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Volume: 120 No.62, March 30, 2023
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Where will they go?
‘How Much more can i bear?’
Haitian pastors call for compassion and delay in demolition By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net HAITIAN pastors asked Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis on Tuesday night to delay shanty town demolition plans and show compassion for the people in those communities. Haitian Charge d’Affaires Louis Harold Joseph told The Tribune he helped organise the closed-door meeting at the National Training Agency on Gladstone Road to discuss issues ranging from shanty town action to the
instability in Haiti. The meeting, featuring more than 30 Haitian pastors, came amid signs the government is moving to disrupt shanty town communities. Last week, Defence Force officers served residents in unregulated communities in SC Bottle Highway, Abaco, with notices of an upcoming Supreme Court hearing connected to the government’s plans to demolish shanty town structures. According to a summons the Office of the Attorney
By Rashad Rolle Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net SHE was displaced in Grand Bahama after Hurricane Matthew, forced from Abaco by Hurricane Dorian, and furloughed in New Providence at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the weekend fire in Bimini that destroyed her apartment and belongings is the latest misfortune that has Sirrisa Coyle wondering, “why me?”
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courier firms barred as taxes left unpaid
‘Don’t beat my son on his hip’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net Several courier companies have been temporarily barred from clearing imported shipments over their failure to pay up to “seven figures” in due taxes to the Government, a top official confirmed last night. Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, described the situation with the industry as “an ongoing problem” given that operators can quickly build up substantial tax arrears due to the high volume of goods they are
clearing on a daily basis. Given that couriers are effectively monies provided by their clients to pay due taxes on trust, he told Tribune Business the Ministry of Finance and Department of Inland Revenue “don’t look very favourably” on those who either fail to pay in full, on time or are guilty of both offences. Describing some firms as “repeat offenders, Mr Wilson did not identify the culprits, or give specific figures for the sums involved for some have run into ‘seven figures’ or millions of dollars. FULL Story - See Business
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis met with pastors who serve the local Haitian-Bahamian community to discuss the government’s multi-pronged approach to address shanty towns and illegal immigration, and to hear their recommendations on these long-standing issues. Photo: OPM
A BIMINI mother whose son was beaten to the point of bruising said she warned school administrators not to beat him on his hip because his “kidney is in his pelvis”. Davaria Sherman said when she registered her now 11-year-old son at the Bimini Primary School, she told school administrators about her son’s condition. SEE page Two
Front MuNROE: We’ll toughen gun licence rules Porch
By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net
THE government will toughen up the requirements to obtain licensed firearms, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday - including testing requiring the owners to show they can safely use the weapons. He was responding to questions about whether people should be allowed
Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe to more easily get weapons to defend themselves. “We are now looking at the issuance of weapons
to anybody,” he said. “I’ll give you a starting example of what we are looking to change. We have between 20k or 30k licences for shotguns and rifles. I have a shotgun, I have a rifle. I obtained those about tenodd years ago. I wasn’t able to prove to the licensing authority that I can safely use either of them. Periodically, annually or every two years, I’m not required to prove that I can still safely
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RCI a Bad Deal but Bay Street needs to be revitalised
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