) legitimacy as the winner.

I still believe this to be the case. However, subsequent developments are beginning to ring alarm bells in some quarters to the extent that, with more and more allegations of electoral fraud, the country is moving into dangerous new territory.

Of course, everybody is watching and reading essentially the same news so more comment now might be considered superfluous. But, having watched the Trump rally in Georgia over the weekend – when he spoke in inflammatory terms about “finding a way to win” and about the Supreme Court “stepping forward to save our country” – I offer my own ten pennyworth now because many believe that what is happening in the US could potentially lead to disaster. What is more, serious political upheaval there, together with a breakdown of law and order, would inevitably affect us indirectly here in The Bahamas.

It seems that what is now disturbing to many people, regardless of their political persuasion, is not so much Trump’s refusal to accede at this stage – since he has the right to contest the outcome – but rather what is emerging as evidence of irregularities and fraud in the electoral process in certain swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania and, above all, Georgia.

The mainstream media declines to give credence to any of this, but reports suggest the average American is concerned

about the hundreds, and maybe thousands, of sworn affidavits by people involved in the presidential election who have also given oral evidence of fraud in various forms and have done so under the threat of perjury and a possible jail sentence.

Having watched the hearings in Michigan, Georgia and other states – when so-called whistle blowers have given evidence before various local state committees – it seems to me unlikely, if not inconceivable, that even a small proportion of them is failing to tell the truth.

At the very least, their extensive testimony will now have to be tested in court. But, if any of the Trump lawsuits reaches the Supreme Court, it is hard to believe that the outcome of this presidential election could be overturned. There is no comparison to be drawn with the Court’s intervention in the disputed Bush/ Gore election of 2000 which turned on the validity of a relatively small number of ballots in the state of Florida and which did not involve allegations of electoral fraud. But, if fraud has taken place in this year’s election and it turns out to be as extensive as alleged - and, as a result, the Supreme Court did take such a decision - America would surely erupt in flames.

Let us hope, therefore, that wiser heads will prevail and the outcome will be an admission of irregularities – and yes, perhaps fraud as well – but that these are judged to be insufficiently serious to justify overturning the election result. This would require the whole electoral process across many states to be cleaned up. But, having made his point and exposed such irregularities and fraud which should never happen again, Trump could concede to Biden on a high note. The alternative of the nation descending into disorder and conflict is surely too ghastly to contemplate.

Graveside Service For Portia Christina Burrows, 52 affectionately called “Diva”

of Davis Street, Oakes Field. Service Held at Catholic Cemetery, Tyler Street, Nassau, Bahamas, on Wednesday, December 9th, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.

Officiating will be Father Glen Nixon.

Left to cherish her memories are her Sons: Paul Jr., Ahmad, and Zhivago Thurston, and Ervano Brown; Grandchildren: Kendria, Kayden and Kenisha, Cameron, Shivana, and Shinara, Ahmiya and Ahmad Jr.; Sisters: Sharon Thomas, Tonya Rolle, Kniki Davis; Brothers: James, and Supt.

Doyle Burrows, Marcel Flowers, Mark and Knikita Davis; Aunts: Ruby Clarke, Sabrina Ingraham, Davina Brown; Uncles: Theodore Rahming, Desmond Sands, Stephen McKinney, Leslie Ingraham; Nieces: Shavincia, Cashera, Chalecia, Sarah, Rhainne, Nycolle, Destiny, Danae, Sharon, Veronica, Doylanda, Markeisha, Markell, Adia, Ashley, Dionne Pedican, Alera Ingraham; Nephews: Tavares, P.O. Romeiko Burrows, Rolando, P.O. Rosito Thomas, Roberto, Vincent Sharron, P.O. Douglas Edgecombe, P.O. Doyle Burrows, Clement, Doyle Jr. Marcel Jr., Mark Jr., Matthew; Other Relatives and Friends including: Paul Thurston, Gladys Hall, Hilda Forbes, Edith McKinney, Angela Colebrooke, Lasade Rolle, Dernique Ferguson, Charlotte Williams, Leslie, Ralph and Kermit Williams, Karen, Walden Brown, Numerous cousins (far too many to mention), Antoinette Hall, Dr. Judith Hall, Management and Staff of Ultra Games.

Relatives and Friends can pay their last respects in the “Mother Rovina Suite” at Cornish Memorial Mortuary, #41 Tonique Williams-Darling Highway on Tuesday, 8th December, 2020 from 11:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

PAGE 10, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

MYSTERY ILLNESS LEAVES HUNDREDS SICK IN INDIA NEW DELHI Associated Press AT LEAST one person has died and 200 others have been hospitalised due to an unidentified illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said yesterday.

The illness was detected on Saturday evening in Eluru. Since then, patients have experienced symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness, doctors said.

A 45-year-old man who was hospitalised with symptoms similar to epilepsy and nausea died on Sunday evening.

So far, water samples from impacted areas haven’t shown any contamination, and the chief minister’s office said people not linked to the municipal water supply have also fallen ill. The patients are of different ages and have tested negative for COVID19 and other viral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or herpes.

THE TRIBUNE

British PM heads to Brussels to try to seal Brexit talks BRUSSELS Associated Press MORE than four years after helping set Britain’s course out of the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is headed to EU headquarters to try to finish the job.

With less than a month until the UK’s economic rupture with the European Union and talks on a new trade deal at a standstill on three crucial issues, Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed Monday to meet in person “in the coming days” to see whether they can find common ground.

Brussels is dangerous territory for Brexit-backing British leaders. Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, came time and again to negotiate a Brexit deal, only to see it repeatedly rejected

by her own Parliament, ending her top-level career.

Johnson will be hoping for a quick in-and-out that leaves his reputation intact and his country on course for a free trade deal with its biggest economic partner.

Johnson and von der Leyen spoke by phone Monday for the second time in 48 hours, as their negotiators were stuck in gridlocked trade talks.

They said after the call that that “significant differences” remained on three key issues — fishing rights, fair-competition rules and the governance of future disputes — and “the conditions for finalising an agreement are not there”.

The two leaders said in a joint statement they planned to discuss the remaining differences “in a physical meeting in Brussels in the coming days”.

Despite the continuing

impasse, plans for a toplevel meeting will be seen as a sign there is still a chance of a deal, though No 10 Downing St. said the situation was “tricky” and failure a distinct possibility.

No timing was given for the face-to-face meeting. Leaders of the 27 EU nations are due to hold a two-day summit in Brussels starting Thursday.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier had no news of a breakthrough when be briefed ambassadors of the 27 member states early Monday on the chances of a deal with London before the Dec 31 deadline.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Barnier’s message was “very downbeat”.

Penny Mordaunt, a junior minister for Brexit planning, told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the “level playing

BOB DYLAN SELLS SONGBOOK - FOR UP TO $500M TO many music lovers, Bob Dylan’s songbook is priceless. Well, now he’s put a price on it.

The Nobel Prize-winning songwriter, 79, has sold publishing rights to his catalog of more than 600 songs to the Universal Music Publishing Group, it was announced yesterday.

His collection includes Blowin’ in the Wind, Tangled Up in Blue and Like a Rolling Stone. The price was not disclosed, but experts have suggested the sale is in the range of $300m to a half-billion dollars.

Dylan’s songs have been recorded more than 6,000 times, including Jimi Hendrix’s reworking of All Along the Watchtower.

field” — competition rules that Britain must agree to to gain access to the EU market — was the most difficult unresolved issue.

Officials on both sides said there were also major differences over the legal oversight of any trade deal and European boats’ access to UK waters.

While the UK left the EU politically on Jan 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union through Dec 31. Reaching a trade deal by then would ensure there are no tariffs and trade quotas on goods exported or imported by the two sides, although there would still be new costs and red tape.

Both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, but most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit because

the UK does almost half its trade with the bloc.

EU member states have to unanimously support any post-Brexit trade deal and the agreement still needs to be voted on by the European parliament, procedures that would push any deal right up to the end-of-year deadline.

While both Britain and the EU say they want a trade deal, trust and goodwill are strained after months of negotiations.

In a further complication, Johnson’s government on Monday revived legislation that breaches the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement it struck with the EU last year. The UK government acknowledges the Internal Market Bill breaks international law, and the legislation has been condemned by the EU, US Presidentelect Joe Biden and scores of British lawmakers.

UK READIES FOR ‘V-DAY’ LONDON Associated Press

NURSES at the Royal Free Hospital, London, simulate the administration of the Pfizer vaccine to support staff training ahead of the rollout.

Photo: Yui Mok/Pool Photo via AP

IT’S been dubbed “V-Day” in Britain - recalling the D-Day landings in France that marked the start of the final push in World War II to defeat Nazi Germany.

A week after the UK became the first Western country to authorise widespread use of a vaccine against COVID-19, it is preparing to administer its first shots on Tuesday in its war on the virus.

Those 800,000 doses will first go to people over 80 who are either hospitalised or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, along with nursing home workers.

In other words, the National Health Service is

saying to the waiting public, in effect: Don’t call us, we’ll call you. Only those who have been contacted by the NHS to arrange an appointment will be getting the jab.

Most people will have to wait until next year before there is enough vaccine to expand the programme.

“I don’t think people should expect anything over the next few days because the reality is… that for the vast, vast, vast majority of people this will be done in January, February, March,” said Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers. “And the one thing that we don’t want people to get anxious about or concerned about is ‘Where’s my letter?’ in December.”

Public health officials around the globe are watching Britain’s rollout.

SPORTS PAGE 15

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020

‘A sigh of relief’ as gyms open

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

t was like a sigh of relief for operators of the gyms and fitness centres when their doors opened Monday morning after Prime Minister Hubert Minnis lifted more restrictions on the economy heading into the Christmas season.

But Dr Kent Bazard, owner/operator of Empire Fitness, said their newly formed Bahamas Gym Owners and Personal Trainers Association (BGOPT) will have a long way to go to get back to some type of normalcy as they recover from the financial woes they experienced.

“We’re happy to be back.

We have a deep hole to dig ourselves out of,” Bazard

I

said. “But we’re happy to be back. I just hope that we don’t return to full lockdowns.

“A lot of big cities around the world are not doing total lockdowns where they are closing the country. What they do is they monitor occupancy and instead of going to full lockdowns, they do for 20 percent for non-essential occupancies and 30 percent for essential businesses.”

Bazard said if the Competent Authority can come out with a similar type scale system, they can avoid closing the country and thereby, they can manage the economy much better.

As for his counterparts in the industry, Bazard said they have suffered a huge blow and the numbers in terms of their losses are astronomical.

“The numbers are in the six-figure range,” he said.

BAZARD “That’s a very intimidating number to look at.”

In their recovery process, Bazard said they have to make their financial arrangements with the banks or their landlords, but the key moving forward is to be able to operate their businesses.

“So we are hoping that the government doesn’t look at

total lockdowns as the way to decrease the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” he said.

“We have to take a different approach where we can target those persons who are at risk and based on the data, the persons who are more at risk are confined.”

The flip side of the negative aspect of the closure of the gyms has been the loss of the public’s trust into the safety of the environment because of some of the negative connotations placed on the industry due to the closure.

“Persons are concerned.

There’s a lot of information, giving a lot of different points of view,” Bazard said. “We have taken a blow because we were the first industry to be demonised about spreading the virus all over the world. “But that is not so

and the data is coming out to verify that. But the damage has already been done and hopefully with time, we can change all of that with more information coming out.”

To the general public, Bazard assured them that the gym operators are doing all they can to ensure the safety of their patrons as they practice a safe environment.

“If you are unsure, you can ask your gym owner or manager about the steps and protocols they are taking,” he stated. “Generally speaking, most of the general owners in the Bahamas are running a safe, clean environment.”

Although it was just day one, Bazard said he was encouraged by the crowd of patrons who showed up to resume their training.

SEE PAGE 17

CAC team brings home the medals

BACK HOME: Team Bahamas yesterday returned home from the 47th Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships over the weekend in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Joel Stubbs, president of the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, called it a gutsy performance from the team.

SEE THE FULL STORY ON PAGE 16

BREAKDANCING GETS OLYMPIC STATUS TO DEBUT AT PARIS IN 2024

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — Breakdancing became an official Olympic sport yesterday.

The International Olympic Committee’s pursuit of urban events to lure a younger audience saw street dance battles officially added to the medal events programme at the 2024 Paris Games.

Also confirmed for Paris by the IOC executive board were skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.

Those three sports will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo Games which were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic by one year to open on July 23, 2021.

Alongside the additions, the IOC made subtractions: The slate of 329 medal events in Paris is 10 fewer than in Tokyo, including four lost from weightlifting, and the athlete quota in 2024 of 10,500 is around 600 less than next year.

Two sports with troubled governing bodies — boxing and weightlifting — saw the biggest cuts to the number of athletes they can have in

Paris. Weightlifting should have 120 athletes in Paris, which is less than half of its total at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. The sport could be dropped entirely due to its historic doping problems and IOC concerns over the pace and depth of reform at the International Weightlifting Federation.

The IOC stressed its future priorities for Paris, and beyond to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, by claiming it will hit a long-term target of equal participation by men and women athletes, and more urbanised events.

With Paris organisers needing time to prepare their project, the IOC kept to its pre-pandemic schedule to confirm the 2024 sports lineup this month even before some are tested in Tokyo.

Breakdancing will be called breaking at the Olympics, as it was in the 1970s by hip-hop pioneers in the United States.

It was proposed by Paris organisers almost two years ago after positive trials at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Breaking

SEE PAGE 16

NFL

Page 17

AYTON: ‘YA’LL NEED TO FIX YA’LL FACES. WE GOT ‘CP3’ IN ARIZONA. YA’LL TRIPPIN’

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE Phoenix Suns’ offseason roster overhaul was highlighted by the addition of veteran point guard Chris Paul, a move that has Bahamian centre Deandre Ayton bullish on the team’s potential.

Ayton spent much of his time with the media expressing his excitement on the thought of playing alongside the future Hall of Fame floor general.

“Ya’ll need to fix ya’ll faces. We got ‘CP3’ in Arizona. Ya’ll trippin’”, he said to a group of reporters on the Zoom call, “When I heard it was official, I wanted to do a backflip.

You ever seen a 7 footer do a backflip?”

Ayton, Paul and franchise guard Devin Booker are expected to lead the Suns’ resurgence and end a 10-year playoff drought.

“You’re having me roll to the basket, you got CP3 coming off in the mid-range area and you got Book weakside corner,” Ayton said. “It’s crazy. What can you do?”

Headed into his third season, Ayton said that while he has continued to work on the growth of his game, Paul’s mentorship could elevate that growth to previously unforeseen levels.

“Just knowing the tradition and the type of career he’s had and the foundation he laid in this league, its tremendous. Knowing that I’m going to be a part of his legacy, Oh yea - I haven’t stopped moving, I want to lift more weights, it’s go time. You have a future hall of famer coming in to really show us the ropes and help me and ‘Book’ out as young guys who can really take over this league,” Ayton said.

“I’ve changed my game and added on so

SEE PAGE 17

SPORTS

PAGE 16, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

BAHAMIAN Jason Johnson (149) on stage in the men’s physique.

STUBBS: ‘I WANT TO PERSONALLY CONGRATULATE TEAM BAHAMAS ON THEIR GUTSY PERFORMANCE’

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation president Joel Stubbs called it a gutsy performance from Team Bahamas at the 47th Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships over the weekend in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The team returned home with a silver medal from Jimmy Norius in the men’s professional division, while his wife Serena Salis Decius-Norius got a bronze in her debut in the Women’s Bikini Short Class, while Wellington Wallace and Kaif ‘Crank’ Young also won bronze in the men’s Physique Tall Class.

Fania Joseph was fifth in the Women’s Bikini, while Jason Johnson and David Dormavil were sixth and seventh respectively in the men’s physique.

The team placed sixth overall out of a field of 13 countries.

Travelling along with Stubbs as officials were Brittany Hamilton, who both attended the congress and served as judges. Nardo Dean was the head coach, assisted by Tim Rolle.

“I want to personally congratulate Team Bahamas on their gutsy performance down in the Dominican Republic this weekend,” Stubbs said. “There were 13 countries that participated together bringing some 213 athletes to compete for honorary medals.

First day of competition, Serena Salis Decius-Norius battled and

finished third claiming the bronze medal in the Masters Women’s Bikini Fitness.

“In the second day of competition, we started off with David Dormavil in the short class Men’s Physique category where his class displayed some 16 competitors. Seeing this, we knew that he was in for a fight of a lifetime.

Unfortunately he was unsuccessful in getting past the elimination round.”

Wellington Wallace, competing in a taller class of the Men’s Physique category, was in his fight as he went on to clinch the bronze, according to Stubbs.

Jason Johnson continued the third leg of the fight for gold but again was met by a large contingent of quality athletes. His aggressive fight landed him in fifth place.

Kaif ‘Crank’ Young, who competed in the tallest class, also had to settle for third place (bronze medal).

On the ladies’ side, Stubbs said the Bahamas had two competitors in the Women’s Bikini Fitness short class where Joseph was fifth and Decius-Norius finished sixth.

“I’m so proud of our team’s finish despite the athletes didn’t get what they went there for,” Stubbs said. “I echoed to them that we must be reminded of our restrictions and obstacles that we faced back home. Our gyms were closed for most of our lockdowns while other countries were afforded gyms being open.

“Nonetheless we know that better days will come for sure as long as they stare at the course

BAHAMIANS Serena Salis Decius-Norius (168) and Fania Joseph (167) on stage with Mexico’s Alejandra Maria Rodriguez (166) in the women’s bikini. and keep their dedication and commitment going. A good consolation is that they will have another chance next year in Bridgetown Barbados at the 48th CAC championship.”

Stubbs thanked the Ministry of Sports for believing in the federation and providing the support they needed, the media for providing the coverage and the rest of the bodybuilding members and fans for their unwavering encouragement of words and comments, knowing it went a long way with them. “Thank you Bahamas for your contribution however given,” he said. “We are expecting 2021 by the grace of God to be a more vibrant sporting year for us all. Season’s greetings.”

Dean also thanked the athletes for going beyond the call of duty to get ready to compete in

the championships. “The team did very well. I’m very proud of them,” he said. “With championships set for June next year, we will have to hit the ground running as early as January to get the athletes ready.

“We are always a force to reckon with in the region, so they know that we will be coming back bigger and stronger once we get over this pandemic. So we are looking forward to an even bigger and better team next year.”

With the gyms now reopened, Dean encouraged the competitors to start their training and remember to observe all of the COVID-19 protocols by wearing their masks at all times and practicing social distance.

He noted that while in the Dominican Republic, they were confined to a bubble where

they had to take their necessary COVID-19 tests and to sanitise and wear their masks as they roamed from their hotel rooms to the competition venue and back.

“It was so amazing that people still remembered us from the last time we hosted the CAC Championships,” Dean said. “They said it was one of the best ever because of the organisation and how they were treated at Atlantis.”

Dean, a former CAC Championship medallist, also congratulated Norius for the fantastic job in representing the country at the elite pro level. He said Norius was certainly a crowd pleaser.

Stubbs, who turned pro in 2003 but has since retired from active competition, joined Dean in complimenting Norius for his performance, noting that he made the Bahamas very proud on stage as a professional. “We are proud of Jimmy Norius’ performance in the Classic Men’s Physique where he competed and left it all on the stage,” Stubbs said.

“He performed an outstanding musical routine bringing back Michael Jackson’s combination dance patterns. The audience was thrilled and showed just that.”

In looking at his performance, Stubbs said Norius was in excellent condition and well polished.

“When the announcement was made, I sure thought that he was victorious in his category. However, he placed second,” Stubbs pointed out. “I’m overly excited to see our pros carrying on the baton from where I left off, taking the Bahamas to the world.”

Breakdancing gets Olympic status to debut at Paris in 2024 FROM PAGE 15 passed further stages of approval in 2019 from separate decisions by the IOC board and full membership.

In Paris, breaking has been given a prestige downtown venue, joining sport climbing and 3-on-3 basketball at Place de le Concorde.

Surfing will be held more than 15,000 kilometres (9,000 miles) away in the Pacific Ocean off the beaches of Tahiti, as the IOC already agreed in March.

Among the 28 established Summer Games sports, a total of 41 additional events were proposed to yesterday’s meeting.

All increases were rejected, including ocean rowing and parkour, and changes were allowed only at the expense of existing events being dropped.

Two extreme canoe slalom events will replace canoe sprint events, and the men’s 50-kilometre race walk will be replaced by a mixed gender team event.

The IOC said “limiting the overall number of events is a key element in curbing the growth of the Olympic programme as well as additional costs.”

In other IOC business, Bach confirmed the more than 11,000 competitors at the Tokyo Olympics should not stay in the official

athlete village for the entire games, to help limit the risk of COVID-19 infections.

Teams will be advised of a policy that athletes should arrive at their accommodation no more than five days before the start of their competition and have left two days after it ends.

Boxing is on the Tokyo programme despite its governing body, known as AIBA, being derecognised by the IOC last year.

A seven-candidate presidential election is being held this weekend and Bach said AIBA was “well aware” of the Olympic body’s concerns about some of the contenders, which he did not identify.

The IOC was sceptical last year about an offer to clear AIBA’s $16 million debts, if the sport’s Olympic status was retained,

by Russian boxing official Umar Kremlev who is now a candidate.

The AIBA election is scheduled as a Court of Arbitration for Sport panel of judges is preparing a verdict in a landmark case in the Russian doping saga that could see widespread punishments imposed on the nation’s sports.

Asked if Russian election campaigns were appropriate in Olympic circles at this time, Bach said: “It is up to everybody to make his or her own judgment about any such candidatures.”

SPORTS

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 17

Surprise! Washington ends Pittsburgh’s perfect season

By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers spent three months flirting with perfection, insisting all the time they were far from flawless.

They weren’t wrong. Pittsburgh’s bid for an unbeaten season is over. Washington’s bid for an unlikely division title may just be beginning.

Alex Smith threw for 296 yards and a touchdown, Dustin Hopkins kicked a tiebreaking 45-yard field goal with 2:04 remaining, and Washington beat the Steelers 23-17 yesterday.

Pittsburgh (11-1) missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth and dropped into a tie with defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City for the top spot in the AFC with four games remaining.

A day after the New York Giants pulled an upset in Seattle, Washington (5-7) kept pace by rallying from 14 points down to win in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1991.

Washington won the Super Bowl that season. The club’s expectations this year are far more modest in Ron Rivera’s first season as coach.

Not so in Pittsburgh, which got off to the best start in the franchise’s 87-year history even as the offence occasionally worked in fits and spurts.

In a game pushed back a day due to a COVID-19 outbreak that forced the NFL to re-schedule Baltimore’s annual visit to Heinz Field three times, the little mistakes Pittsburgh managed to get away with for 11 games became too much to overcome.

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 305 yards and two touchdowns, but was picked off by Jon Bostic — a former Steeler — with 1:59 remaining. Hopkins added another 45-yard field goal to help close it out.

By GERALD IMRAY AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON Football Team tight end Logan Thomas (82) celebrates with running back Peyton Barber after taking a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Alex Smith during the second half against the Steelers yesterday in Pittsburgh.

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) Pittsburgh drove into field the job when Devin Bush’s Pittsburgh reached midfield on its final possession but time goal range but rather than have season ended with a knee injury fill-in Matthew Wright — pro- in October, went to the locker ran out.

The Steelers appeared to be moted from the practice squad room in the third quarter with a in firm control after Roethlis- due to an injury to Chris Boswell knee injury and did not return.

Cornerback Joe Haden left in berger found James Washington — attempt a 45-yard field goal for a 50-yard touchdown in the into the open end at Heinz, the the fourth quarter with a possisecond quarter that put them Steelers went for it. Roethlis- ble concussion.

UP NEXT up 14-0. Pittsburgh is normally berger’s heave to rookie running Washington: Travels to Ariinvincible at Heinz Field when back Anthony McFarland Jr fell incomplete and Smith calmly zona next week to take on the up two scores. Not this time.

Smith, under heavy pressure drove Washington 45 yards in San Francisco 49ers in a game much of the night, finally got nine plays to set up the winning relocated due to COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara, something going late in the first score.

INJURIES California, the site of the Levi’s half. A Hopkins field goal got Washington: Lost leading Stadium. the team on the board in the final seconds. A 1-yard touch- rusher Antonio Gibson in the Steelers: Face a stiff test next down run by Peyton Barber first half with a toe injury. Tight midway through the third quar- end Tamarrrick Hemingway Sunday night in Buffalo. The ter pulled Washington within exited in the first half with a Bills beat the Steelers — minus Roethlisberger — 17-10 at Heinz 14-10, and a lob from Smith to a wrist injury.

Steelers: Inside linebacker Field last December to lock up a wide-open Logan Thomas for a Robert Spillane, who inherited playoff berth.

15-yard touchdown tied it.

AYTON ON CP3 from PAGE 15

much to my game now, I can get the ball wherever, to be honest and I can’t wait to show that, but it’s about what this team needs, where CP3 wants me. He’s the leader and he’s the vet, wherever he wants me I’m locked in and I’m buying it.”

The Suns completed their improbable run at the NBA’s Orlando “bubble” as the only team to go undefeated in the seeding games at 8-0 but finAYTON ished at No.10 in the conference standings.

At 34-39 on the season, Phoenix finished tied with the No.9 Memphis Grizzlies (3439), who held the tiebreaker.

In his second NBA season, Ayton averaged 18.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 55 percent from the field in just 38 games.

“I know he’s gonna be on my tail. Me and ‘Book’ need that. This team needs that.

I’m a dude who is very amped up and just wanting to destroy everything but having someone who can channel that is just amazing,” Ayton said.

GYMS from PAGE 15 However, he anticipates that it will probably take a couple of days to realise the full effect of their participation.

“This is usually the slow period because of junkanoo and the other social events going on,” he pointed out.

“But since a lot of those events are not taking place this year and even family gatherings are reduced or downscaled, perhaps more people will come to the gym in December.

“December sort of catapults the month of January, so hopefully it will carry

ENGLAND CRICKET SERIES CANCELLED BECAUSE OF COVID

“We know we have to step up and bring it every night. We’re happy, we’re eager to do it and we want to show the world. We don’t want to do it when it goes down the drain, we want to do it when it counts and show this world and show this league we are capable of competing.”

Paul said the goal coming in is for the team to win and that he expects to learn as much from the young players as they do from him.

“Everyone always talks about what I can teach (Booker) or teach some of these other guys, but they’re teaching me at the same time too. I’m not James Naismith by no means. First things first, I’m not just coming in here trying to teach everybody. I’m his teammate. We’re here to hoop, we’re here to compete and that’s how I approach this,” Paul said.

“That’s a very important relationship with the big man, especially in the pick-and-roll. I got a chance to see him [Ayton] him working out a little bit (Wednesday). I’m excited to get out there on the court to find out where he likes the ball.”

Expectations for the third year centre and the Suns franchise loom large after the team showed marked improvement in Orlando.

Suns General Manager James Jones told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Doug and Wolf that the organisation shares its former No. 1 overall pick’s enthusiasm on the growth of his game under Paul’s leadership.

“Deandre’s never played with a player like Chris. He’s never been this close to what I call superior excellence, and for us, we’re always demanding more. We’re always looking for ways to help Deandre improve and grow, and he wants that. In order for us to be

over. But we are happy to be open and we hope that we can start a rapport with the government so that we can continue to operate as a normal business.”

The BGOA has been endorsed by the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, headed by Joel Stubbs, in addition to the Bahamas Martial Arts Federation and the Bahamas Gymnastics Federation, as members.

Other members of the BGOA are Sofia Whitehead, owner of Club One Fitness Centre; Tangerine CurryDinnick, owner of Evolve Functional Fitness; Regina Smith, owner of Energy Fitness; Lorraine LaFleur,

owner of Gainz 4 Life Fitness; Natasha Brown, owner of Downtown Core Fitness; Nonny Price, owner of Just Dance; Kenny Green, owner of Better Bodies Health and Fitness; Jimmy Mackey, owner of MacFit 360; Vaklev Bastian, owner of New Body Resurrection Fitness; Charles Johnson, owner of Da Box Fitness; Raphael and Jennifer Whylly, owners of GB Fitness; Demeko Nesbitt, owner of Fitness Connection; Wellington Sears, of Iron Man Gym; Matson Delancy, owner of Da Dungeon Fitness; Trevor Ramsey, owner of Nassau Nastics and Nardo Dean, owner of Bodyonix and project manager for the BBFF.

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Advertise your Business in The Bahamas leading newspaper in circulation, or on Tribune242.com. Call our Advertising Department on 502-2350/502-2394 for more information.

a really good team, he has to continue on an arc,” Jones said.

“I know they’ll spend a lot of time together. Chris will teach him the ins and outs, the nuances, the point guard-centre combo dynamic will help him. … He’s still young in his understanding of being effective in the NBA against NBA length and scheme, but I’m excited for him. It’s going to be the most fun he’ll ever have as a player because we all know the tight ends love their quarterbacks, the wide receivers love their quarterbacks and that’s what you’ll see with those two.”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — England’s ODI cricket series in South Africa was called off yesterday after an outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the luxurious and supposedly bio-secure Cape Town hotel where both teams are staying.

Both squads have had members infected, while two workers at the hotel also contracted the disease.

The decision to cancel the series was taken by both the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket South Africa, the two federations said in a statement, and was made “to ensure the mental and physical health and welfare of players from both teams.”

The ECB and CSA said they were effectively postponing the series until a suitable time could be found for England to travel back to South Africa to play the games.

The opening game of the series was scheduled for Friday at Newlands in Cape Town but was postponed to Sunday and moved to the nearby city of Paarl after a South African player tested positive for COVID-19 on the morning of the game.

That first ODI was then cancelled completely on Sunday after it was revealed that two hotel staff members had tested positive. That development forced the England contingent to undergo a new round of tests. Two members of the England group then tested positive for COVID-19, although the ECB said it wanted the tests verified by an independent medical team before making a decision on the remainder of the tour.

Both the ECB and Cricket South Africa had said there was hope that the remaining two ODI games might be able to go ahead but that was ended with yesterday’s announcement.

“We have always maintained that the welfare of our players and management is paramount,” ECB CEO Tom Harrison said. “We were concerned about the potential impact that recent developments might have on the wellbeing of the touring party, and so after consultation with Cricket South Africa, we have jointly made the decision to postpone the remaining matches in this series in the best interest of the players’ welfare.”

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Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 19

Uber, hard-hit by pandemic, sells its robot-vehicle division SAN RAMON Associated Press UBER is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Self-driving vehicle technology company Aurora will acquire the employees and technology behind Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group in an stock transaction, the companies said yesterday.

Uber will also invest $400m into Aurora, and Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Aurora’s board of directors.

After the transaction, Aurora will be worth $10bn and Uber will hold 26% stake in the company, Aurora CEO Chris Urmson said in an interview.

“Our first product will be in trucking and freight, but we look forward to taking this great team that we have and accelerating that while continuing working on light vehicles and ride-haling, and we’ll ultimately see our vehicles deploying on the Uber network,” Urmson said.

Uber will not have exclusive rights as a ride-hailing company to Aurora’s technology, but the two companies will have a “preferred relationship”, Urmson said.

San Francisco-based Uber will lose a critical piece of its company after the pandemic cut into its finances by suppressing demand for shared rides.

Its path to profitability has often been linked with its

A PARKING lot full of Uber self-driving Volvos in Pittsburgh. Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm to Aurora as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. Aurora will acquire the employees and technology behind Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group in an equity transaction, the companies said yesterday.

Photo: Gene J Puskar/AP plans to deploy autonomous vehicles and reduce the high cost of paying drivers.

The company’s efforts around self-driving technology was marred in March 2018 when one of its automated test vehicles hit and killed a woman, the first death involving the technology. The backup Uber driver involved in the crash was charged with negligent homicide for being distracted in the moments before fatally striking the woman in suburban Phoenix.

“There’s no doubt they had a pretty rough couple of years a while back,” Urmson said. “What’s been impressive to me in meeting the team over the last little while is just how much the team has learned, and the

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that ENOLD VERONAT of Zion Blvd., South Beach, Nassau, 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 8th day of December, 2020 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS 2018 IN THE SUPREME COURT CLE/qui/00568 Common Law and Equity Division IN THE MATTER OF The Quieting Titles Act, 1959 AND All that piece parcel or tract of land containing Thirty-two and three hundred fifty four hundredth acres situate on the Southern Side of West Bay Street immediately East of Atlantic Drive in the Western District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas AND IN THE MATTER OF The Quieting Titles Act, 1959 AND IN THE MATTER OF The Petition of Brien Philip Andru Miller NOTICE The Petition of Brien Philip Andru Miller of the Eastern District of the Island of New Providence, one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in respect of: All that piece parcel or tract of land containing Thirty-two and three hundred fifty four hundredth acres situate on the Southern Side of West Bay Street immediately East of Atlantic Drive in the Western District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Brien Philip Andru Miller the Petitioner herein claim to be the owner in fee simple in possession of the said land free from encumbrances and have made application to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas under section 3 of The Quieting Titles Act, 1959 to have this title to the said land investigated and the nature and extent thereof determined and declared in a Certificate of Title to be granted by the Court in accordance with the provisions of the said Act. AND TAKE NOTICE that the Petition and Plan of the said land may be inspected during normal business hours at the following places: (a) The Registry of the Supreme Court, British American Building, Marlborough Street Annex, Nassau, Bahamas; (b) The Office of the Petitioner’s Attorneys J. Michael Saunders Chambers, Knowles Drive, Off Tonique Williams Darling Highway, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that any person having an adverse claim or a claim not recognized in the Petition shall on or Brien Philip Andru Miller claims to be the owner in fee simple of the said land free from encumbrances and has made application to the Supreme Court in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas under section 3 of the Quieting Titles Act 1959 to have his title to the said land investigated and the nature and extent thereof determined and declared in a Certificate of Title to be granted by the Court in accordance with the provisions of the said Act. J. MICHAEL SAUNDERS Chambers Knowles Drive Off Tonique Williams-Darling Highway Nassau, Bahamas.

Telephone No. 323-8005/6 Attorneys for the Petitioner

tenaciousness, and determination of the team as they come to market in a thoughtful, safe way.”

Gaining customers’ trust is a huge factor, said Dan Morgan, vice president of Synovus Trust Company.

“You have one or two bad accidents and people are like, ‘I’m not getting into that thing,’” he said.

Aurora, based in

Mountain View, Calif, is led by former Google, Tesla and Uber executives.

Aurora also has partnerships with delivery giant Amazon and auto companies Hyundai and Kia, among others, but its partnership with Uber is its first official relationship with a ride-hailing company.

The move will help Uber find a quicker path

to profitability, said Steven Fox, founder and CEO of Fox Advisors. “It accomplishes the best of both worlds for them. It takes away a big profit drag and keeps them strategically well-positioned for when they want to move parts of their network to be autonomous,” he said.

The deal means San Francisco-based Uber will be entrusting a key piece of its future to a 3-year-old startup co-founded and run by one of the engineers who launched Google’s pioneering work in self-driving cars more than a decade ago. Urmson was one of the most visible people involved in the once-secret project that Google initially dubbed “Chauffeur” before it was finally spun off into a separate company called Waymo. Google and Waymo remain closely aligned under the same corporate parent, Alphabet.

While at Google, Urmson also worked on the selfdriving car technology with another top engineer, Anthony Levandowski, who defected to Uber in 2016 oversee its early efforts to build robotic vehicles.

As part of that effort, Uber bought Levandowski’s

startup, Otto, for $680m.

That deal quickly disintegrated into a scandal after Waymo accused Levandowski of stealing its trade secrets and using them to help Uber to make the transition from human drivers to autonomous vehicles.

Uber denied the allegations, but eventually reached a $245m settlement with Waymo in 2018 after a few days of testimony during a high-profile trial in San Francisco. Before the settlement, Uber’s former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick revealed he believed Google’s self-driving car technology posed an existential threat to Uber during his dramatic appearance on the witness stand.

That fear drove Kalanick Uber’s to open its own selfdriving car division stocked with robotic experts from Carnegie-Mellon University as well as former Google engineers acquired as part of the deal with Levandowski. Uber eventually fired Levandowski in 2017 and Levandowski wound up being sentenced to 18 months in prison earlier this year after pleading guilty to stealing some of Google’s trade secrets before he left the company in 2016.

NOTICE

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that JAKLIN DARIUS of Treasure Cay, Abaco,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 1st day of December 2020 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that LEROY PATRICK ESTIME of Carmichael Road, P.O.BOX CR-56302 Nassau ,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 1st day of December 2020 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

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Bahamas First Holdings Preference Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A RF Bank & Trust Limited Class A Focol Class B

BFHP CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 102.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

52WK HI 2.37 4.43 2.13 198.39 176.73 1.69 1.85 1.77 1.24 8.39 10.26 7.23 12.80 12.81 10.81 10.00 8.98 11.79

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.65 1.79 1.75 1.05 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

SECURITY RF Bank Note 22 (Series B) + Bahamas First Holdings Limited

SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing)

MUTUAL FUNDS

MARKET TERMS

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0307 BG0330 BG0407

LAST CLOSE 4.05 32.12 1.62 1.78 1.67 6.00 6.61 2.90 4.75 3.63 5.90 11.26 2.29 6.50 10.39 8.40 14.12 3.80 8.25 15.20

CLOSE 4.05 32.12 1.62 1.78 1.67 6.00 6.61 2.90 4.75 3.63 5.90 11.26 2.28 6.50 10.35 8.40 14.12 3.80 8.25 15.20

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (0.01) 0.00 (0.04) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

VOLUME

10,000

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 VOLUME

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Preferred Income Fund Leno Growth Fund Leno Diversified Fund Leno Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.000 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631

NAV 2.37 4.43 2.13 198.36 173.98 1.69 1.79 1.77 1.05 8.39 9.88 7.23 12.33 12.80 10.20 N/A 9.28 11.86

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 16.9 34.5 N/M N/M N/M N/M 17.9 -6.6 33.9 19.7 13.1 15.6 22.4 13.9 16.0 11.5 17.3 18.7 8.8 24.1

YIELD 4.20% 3.92% 1.23% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.93% 0.00% 0.00% 3.31% 3.73% 6.39% 19.04% 0.92% 3.17% 2.86% 3.82% 3.16% 2.42% 4.01%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025

6.95% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.50% 6.25% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 3.76% 4.43% 1.54% 2.56% 2.12% 2.59% 1.65% 2.39% 4.34% 9.82% 1.65% 1.95% -3.06% -2.22% 0.80% 1.17% -12.30% -11.81% 0.64% 0.98% 1.19% -3.63% 4.20% 5.04% 2.63% 7.68% 3.68% 3.93% -4.89% -4.62% N/A N/A -0.50% 3.70% -3.80% 4.10%

NAV Date 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 30-Oct-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price

52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks

Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity

52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks

Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity

Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume

Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price

Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume

Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week

Change - Change in closing price from day to day

EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths

Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today

NAV - Net Asset Value

DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months

N/M - Not Meaningful

P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | CAROLISLE 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

PAGE 20, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Bahamasair ‘exhausts’ $19m annual subsidy FROM PAGE 24

depending on when Easter falls. We try to make the money during the good times and allow it to stretch into the times people don’t travel much.”

Some observers will likely argue that Bahamasair has no good months, given the regular multimillion eight figure losses it inflicts on Bahamian taxpayers and the Public Treasury annually. However, Mr Turnquest and others have argued that this is a trade-off for maintaining connectivity on loss-making Family Island routes as well as opening up airlift to new tourism markets.

The Bahamasair chairman yesterday acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had left the airline “millions in the red” more than it would normally be, given that it was burning through between $5m to $7m per month in costs with no income coming in when

A BAHAMASAIR jet. border closures and lockdowns were at their peak.

“We’re having a hard go at it,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate that the government has provided a lot of support, and that has kept us going. I would say probably upwards of $30m.”

As for Bahamasair’s current financial year, Mr Turnquest added: “We’ve exhausted the budget. The question is do we get more money after that; the $19m they provided us with.”

On the international side, he said Bahamasair had enjoyed “a pretty good Thanksgiving into Fort Lauderdale” after restarting all its Florida routes - including also Miami, Orlando and West Palm Beach - in a phased approach during mid to late November.

Passenger load factors on

LEGAL NOTICE FALUENNE RESOURCES S.A. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows: (a) FALUENNE RESOURCES S.A. is in voluntary dissolution under the provisions of Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000. (b) The dissolution of the said company commenced on the 4th day of December, A. D., 2020, when the Articles of Dissolution were submitted and registered by the Registrar General. (c) The Liquidator of the said company is Lucy Dalrymple-Smith of 1214 AT Hilversum, Gilsbrecht van Amstelstraat 77, the Netherlands.

Dated this 7th day of December, A. D., 2020.

Lucy Dalrymple-Smith, Liquidator

LEGAL NOTICE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000

AMICORP (BAHAMAS) LTD. Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, the dissolution of AMICORP (BAHAMAS) LTD. has completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was 22nd July 2020.

Amicorp Bahamas Management Limited Bahamas Financial Centre, 3rd Floor, Shirley & Charlotte Street P.O. Box N-4865 Nassau, Bahamas

flights going into Fort Lauderdale during those first few weeks had averaged around 75 percent on the carrier’s 70-seater ATR turbo props, although this had dropped sharply on the return route.

“There was a fairly decent demand for the day trip and overnight trip. That’s out the window for now,” Mr Turnquest explained. “The old model of the quick trip is out because of the need for a COVID-19 PCR test, which could take from two to three days to get the result.”

He added that Bahamasair had finally obtained Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration and approval for its newlyleased 737-300 jet to begin flying into Fort Lauderdale and other US destinations from Monday, completing a process that began during Thanksgiving week.

“We’ve added two new destinations into Cuba, Holguin and Santa Clara.

That’s producing some good loads. We’ve been carrying some fairly good loads into those two cities,” Mr Turnquest said.

“We’re very, very hopeful, which is a little better than hopeful. Not quite optimistic. It’s starting to look better. It’s good to have some cash flow. We still have to look at our cost structure but at least we’re not at zero cash now in terms of revenue, and that’s a good sign.”

Mr Turnquest added that with the leased 737-700 jet coming into service, Bahamasair had retired one of its 737-500 aircraft that was now past its useful life and sold the plane’s frame for “a couple hundred thousand dollars”.

THE TRIBUNE

Super Value chief: ‘Our prayers have been answered’ FROM PAGE 24

ago that if the cases go down he would give us what we wanted,” he added. “The cases did go down and he gave us what we wanted and requested. It gave us a sense of relief, and gave merchants and consumers a

sense of freedom.

“If we do the right thing we’ll have a good Christmas with the economy we have.

Hopefully it goes into the New Year. The economy is bouncing up a little.” Mr Roberts, though, warned that keeping the present hours depends on Bahamians maintaining their discipline and keeping the COVID-19 infection rates down.

“We could lose it again,” he said. “The only thing he [Dr Hubert Minnis] did not

give us is that normally on Christmas Eve customers shop everywhere else and come to the supermarket last, and we’re forced to stay open until 11pm.

“We requested that, but he only gave us until 9pm. We’ll have to manage with that.

If cases go down further the Retail Grocers Association will go back to them and ask for the traditional Christmas Eve hours. If things go good we’ll be tempted to go back and ask for 11pm on Christmas Eve.”

Cat 5 hurricane surge threat to 83% of tourism FROM PAGE 24 the country’s GDP was related to tourism and travel activities, and international visitors expenditures in The Bahamas accounted for more than 80 percent of its total exports.

“The concentration of The Bahamian economy in the tourism sector and its lack of diversification makes the country highly vulnerable to crises such as COVID-19, and the local economy is estimated to shrink by as much as 14 percent to 20 percent overall in 2020.”

Extolling the project’s virtues, the IDB continued: “Eco-labels and sustainable certifications have been more popular in the tourism sector in the last decade.....

They might be an effective component of a policy, if coupled with environmental regulations.

Stocks close mostly lower, pushing pause on recent rally Associated Press STOCKS closed mostly lower yesterday as Wall Street pumped the brakes after a recent run of

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that ELISHA NAAMA DUROZIER of Marsh Harbour, Abaco,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 1st day of December 2020 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

“Sustainability certification may also be a tool for improving the competitiveness of destinations and lessening the environmental impacts of tourism development. They can also be a stepping- stone for local enterprises to put the principles of sustainability into action...

“Aware of the changes in the hospitality industry driven by a discerning travelling public that is demanding better stewardship of the environment, The Bahamas government has been implementing actions aimed at increasing the sector’s resilience and sustainability.”

This, the IDB added, included the Tourism Development Corporation’s creation with part of its mandate involving the “design and future implementation of sustainable tourism certification programmes, aimed at providing guidelines for

businesses and attractions to improve their environmental sustainability and their resilience to climate change and crises.

“With the proper set of guidelines and reinforcement tools, along with the adequate environmental legislation, certifications may be an effective complement on the pathway towards sustainability and resilience in The Bahamas tourism sector. In this context, the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation of The Bahamas has asked the support of the bank to develop guidelines that allow this effort to take place,” the IDB revealed.

The project will involve an analysis of existing sustainable tourism certification initiatives as well as recommendations on what The Bahamas should craft to suit its own purposes. A governance and operational framework to oversee the scheme will also be created.

strong gains.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, as losses in health care, financial and energy companies outweighed gains in technology, communication and utilities stocks. The pickup in technology companies, whose profits have proven more resistant to the pandemic’s effect on the economy, helped nudge the Nasdaq composite to its third consecutive all-time high.

Investors are optimistic that one or more coconravirus vaccines will soon be cleared for distribution in the US, setting the stage for an economic turnaround. But worries are mounting about more economic pain as states impose new restrictions on businesses in a bid to stem a surge in virus cases and hospitalisations.

Traders also continue to hold out hope that Washington will deliver another round of financial aid for Americans and businesses hurt most by the pandemic.

“The market is taking a much needed pause as it waits for answers on the

stimulus package,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “Will it be closer to a trillion or closer to $500bn?

That’s going to be important for the market.”

The S&P 500 dropped 7.16 points to 3,691.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 148.47 points, or 0.5%, to 30,069.79. The Nasdaq gained 55.71 points, or 0.4%, to 12,519.95. Small company stocks slipped 1.20 points, or 0.1%, to 1,891.25.

The benchmark S&P 500 had one of its best months in decades during November and added more to it last week. In addition to virus vaccine optimism, hope has built that Washington may be able to get past its partisanship to deliver some form of aid for the still-struggling economy.

The worsening pandemic is pushing governments around the world to bring back varying degrees restrictions on businesses, keeping customers away from businesses and threatening to drag down the economy through what’s expected to be a bleak winter.

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

N O T I C E

N O T I C E

EXXONMOBIL RUSSIA RESEARCH SERVICES LIMITED

EXXONMOBIL EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SOUTH AFRICA LIMITED

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, notice is hereby given that the above-named Company has been dissolved and struck off the Register pursuant to a Certificate of Dissolution issued by The Registrar General on the 16th day of October A.D., 2020.

Dated the 8th day of December, A.D., 2020

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, notice is hereby given that the above-named Company has been dissolved and struck off the Register pursuant to a Certificate of Dissolution issued by The Registrar General on the 2nd day of December A.D., 2020.

Dated the 8th day of December, A.D., 2020

C. J. Carrow Liquidator of EXXONMOBIL RUSSIA RESEARCH SERVICES LIMITED

NOTICE JRTECH INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (In Voluntary Liquidation) Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, the abovenamed Company is in dissolution, which commenced on the 4th day of December, 2020.

The Liquidator is Windermere Corporate Management Limited, East Bay Street, P.O. Box N-7797, Suite A-084, Nassau, Bahamas.

WINDERMERE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT LIMITED Liquidator

Matteo Pedercini Liquidator of EXXONMOBIL EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SOUTH AFRICA LIMITED

THE TRIBUNE

Insurer hits ‘summit’ on rating affirmation A BAHAMIAN property and casualty insurer has seen its “financial strength” and credit rating reaffirmed by the industry’s leading global assessor.

Summit Insurance Company, through which Insurance Management places most of its general underwriting business, was assessed as having an A- (Excellent) financial strength rating by AM Best.

It also kept the insurer’s long-term issuer credit rating at “a-”, together with a stable outlook.

AM Best said the ratings reflected Summit’s balance sheet strength, which it described as “strongest”, combined with its “strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management”.

The insurance industry rating agency added: “Summit’s balance sheet strength is assessed at the strongest level, based on supportive risk-adjusted capitalisation; favourable earnings, which have been accretive to surplus growth; and the utilisation of reinsurance to reduce its net exposure to natural catastrophes such as hurricanes.

“Overall operating performance has been strong and profitability ratios compare favourably with its rated Caribbean peers, especially in non-catastrophe years. However, AM Best considers Summit’s business profile to be limited due to geographic and product line concentration.

“This exposes the company to highly competitive soft pricing conditions, moderate economic and political risk and elevated financial system risk, as well as changes in the underwriting cycle and the potential for significant gross losses from severe weather-related events,” it continued.

“The ratings also take into consideration the highly competitive domestic property/casualty insurance market conditions and the moderate country risk of The Bahamas.”

JAPAN’S ECONOMY GROWS 22.9% IN 3Q, BOUNCING BACK FROM COVID Associated Press

JAPAN’S economy expanded at a 22.9% annual rate in the last quarter, as businesses and personal spending recovered from pandemic-related shocks in the spring and early summer.

Economists said the upward revision released today was in line with forecasts and suggests Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, is on the mend from the recession that started in late 2019, even before coronavirus outbreaks hit.

“The sizeable upward revision to Q3 GDP and the sharp rise in ‘core’ household spending in October support our view that Japan’s economy will recover from the pandemic faster than the consensus expects,” Tom Learmouth of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

“We think GDP will rise by another 2.1% (quarterto-quarter) in this quarter and surprise to the upside next year,” he said.

Core household spending excludes costs for housing and purchases of vehicles and other volatile expenditures and is thought to best reflect consumer demand.

As is true for most major economies, the setback dealt by the pandemic has left Japan still at a lower level of economic output, 3.9% below the level of the last quarter of 2019, Learmouth said.

The expansion in the July-September quarter coincided with a push to encourage domestic spending to make up for the loss of foreign tourism with “Go To Travel’’ and “Go To Eat” programmes offering steep discounts on hotels and dining out.

The economy contracted at a 29.2% annualised pace in April-June.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 21

‘Time is of the essence’ in closing Andros hotel sale FROM PAGE 24

successfully operate a hotel property in Andros. Not only have his properties been successful, but he’s won endless awards for a fantastic property and created opportunities for Bahamians. These are very high-end customers [at Kamalame Cay] that are economically impactful on Andros.

“I’m very excited that he’s interested and we’ll see where it takes us. As far as I’m aware it’s still at the Hotel Corporation level.

He’s doing his due diligence and hasn’t gotten into the details yet. I’m not quite sure where in the process he is. He’s still, I think, contemplating what the details of the deal look like and,

because it’s owned by the Hotel Corporation, it has to go to the government for final approval.”

Kamalame Cay is a family run, high-end boutique resort featuring private villas and beach houses in a 96-acre setting. It consistently attracts both high-end clients and positive reviews from the global travel media, and provides multiple amenities and experiences in close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.

The government is now in its 28th year of trying to exit resort industry ownership, with the Grand Lucayan and Lighthouse Club the last two remaining properties. Numerous attempts to sell the 20-room Lighthouse Club, whose

Fresh Creek-based amenities include a 30-slip marina, pool and tennis court on 11 acres of beachfront land, have been made before with little success.

The last Ingraham administration was trying to negotiate a sale to Illinoisbased Scheck Industries when it left office in May 2012, in a bid to end financial bleeding that was costing the Hotel Corporation some $500,000 per year.

Under the proposed agreement with the thengovernment, land and investment incentives would have been released to Scheck in accordance with “timeframes and milestones for development”.

The company had proposed a $15m investment in the first phase, and

‘Unbelievable’ gyms open but not Mario’s FROM PAGE 24 “We wrote to them [the Prime Minister’s Office] last week Tuesday. One of the senior commissioned police officers had told us we could have opened. We didn’t want to take a chance, so we wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office and have not heard anything. We’re still waiting on his office to answer.

“We don’t know what’s happening.

We’re still closed. We don’t know how much longer we can survive.

All staff members are getting is $100 a week. Some are getting $50, and a few of them are about to lose their homes as the banks are threatening them with foreclosure. This is a serious, serious business.”

Mr Miller, whose family has been losing $150,000 a month just to maintain the Mario’s facility in the Summerwinds Plaza off Tonique Williams Highway, added that “hopefully we can figure out a way to get people back to work.

“Christmas is right around the corner,” he said.

“We have 52 staff members.

That’s down from what was 108. We don’t know what to do. We’re very concerned

about the welfare of the staff and their families, but there is nothing we can do.

The government makes that decision; they make that call. Whenever they get back to us, we’re ready to re-open. We’ve kept the place in tip-top shape.”

Mr Miller, though, was incredulous that the government allowed gyms to re-open with effect from yesterday while the likes of Mario’s, Fusion Superplex and Galleria Cinemas remain closed.

“I don’t believe that,” he blasted, when informed by this newspaper. “The gyms are allowed to open? Why are we not being allowed to re-open?

“We have 24-foot high ceilings. Why are we not being allowed to open? I find that incredible. Our facilities are 76,000 square feet. I’m shocked gyms have been allowed to re-open and entertainment establishments such as ours have not.

“I find that unbelievable.

Gyms are operating in an enclosed space; they have ten percent of the space we have. We don’t know what to do. I’m sure it’s just an oversight. I will call his office tomorrow and bring it to their attention,” Mr

Miller continued.

“I’m sure when they drew up that list they missed entertainment businesses such as ours. I’m sure it’s not intentional; just an oversight - I’m sure of that. I will speak to him [Dr Minnis] tomorrow and inform you of our conversation.”

Galleria’s Mr Mortimer, though, said he “didn’t have any expectations that we would be opening before next year” at the Mall at Marathon-based cinema.

Branding this “the right call” by the government, he added that business and economic revival was inextricably linked to progress in the health battle against COVID-19.

Noting that there was also an absence of new product, as movie releases from the major US studios have been deferred until Easter 2021, Mr Mortimer said Galleria had used its closure “to ready ourselves for a new future” where it must diversify its sources to compete with the Netflix and HBO Max streaming services for fresh content.

“We have a couple of things we’re going to do if the call is made in mid to end-January,” he explained.

“We have lined up some additional products sourced

construction and full-time jobs of 50-plus, but nothing further was heard of Scheck once the last Christie administration took office.

Tribune Business then revealed in 2014 that rival Bahamian-led bids with strong Andros connections were battling to acquire the Lighthouse Club. Prescott Smith, owner of Stafford Creek Lodge, confirmed he was heading one group, while Vanlock Fowler, owner of Nassau-based All Purpose Steel Company, confirmed he was part of another.

Again, though, no deal was closed. The property remains shuttered, with the Matthew-related damage not repaired, resulting in the Minnis administration offering the assets on an “as

is” basis when it began marketing the Lighthouse Club for sale in September 2017.

Frederick McAlpine, the former Hotel Corporation chairman, told Tribune Business in 2018 it had managed to save taxpayers some $250,000 by terminating the Lighthouse Club’s 20-plus staff and paying them due severance after the Christie administration kept them on despite the hotel being closed.

Mr Hew’s plans for the Lighthouse Club have not been disclosed, but Mr Rodgers and his group had planned to create what they described as The Bahamas’ “first 100 percent green resort” through a $7m investment that would expand the property and create an initial 40-50 jobs.

outside the traditional theatric sector. We’d also be able to provide product at reduced prices.”

Suggesting that adult movie ticket prices might drop from $10 to $7 once Galleria re-opens, Mr Mortimer added that the cinema business had sourced sufficient options to carry it through to whenever the major US studios began releasing new movies.

“We’ve been in contact with our associates in the industry, and made sure that throughout this crisis we stayed in contact with them so we had a full understanding of how this is going to play out in terms of the reduction in finished product out of the US,” Mr Mortimer said.

“Once that started to happen, we put in place our plans to acquire product from other jurisdictions to fill in the slate until the US business turns, especially with a lot of these companies moving to a streaming future. Warner Brothers is making a lot of product available on HBO Max. “Regardless of what happens next year in the

theatrics business, we’re going to have to expand our access to different countries.

We’re readying ourselves for a new future that begins next year. All the streaming services are fighting for top quality content now,” he added.

“That’s what we’ve been doing for the better part of last quarter: Identifying distributors throughout the world that have content we believe Bahamians want to see, and sorting out the agreements.”

Asked how much income Galleria has lost due to its COVID-19 enforced closure, Mr Mortimer replies: “I don’t look at it from that particular perspective. You cannot count what you do not have. I don’t want to be a person pulling numbers out of a hat.

“We’re ready to go and bring down the cost of entertainment in The Bahamas and provide a good quality product.... We’re confident that whenever they go ahead we’ll be ready in the early part of the New Year, and be ready to serve the Bahamian people.”

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

PAGE 22, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

‘INCREDIBLE’ PENT-UP DEMAND, SAY GYMS

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

GYM owners yesterday described the first day following their third COVID-19 re-opening as “incredible”, voicing hopes that an industry-wide shutdown will not be repeated.

Regina Smith, owner/ operator of Energy Fitness, said: “The first day back has been incredible. We’re one of the ones that were fortunate to be able to carry on virtually, so our virtual turnout was great.

“Our in-studio bookings were through the roof. I’d like to say that all of our

Pilates Reformer classes, which we’re mostly known for, are completely booked out for the rest of the week.”

Ms Smith added that Bahamians will start to feel “more confident as the weeks go on” and start to “get moving again”. She said: “Once Bahamians felt like the protocols were put in place, they were ready to move. So we’re excited.

We’re very thankful to God and to the prime minister for letting us open up, and it’s been a great experience so far.”

Ms Smith acknowledged, however, that December was a slow period for gym

membership as consumers prioritised consumer spending. She said: “In our industry, it does tend to trend down in December.

“But I think that with a pandemic we’ve had elastic side effects. For our studio it’s not the same, because we’re a small group studio and a personal training studio, so we work a lot of ‘one on one’ with the clients.

Ms Smith explained that such close contact allows her to keep track of her patrons, and “because we kept them virtually engaged” compliance with the COVID-19 protocols is not an issue.

She added: “It was a lot easier to get them to now come back into the studio.

You know, they were already hungry. We kept that constant contact, and so it was a matter of open up. Okay, great. I’m there.

I’ve been seeing you virtually; I need to see you in person.”

Dr Kent Bazard, owner/ operator of Empire Fitness, said: “We had a steady flow.

Everybody was excited and happy to be back. But it is a long road to getting back to where we were. The protocols aren’t really intrusive for us and it is not an issue.

We had a good crowd this morning. They were very

eager to get back into the gym.

“I hope we follow the model where businesses don’t close, and instead we just monitor the amount of people and traffic. The emergency settings in some places are 30 percent capacity for essential businesses and 20 percent for nonessential businesses.

“I hope we don’t just don’t blindly close everything. I hope we do something to soften the blow and not just shut them down because the economy cannot take much more of that.”

Another gym owner, speaking under condition of

anonymity, said yesterday was “slow” as the sector’s off-peak season typically involves the calendar year’s final few months. The few customers they saw were “nothing to brag about”, and they added: “Everybody is getting ready for holidays now, so we’re just taking it as it comes.”

Looking forward to January for a better customer turnout, the gym owner added: “Hopefully things could work out where we are not locked down after the holiday, because we don’t want to repeat what happened last time we got shut down.”

Downtown ‘disheartened’ over cruise tourism wait

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net DOWNTOWN Nassau businesses are “disheartened” that cruise tourism may not return until the 2021 second quarter as the industry’s passengers comprise up to 90 percent of their customer base.

Tania Bain, the Perfume Bar’s general manager, told Tribune Business: “We are disheartened by that because 90 percent of our business comes from cruise ship passengers, and only ten percent comes from locals as well as tourists staying on island in hotels.

“It has tremendously affected our business. As a matter of fact, we have two stores on Bay Street and we had to keep one closed as a result of that.” Ms Bain said there was just “insufficient business” to keep the store facing Bay and East Street

NASSAU Cruise Port. operating along with their central Bay Street location.

Ms Bain was responding after Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, disclosed that the cruise lines have informed him they do not expect to return to Nassau and Freeport until early in the 2021 second quarter.

This pushes the resumption of cruise tourism back even further from the previously-anticipated March

start date, raising serious questions as to how much longer downtown Nassau merchants and their landlords can hold on with zero to minimal income streams given that the industry will have been absent for more than one year due to COVID-19.

Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean subsequently said they have suspended all sailings through to the end of February 2021 as they

work through the health protocols demanded by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ms Bain, meanwhile, said: “I’m fairly familiar with what’s going on in the cruise ship industry, largely so because it affects our business. It is sad, and it is unfortunate, that this is an extreme long-haul for us to undergo for practically an entire year without cruise ship passengers, which is a great bulk of our business.”

The Perfume Bar will remain open during the Christmas period despite not having any cruise ship customers to rely on, and has been surviving with a “strong local clientele” that are “very loyal”.

Ms Bain, though, said they are still only operating on ten percent to 15 percent of their normal revenue base. The Perfume Bar has retained all staff members

and has them working from the central Bay Street location on day shifts.

Edward Robinson, owner/operator of Bonneville Bones, said of the cruise dilemma: “I don’t feel one way or the other about it because I have no control over it. We’re doing the best we can with local business only. The cruise ship passengers make up less than five percent of my business.”

Another downtown retailer, speaking under condition of anonymity, said: “I guess that’s what it is. Mr D’Aguilar is only trying to protect us. I guess he’s looking out for the people. This is affecting us, obviously. But I think it’s important that we don’t have like a third and fourth COVID-19 wave.

“We are taking precautions and I think the country is doing well. I guess having the cruise ships not come in is good, unless they’re

testing them and unless they figure out a way to protect the Bahamian people, but from a financial part, from a business owner, obviously we’re going to struggle.

“All the stores downtown will struggle. I see a lot of people moving out. Are we going to be able to hold on?

I don’t know. It’s scary. A lot of people are struggling downtown.”

Talking about ways to attract more Bahamians to shop in Bay Street’s stores in the interim, they said, “I don’t know if Bahamians are shopping more online now or if they just don’t have the money, but parking shouldn’t be such a huge issue.

“We have a $25 validation for parking and we’re taking that cost upon ourselves.

I do see some Bahamians using it, but it hasn’t brought in the crowd that we need to have in order to survive downtown.”

COVID testing still Out Islands travel ‘hurdle’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net FAMILY Island hotels and businesses yesterday said the requirement for a COVID-19 RT-PCR test remains a “hurdle” to interisland travel from New Providence despite the 14-day quarantine’s end.

Cheryl Bastian, owner/ operator of Swain’s Cay Lodge in Andros, told Tribune Business she is “ecstatic” about the quarantine’s elimination for locals because it brings a “level of fairness between Bahamians and tourists” given that this measure was removed for the latter over one month ago.

Ms Bastian voiced hope this will encourage more inter-island travel by Bahamians during the Christmas season, but is also “mindful” that a negative

RT-PCR test must be produced within five days prior to travelling for those leaving Nassau and Freeport.

She said: “I’m mindful of security and safety in terms of dropping the requirement for the RT-PCR test for Bahamians from Nassau to the outer islands, but I think I agree with them to leave that in place for a while longer. But like, I said, it brings more of a fairness.”

Suggesting that many persons have not been complying with the quarantine, Ms Bastian said its full removal will increase airlift to the island. Andros, she added, is currently is “strained for flights”, citing the inconsistency and frequent unavailability of carriers on a daily basis.

Sherrexcia Rolle, Western Air’s vice-president for operations, said of the 14-day quarantine’s

removal: “We do believe that, naturally, there may be an increase in domestic travel during the holiday season. Many of our frequent passengers have had to sacrifice and delay the usual Family Island visits for most of the year, but we believe they will be looking forward to visiting for Christmas.

“Travel will continue to be safe with the cooperation of the travelling public adhering to the mandatory use of face masks and standard safety and health protocols, as well as government travel requirements. Western Air has put in place additional flight times to allow for more travel flexibility throughout the season.”

Nathaniel Gibbs, Southern Air’s chief executive, said the quarantine’s removal will have a “positive impact” on flights

going to the Family Islands, describing this as a “plus”.

Matthew Brear, general manager of Long Island’s Cape Santa Maria resort, said the quarantine end will not affect him because he does not rely on interisland travel for guests. He added: “There is still the hurdle of the RT-PCR test.

As far as I know, the quarantine was never the only hurdle.”

Jeff Birch, Small Hope Bay Lodge’s general manager, backed Mr Brear in saying: “I think that the quarantine was a good idea. From our perspective, as Small Hope Bay Lodge specifically, not speaking for the hotel industry in general, it didn’t really have much of an effect because as a compliant resort we basically were able to satisfy our customers’ needs as part of the resort.

“I think if I was a

rooming house or a small motel that had rooms only, and I had to go out and get food, that might have been different. So I think from the perspective of Small Hope Bay Lodge it is a small, contained, allinclusive type of resort, so it didn’t really affect us that much.”

Mr Birch added: “As far as the tourists were concerned, you were quarantining in place. Now, the Ministry of Tourism used a lot of terms like vacation in place and things like that, but what happened is that you could leave any time in that quarantine period.

“So in other words, you weren’t actually quarantining for 14 days; you were quarantining for your vacation. If your vacation was eight days, you left after eight days.”

Mr Birch said from his perspective the quarantine

did not make much of a difference from a “quantitative perspective” but, rather, from a “perception perspective” for visitors.

Ned Mulford, owner of Cat Island’s Pigeon Cay Beach Club, said of the quarantine’s end: “They had to remove it. However, we won’t have a Christmas because there is no vaccine for anybody to take yet. Nobody is travelling; we have zero requests for Christmas.

“People are still afraid to travel, they just don’t want to deal with it right now.

For Cat Island, I believe people should be able to move around once they have been tested and have proven to be clean.”

Mr Mulford added that on-island testing needed to be strengthened on Cat Island due to the limited medical facilities as well as the lack of test kits.

RETAILERS HOPE FOR XMAS ‘BUMP’ ON SUNDAY OPEN

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

RETAILERS yesterday hailed the “boost” provided

by the prime minister permitting them to open for the two Sundays pre-Christmas as they bid to end a largely miserable 2020 with a sales “bump”.

Brent Burrows, CBS Bahamas (Commonwealth Building Supplies) chief, told Tribune Business: “Opening on Sundays right before Christmas always

N OTICE SCEPTRE TRUST LIMITED (In Voluntary Liquidation) Registration No. 2,601 C NOTICE is hereby given in pursuance of Section 228 of The Companies Act that the Members of the above-named Company by Resolution passed on the 25th day of November, 2020 A.D., that the Company be wound up voluntarily and that the Liquidator be Lucia E. Broughton of No. 6 Bosham Close, Camperdown Heights, New Providence, Bahamas.

All persons having claims against the above-named Company are requested to submit particulars of such claims and proof thereof in writing to the Liquidator, Lucia E. Broughton c/o, P. O. Box SP 63801, New Providence, Bahamas not later than the 29th day of December, A.D. 2020, after which the books will be closed and assets of the Company will be distributed.

NOTICE is hereby given in pursuance of Section 252 of The Companies Act that an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the above-named Company will be held at the Offices of BROUGHTON CARTWRIGHT, No. 6 Bosham Close, Camperdown Heights, New Providence, Bahamas on the 10th day of December A.D. 2020, at 10:00 o’clock in the forenoon for the purpose of having an account laid before them showing the manner in which the winding up has been conducted and the property of the Company disposed of and hearing any explanation that may be given by the Liquidator, and also of determining by Extraordinary Resolution the manner in which the books, accounts and documents of the Company, and of the Liquidator, shall be disposed of.

DATED this 8th day of December, A.D., 2020

Liquidator for the above-named Company

gives us a boost. I think it’ would be good for the retail sector. Everybody is practicing their protocols, and protocols are in place.

I think it’d be good for the retail sector and good for the economy overall.”

He added that despite the softness in demand and consumer spending due to COVID-19’s impact on jobs and incomes, CBS Bahamas has been faring “OK”. However, Mr Burrows said he does not see Christmas sales coming anywhere close to what was achieved in 2019 despite the expected “bump” from the festive season.

Voicing hope for a more prosperous 2021, Mr Burrows said: “I think with the prime minister talking about a lot of projects that are in the pipeline and starting to come on board, for the construction

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

industry I think we’ll start to see some activity and, hopefully, that would bode well for our business.”

Asserting that domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) projects are desperately needed to get the “sluggish economy” moving again until the major hotels regain full capacity, Mr Burrows said: “For the construction industry, I think if some of these projects come to fruition very soon, that’s going to put quite a number of construction people back to work.

“That’s going to help other families as well, because they’re going to start having extra money to spend.”

Mr Burrows spoke out after the prime minister announced on Sunday evening that all retailers on New Providence and Abaco will be able to open for Sunday shopping on December 13 and December 20 between the hours of 6am and 9pm.

Tammy Cargill, owner/ operator of Commonwealth Fabrics, said: “For us, we really don’t open during normal times on the Sunday, but I’m sure for the other businesses it’ll be a good boost. It will allow them to make up for some

of the down days during the lockdown.”

Angelo Munnings, general manager of Cellular World, added: “The problem is for us is that normally our Sunday shopping picks up like the week of Christmas Eve or the last Sunday before Christmas. Other than that we tried Sunday shopping before and, for electronics, it doesn’t work out very well for us.

“But if there is any big event, and it’s a Sunday before the big event, we would be busy. But as of Sunday past if we tried to open up it would have been extremely slow. If it was close to Christmas Eve, as people like their last minute shopping, we would have been very busy.”

Mr Munnings said he is “hoping” for a Christmas sales boost, but based on Black Friday he is not expecting anything spectacular given that sales did not match previous years.

Margo Farrington, Lorene’s chief marketing officer, said: “We typically don’t open up on Sundays during Christmas in any event. We only plan on opening up on that Sunday, December 20. We hope to be busy.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, PAGE 23

OVER 100 BUSINESSES AT DIGITAL BANKING SEMINAR SCOTIABANK (Bahamas) has hosted a webinar attended by more than 100 small and medium-sized businesses to help them prepare for the transition to digital banking.

The November 16 session, which was hosted under the theme Making the switch to digital banking for business, introduced attendees to the Scotia Online for Business digital platform that is geared for customers who generate significant volumes of business-related transactions.

Roger Archer, pictured, Scotiabank (Bahamas) managing director,

underscored the bank’s commitment to supporting both business and personal banking customers. “Our dedicated team of personal banking and business banking officers will also remain available to service and support customers as we make the transition to digital,” he said.

Mr Archer added that the session was specially hosted for business customers in the Family Islands ahead of the previously-announced branch consolidation that will take place in early 2021. Scotiabank executives have been engaging with customers to

ensure they can continue to conduct their banking transactions seamlessly.

The Scotiabank chief also told attendees that “we have not only invested in the systems that will make everyday banking safer and more convenient; we are also directing a significant amount of human resources to help drive this process and increase enrollment for our digital channels”.

The webinar featured live demonstrations of the digital banking platform, and gave participants the chance to ask questions and benefit from real-time

feedback on their concerns.

Amanda Treco, an executive with Damian’s Treco Building and Renovations, and a long-time Scotiabank customer, said: “The webinar was very informative. It was helpful with providing additional clarity on how to conduct transactions, and also provided information on what additional services are available. “ Na-amah Barker, Scotiabank’s director of retail banking, said “Our aim during the session was to introduce and engage any business that has an interest in accessing the added savings, safety and

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-Day Forecast

TODAY

ORLANDO

High: 58° F/14° C Low: 37° F/3° C

TAMPA

TONIGHT

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Pleasant with clouds and sunshine

Mostly cloudy

Low clouds breaking for some sun

Nice with sun and clouds

Partly sunny and pleasant

Mostly sunny and nice

High: 72°

Low: 63°

High: 72° Low: 62°

High: 74° Low: 66°

High: 77° Low: 68°

High: 80° Low: 70°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

71° F

61° F

72°-63° F

78°-64° F

75°-67° F

83°-73° F

High: 59° F/15° C Low: 42° F/6° C

The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.

N

almanac

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 70° F/21° C Low: 61° F/16° C

8-16 knots

S

WEST PALM BEACH High: 65° F/18° C Low: 45° F/7° C

7-14 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE E

W

FREEPORT

High: 65° F/18° C Low: 46° F/8° C

N

S

E

W

High: 69° F/21° C Low: 59° F/15° C

MIAMI

High: 65° F/18° C Low: 46° F/8° C

8-16 knots

KEY WEST

High: 68° F/20° C Low: 59° F/15° C

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 72° F/22° C Low: 63° F/17° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020

High: 75° F/24° C Low: 63° F/17° C

N

uV inDex toDay

The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.

tiDes For nassau High Today

Ht.(ft.)

Low

Ht.(ft.)

0.4 0.0

1:21 a.m.

1:39 p.m.

2.4 2.7

7:30 a.m.

8:09 p.m.

Wednesday 2:24 a.m.

2:40 p.m.

2.6 2.7

8:38 a.m. 0.3 9:05 p.m. -0.1

Thursday

3:25 a.m.

3:41 p.m.

2.9 2.6

9:45 a.m. 0.1 10:00 p.m. -0.4

Friday

4:23 a.m.

4:39 p.m.

3.1 2.7

10:47 a.m. -0.1 10:53 p.m. -0.6

Saturday

5:19 a.m.

5:36 p.m.

3.3 2.7

11:46 a.m. -0.3 11:46 p.m. -0.8

Sunday

6:12 a.m.

6:30 p.m.

3.5 2.7

12:41 p.m. -0.5 ---------

Monday

7:04 a.m.

7:23 p.m.

3.6 2.6

12:38 a.m. -0.9 1:34 p.m. -0.6

sun anD moon Sunrise Sunset

6:43 a.m.

5:21 p.m.

Moonrise Moonset

12:11 a.m.

1:04 p.m.

New

First

Full

Last

Dec. 14

Dec. 21

Dec. 29

Jan. 6

CAT ISLAND

E

W

High: 78° F/26° C Low: 65° F/18° C

N

S

E

W

8-16 knots

S

8-16 knots Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

Statistics are for Nassau through 1 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 79° F/26° C Low .................................................... 65° F/18° C Normal high ....................................... 80° F/26° C Normal low ........................................ 68° F/20° C Last year’s high ................................. 80° F/27° C Last year’s low ..................................... 36° F/2° C Precipitation As of 1 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.00” Year to date ............................................... 67.20” Normal year to date ................................... 38.85”

convenience of the bank’s digital channels.

“As we continue to face the many uncertainties still posed by the COVID19 crisis, we firmly believe digital banking is a solid step into a ‘new normal’ for both private individuals and our business customers who all desire fast, uninterrupted and convenient banking services.”

Scotiabank says use of its digital banking channels has increased as it continues to promote these services to help minimise any disruptions in service to customers amid the pandemic.

ANDROS

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 66° F/19° C

High: 77° F/25° C Low: 67° F/19° C

N

High: 75° F/24° C Low: 61° F/16° C

E

W S

LONG ISLAND

tracking map

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 67° F/19° C

7-14 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 82° F/28° C Low: 72° F/22° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS RAGGED ISLAND High: 79° F/26° C Low: 68° F/20° C

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 69° F/21° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 83° F/28° C Low: 73° F/23° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

8-16 knots

7-14 knots

marine Forecast ABACO ANDROS CAT ISLAND CROOKED ISLAND ELEUTHERA FREEPORT GREAT EXUMA GREAT INAGUA LONG ISLAND MAYAGUANA NASSAU RAGGED ISLAND SAN SALVADOR

Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday:

WINDS NW at 7-14 Knots NNW at 6-12 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots N at 7-14 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots WNW at 4-8 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots NNW at 7-14 Knots NW at 7-14 Knots NNW at 7-14 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots NNW at 6-12 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots NNW at 7-14 Knots NW at 7-14 Knots N at 8-16 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots NNW at 6-12 Knots WNW at 8-16 Knots NNW at 6-12 Knots NW at 7-14 Knots NNW at 7-14 Knots NW at 8-16 Knots N at 7-14 Knots NW at 7-14 Knots NW at 7-14 Knots

WAVES 5-9 Feet 4-7 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-6 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-6 Feet 3-5 Feet 4-7 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-2 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-2 Feet 4-7 Feet 4-7 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-3 Feet

VISIBILITY 5 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles

WATER TEMPS. 78° F 78° F 77° F 76° F 78° F 78° F 81° F 80° F 78° F 78° F 77° F 74° F 78° F 76° F 81° F 81° F 80° F 80° F 80° F 80° F 78° F 78° F 78° F 78° F 78° F 78° F

business@tribunemedia.net

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020

$3.98

RUPERT ROBERTS

Super Value chief: ‘Our prayers have been answered’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SUPER Value’s president yesterday hailed the supermarket industry’s reclamation of its full hours and Sunday shopping, saying: “Our prayers have been answered.”

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that the Retail Grocers Association and its members had obtained “‘everything we requested” from the government apart from the traditional extension of shopping hours to 11pm on Christmas Eve. Describing the previous 5pm Saturday closure, due to the 6pm curfew, as “unbearable”, the Super Value chief revealed he had written four letters to the Prime Minister’s Office in the previous three weeks prior to the easing of restrictions arguing for a loosening on the basis that COVID-19 numbers had sharply reduced.

“The whole country is very happy about the new hours we have been given,” Mr Roberts told this newspaper. “We were very impatient. In the past three weeks I had written four letters requesting an extension of the Saturday hours because we had unbearable hours to work in.

“We had to work in the confines of the hours they gave us, and it wasn’t working. We couldn’t get our sales in. We kept pointing it out to them. We wrote and notified them of what we wanted as Christmas hours, and they took everything into consideration and gave us everything we requested and what we wanted. Our prayers have been answered.”

Disclosing that the Retail Grocers Association and Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) had also written to the Prime Minister’s Office on the issue, Mr Roberts confirmed that food stores had regained Sunday shopping as well as all their hours during the week.

“The prime minister did promise me three weeks

SEE PAGE 20

$3.98

$3.92

‘Unbelievable’ gyms open but not Mario’s

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A

N ex-Cabinet minister yesterday said it was “unbelievable” that gyms have been allowed to re-open while his family’s business remains closed, adding: “We don’t know how much longer we can survive.”

Leslie Miller, the former Tall Pines MP, suggested to Tribune Business it must have been an “oversight” by the prime minister and his office in allowing gyms to re-open while keeping the likes of Mario’s Bowling and Family Entertainment Palace, cinemas, nightclubs and bars closed in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arguing that Mario’s, with 24-foot high ceilings and 76,000 square feet, was far better suited to maintaining social distancing and other COVID-19 health protocols than smallersized gyms once patron numbers were limited, Mr Miller pledged to call Dr Hubert Minnis’ office today and bring his concerns

• Miller: ‘We don’t know how much longer we can survive’ • Says facility’s staff down 52% during furlough • But Galleria chief backs govt on ‘super spreader’ fear

LESLIE MILLER

CHRIS MORTIMER

“to their attention”.

However, Chris Mortimer, Galleria Cinemas’ principal, said yesterday he understood why gyms had been allowed to re-open yet entertainment businesses such as his and Mr Miller’s remained closed.

Describing the two sectors as “different businesses”, he added that gym patrons often spent only 30 to 46 minutes at a venue, whereas cinemas and entertainment businesses typically attracted large crowds in confined spaces

for an extended period of time.

“Especially at this point in time, when cases are coming down, you don’t want to be in a position where you put lots of people together and start the virus again when we’re so close to the end,” Mr Mortimer said. “You don’t want to cause a super spreader event.”

Mr Miller, meanwhile, adding that Mario’s had been “kept in tip-top shape” during its almost nine-month enforced closure, said the facility was

“ready to go” and had already implemented the necessary health measures in preparation for the goahead to re-open from the government.

Disclosing that Mario’s has retained just 48 percent of its pre-pandemic 108-strong staff, with many unwilling to remain on furlough indefinitely on $100 per week government unemployment assistance, Mr Miller said that apart from having their electricity cut off some of the remaining workers were now being threatened with foreclosure by the banks due to mortgage non-payments.

Describing the situation facing Mario’s remaining workers as “serious”, he told this newspaper: “At this rate, if we don’t open between now and next week I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t think anybody does.

SEE PAGE 21

Bahamasair ‘exhausts’ $19m annual subsidy

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMASAIR’S chairman yesterday confirmed the airline “exhausted” its $19m taxpayer subsidy during the first four-five months of its financial year, but said: “At least we don’t have zero cash flow now.”

Tommy Turnquest told Tribune Business that the national flag carrier was “hopeful rather than optimistic” that its operations will start returning to something resembling its normal pre-COVID-19 schedule after the pandemic caused it to rack up “millions in the red”.

Suggesting that the already loss-making airline had cost the government and taxpayers “probably upwards of $30m” during the final months of its 2020 financial year, which closed on June 30 at the peak of COVID-19 border closures and lockdowns, he added

• Burns through taxpayer monies in under half-year • Chairman: ‘At least we don’t have zero cash flow’ • Adds two Cuban routes despite ‘millions in red’

TOMMY TURNQUEST that the removal of the mandatory 14-day quarantine could provide a timely Christmas boost by reviving inter-island travel.

Revealing that Bahamasair has also been carrying “some good loads” on its two new Cuban routes, to the cities of Holguin and Santa Clara, Mr Turnquest said he was “very hopeful”

that the quarantine’s end in favour of more frequent testing would spark demand for air travel during a month that has traditionally been among the airline’s strongest.

“I can’t tell you until we have some history behind it, but we’ll look at our schedule as a result of it and maybe add some more flights,” he explained of the quarantine end. ‘We’ve reduced supply because of the lack of demand. We’re down to 55 flights [weekly] and pre-COVID we were around 80-90 flights.

“Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma were very profitable routes for Bahamasair, and into all of those we had multiple flights per day. In the case of all of them, they are now

at one a day and not even every day. We haven’t flown domestically on a Tuesday for weeks. It’s a matter of supply and demand.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” Mr Turnquest continued of the travel restriction easing, together with the reopening of Exuma and Eleuthera. “People wanting to go to a Family Island and see relatives don’t have to quarantine, and people can come to Nassau and don’t have to quarantine.

“November and December were traditionally two of the five busiest months.

We have five good months - June, July and August, and November and December - and then a six month

SEE PAGE 20

$3.95 Cat 5 hurricane surge threat to 83% of tourism

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas must “build back better” following Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 to boost its competitiveness given that 83 percent of the tourism economy is exposed to category five storm surge.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in unveiling a $200,000 technical co-operation project with the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, warned that “resilience and sustainability” are critical for the country’s major job creator given that so much of its resort and tourism product is vulnerable to hurricanerelated flooding.

“Recent market trends suggest that sustainability and the adequate use of natural resources will be more valued by tourists in the post-pandemic scenario,” an IDB report urged. “In the Bahamas, many tourism properties currently lie in a storm surge zone, and the extent of properties at risk increases with a future scenario of a one metre rise in sea level.

“While sea level rise (SLR) by itself only threatens a small number of properties, when combined with weak (Category 1), moderate (Category 3) and strong (Category 5) storms, the resulting coastal flooding impacts 34 percent, 69 percent and 83 percent of the tourism infrastructure (hotels and resorts), respectively.

“Therefore, resilience and sustainability arise as key factors to provide competitiveness and longevity for The Bahamas tourism sector.” The IDB project is focused on helping the ministry, and Tourism Development Corporation, to build on work already done in developing and implementing a “sustainable and climate resilient tourism certification programme”.

A governance framework to oversee this is also part of the project, with the IDB adding: “Sustainable and climate resilient tourism certificates are an adaptable tool that can positively complement environmental regulation and increase the attractiveness of destinations to a discerning public.

“In The Bahamas, these certificates could be an important element in ‘building back better’ the tourism sector post-COVID-19.

The Bahamian economy is highly dependent on tourism: In 2019, 43.3 percent of

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‘Time is of the essence’ in closing Andros hotel sale

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Hotel Corporation’s chairman yesterday said “time is of the essence” in closing the sale of its last hotel property (Grand Lucayan excepted) to an Andros-based resort developer.

Michael Scott QC told Tribune Business the government and Hotel Corporation were both preparing to ramp up negotiations for the Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina’s disposal to a company headed by Kamalame Cay’s principal, Brian Hew, adding: “We have to get this thing done.”

He confirmed: “We’re at the stage now where we’re trying to agree a Heads of Agreement on concessions and development and so forth. That includes Hotels Encouragement Act incentives. What’s going to

• Lighthouse Club negotiations to ramp up • Hotel Corp chief: ‘We must get this done’ • Cabinet committee to lead talks with Hew

MICHAEL SCOTT QC happen is a Cabinet committee, or sub-committee, will be appointed to negotiate with Mr Hew. “We have a contract with him. The deal is in progress, and a Cabinet committee will be appointed to negotiate with the principals of the purchasing company. We have to get this thing done

as soon as possible. Time is of the essence to get this done.”

Mr Scott declined to comment further and Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, who has ministerial responsibility for the Hotel Corporation, could not be reached for comment before press time despite multiple attempts.

However, Tribune Business revealed in May 2019 that Mr Hew was conducting “due diligence” on the Andros-based Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina with a view to acquiring a property that has been closed ever since it suffered significant damage from Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

This newspaper reported that Mr Hew’s emergence as frontrunner came after an earlier deal headed by Bahamian entrepreneur and businessman, Burton Rodgers, and involving a group featuring some of the investors who worked with him to purchase Exuma’s Club Peace & Plenty hotel, seemingly stalled.

Mr D’Aguilar, hailing Mr Hew’s interest at the time, said: “All I would say is that Brian Hew is looking seriously at it and he obviously comes to the table with a wealth of experience in operating a hotel in Andros.

“He would be wonderfully positioned to

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