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The Tribune L AT E S T
Volume: 123 No. 122, Tuesday, May 19, 2026
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MP: NO COMMENT RIGHT NOW, BUDDY Politician said to have chartered flight taken by PM addresses drug smuggler Gardiner Climate Scientists declines to comment meeting in Nassau By Tribune Staff Reporter
THE MP said to have chartered the Election Day flight that crashed into the ocean with convicted cocaine smuggler Jonathan “Player” Gardiner aboard, declined to answer questions yesterday, saying only: “No comment right now, buddy.” When told there were serious questions about how Gardiner, now in custody in the United States,
came to be aboard the flight, Kingsley Smith, the PLP MP for West Grand Bahama, said: “We will get to that at some point.” He would not elaborate. His refusal to explain the flight leaves unanswered basic questions about who the plane was chartered for, who chartered it, why it was chartered on Election Day, and how Gardiner came to be allegedly found with DRUGS - SEE PAGE THREE
SUPER VALUE CHIEF WARNS OF FOOD PRICE INCREASES By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SUPER Value’s president is warning of potential food price increases, and a barrier to pay rises for hundreds of staff, due to the supermarket chain having to absorb “over $1m” in extra annual costs from the Government’s VAT exempt treatment of uncooked foods.
Debra Symonette told Tribune Business that the food distribution industry’s new inability to reclaim, or ‘net off’, the tax they pay on input expenses linked to uncooked foods is “a big deal” for all operators as the resulting increase in their costs impacts the business model by eating into bottom-line profits. SEE BUSINESS FOR STORY
PRIME Minister Phil ‘Brave’ Davis addresses more than 200 scientists gathered for an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting in Nassau, sponsored by BACSWN. PRIME Minister Philip Davis urged global climate scientists meeting in The Bahamas yesterday to treat small island states not only as subjects of study, but as partners in shaping the world’s response to a worsening climate crisis. Speaking yesterday as more than 200 scientists gathered for an
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting, Mr Davis said the work of climate experts must continue to drive policy, national planning and international negotiations as vulnerable countries confront rising climate threats. The five-day conference, described as the largest gathering of its kind
ever held in the Caribbean, is co-hosted by The Bahamas Aviation Climate & Severe Weather Network in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister’s Climate Change and Environmental Advisory Unit. The meeting will help advance the CLIMATE - SEE PAGE TWO
ROLLE CALLS FOR WATSON TO RESIGN FROM ZNS JOB By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net FORMER Public Service Minister Brensil Rolle yesterday said ZNS General Manager Clint Watson’s appointment to the Senate raises serious questions about whether the Davis administration is bending public service rules for political convenience.
Mr Rolle, speaking after Mr Watson was sworn in as a government senator, said General Orders bar public officers from political affiliation and argued that Mr Watson should have resigned before taking up the Senate appointment. "General Orders says any public officer can't be affiliated in any political party WATSON - SEE PAGE FIVE
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