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The Tribune
Volume: 119 No.32, January 7, 2022
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BRAVE’S WIFE URGES VICTIMS - SPEAK OUT THE Office of the Her statement referred Spouse will reach out to vic- to a recent Tribune featims of sexual violence and ture article about a book domestic abuse by Sheron J N and partner with Baptiste, who organisations chronicled the in the coming horrors and weeks in its subsequent fallcontinued and out from her committed fight personal experiagainst these ence with sexual issues. molestation, In a statement a traditionally released yestertaboo and closday, Mrs Ann eted subject in Marie Davis, polite Bahamian representative of society. ANN Marie Davis the Office of the “Like too Spouse of the Prime Min- many of our young girls, ister, encouraged victims to boys and women, the victim come forward to help elimi- could have suffered in nate the stigma attached to SEE PAGE THREE domestic abuse.
DIANE PHILLIPS: STRANGE AS A 3-DOLLAR BILL, BUT IT’S REAL AND I GET IT
SEE PAGE NINE
MY JOB BEFORE RAWSON SQUARE LIGHTS
FREE TESTING PILOT STARTS TOMORROW
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
PEOPLE in New Providence will be able to get a free rapid antigen test through the government’s pilot testing programme starting tomorrow, according to Press Secretary Clint Watson. Mr Watson said people can register for the test at covidtest.gov.bs from today. The tests will be administered at the Kendal Isaacs Gym and the Melia hotel;
the gym will be a drivethrough site. People who are experiencing symptoms are asked to visit the South Beach Clinic for a free test. “Those of you who want to participate in testing, we encourage you to do that,” Mr Watson said. “If you’re not experiencing any conditions whatsoever, you go to those particular facilities for your free testing. For those of you who are having symptoms, you are going to do testing at the South SEE PAGE FOUR
EVENT designer Kasimu Ellis was part of the team behind the recent spectacular Christmas decorations at Rawson Square. Before that, he worked as an RBDF officer and a protective agent with the US Embassy in The Bahamas. He was then appointed as the Ambassador’s protective detail at the embassy. When VIP visitors like former US President Bill Clinton came to The Bahamas, it was Kasimu’s responsibility to ensure their safety. See the Weekend section for more.
ISSUES FINDING ANSWERS TREASURY TARGETTING $400M PROPERTY TAXES ON GOVT COVID SPENDING
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Government is aiming to more-than-triple annual real property tax collections to at least $400m as a key component in its ambitions to achieve a 25 percent revenue-to-GDP ratio.
Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, told Tribune Business that it felt yearly property tax collections should be equivalent to 3.5 percent of Bahamian gross domestic product (GDP) or economic output as opposed to present yields of around 1 percent.
SEE BUSINESS SECTION
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
FINANCIAL Secretary Simon Wilson says finance experts have been challenged in gleaning the necessary information to determine a true picture of the former Minnis
OLD FORT BAY RESIDENTS LOSE EIGHT YEAR FIGHT By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A “BITTER IMPASSE” at one of western New Providence’s most affluent communities has ended with its developer confirmed as owner of the Old Fort Bay Club and the project’s marina. Justice Indra Charles, in a January 4, 2022, ruling said
the eight-year legal battle between New Providence Development Company and the Old Fort Bay Property Owners Association “could have been avoided if good
sense had prevailed”. She urged both sides to “put their differences aside”, following a long-running dispute that continues the near-decade hold-up to the proposed Old Fort Bay marina expansion, and called upon them to “hold no one to ransom” following her judgment.
SEE BUSINESS SECTION
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
administration’s COVID19 emergency spending. “No,” he said, when asked whether there was yet a figure for how much public funds were spent during the state of emergency. “The challenge that we SEE PAGE THREE
DUE TO THE MAJORITY RULE DAY HOLIDAY, THE TRIBUNE WILL RETURN TO NEWSSTANDS ON TUESDAY