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Tuesday, July 21, 2026
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PI entrepreneur: ‘I’ve fought a clean fight’ BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamian entrepreneur battling to restore Paradise Island’s lighthouse yesterday asserted he has “fought the right fight” as his claim to have a valid, legally binding Crown Land lease hit the judicial system’s highest court. Toby Smith told Tribune Business he has also “fought a clean fight” without financial support or other assistance from deep-pocketed supporters during the 14-year bid by himself and his Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club company to lease five acres on the island’s western end for development into a beach break-type destination. Speaking after attorneys representing himself and the Government yesterday battled before the London-based Privy Council, the highest court in the Bahamian judicial system, over whether there “was a binding agreement” based on a January 7, 2020, letter issued by the Department of Lands and Surveys’ acting director, he voiced
THE Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president yesterday challenged whether the Health and Safety at Work Act is sufficiently “robust” and can be properly enforced after inspectors identified “serious safety violations that presented an imminent danger” at four New Providence construction sites.
PARADISE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
its foot on BahaPrivy Council hears Toby Smith’s “keeping mians’ necks” and forcing Crown Land lease challenge them to “stand aside” as foreigners receive “red treatment”. Bahamian ‘confident’ of success carpet “I’m happy that, after more than 14 years of on ‘very compelling argument’ waiting, we have finally managed to have our day in Accuses Gov’t of ‘keeping foot court,” said Mr Smith, who was present in London for on necks’ of local entrepreneurs optimism that a “very compelling argument” has been made to overturn previous Supreme Court and Court of Appeal verdicts. Both lower courts, albeit with a split two:one majority in the Court of Appeal, ruled in the Government’s favour, but Mr Smith said he is “confident” following yesterday’s hearing that the Privy Council will buck this trend and allow the appeal by declaring the January 7, 2020, letter does represent “an agreement for
lease” that is enforceable and binding on both parties. And he suggested his efforts will “pave the way”, and encourage, other Bahamian entrepreneurs to stand up for their legal rights when pursuing their own ambitions and ventures. Mr Smith, accusing the Government of speaking out of both sides of its mouth, asserted that - while calling on more locals to develop and bring forward investment projects - it is also, at the same time,
TOBY SMITH
yesterday’s hearing. “I am pleased with how our legal team worked up to this day and presented in court a very compelling argument.” Describing the hearing as “a huge day, one of the biggest of my life”, he added: “I appreciate all the support I have received from around the world, and we are confident that - within the next two to five months - we will receive a ruling in our favour.” Should that occur, and the lease for both Paradise Island Crown Land parcels - one for three acres, the other two - be deemed valid, binding and enforceable, it would set up a potential scenario where Mr Smith and Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club will become the immediate western neighbours for Royal
APPEAL - See Page B4
Contractor president challenges whether Health and Safety Act sufficiently ‘robust’ BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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Leonard Sands told Tribune Business that he has major questions over whether, in its current form, the Act can be used as an enforcement tool to crackdown on workplace practices because it does not “define what is safe and unsafe” for workers in any industry - including construction. Suggesting that this exposes enforcement actions by the Department of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health Unit
(OSHA) to potential legal action, he added that there no industry-specific health and safety requirements - for construction or any other sector - are laid out in the Act. As a result, Mr Sands voiced fears that findings of safety violations, and subsequent enforced workplace closures, could be based on “subjectivity” or opinion rather than grounded in law.
PROTECT - See Page B2
‘Serious safety violations’ at four New Providence construction sites Inspectors halt ‘unsafe’ activities that presented ‘imminent danger’ Drone technology to aid inspections; 30 inspectors year-end target
Carnival 20% of tours failing to make grade
Taxi/livery driver dispute ‘top of agenda’ for trade union body
BY ANNELIA NIXON TRIBUNE Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
SOME Grand Bahama tour operators have lost business from Carnival Cruise Line after it removed roughly one-fifth of its shore excursion offerings at Celebration Cay following guest feedback, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president said yesterday. Ralph Hepburn told Tribune Business the move underscores the need for Bahamian businesses to continuously improve their products to remain competitive. With the Celebration Cay destination now open for one year, Mr Hepburn reported visitor participation in off-site excursions as trending upwards but Carnival’s annual review process has also exposed weaknesses among some operators. “In terms of when they initially started to where we are now, we would see more persons coming from Celebration Cay to
TRADE union leaders will meet today to determine how best to “intervene” in and resolve the dispute between taxi and livery drivers amid fears the situation will otherwise “take on a life of its own” and “seriously damage” the tourism industry. Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that all the umbrella body’s affiliate unions will discuss how best to assist the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTCU) and its members in resolving their differences with the Bahamas Livery Drivers Union (BLDU) over access to guests at the major hotels and Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).
SLASH - See Page B4
The dispute, which centres on competing rival claims that each side is encroaching on the other’s turf by soliciting passengers when not permitted to do so, resulted in a taxi driver protest that temporarily blocked access to LPIA’s internaOBIE FERGUSON KC tional departures terminal one day before the Independence Day holiday - a major travel period. Mr Ferguson told this newspaper that resolving the argument rocking the Bahamian public
TRANSPORT - See Page B5
‘Complete nonsense’ PI lease was a negotiation BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEYS representing the Bahamian entrepreneur seeking to restore Paradise Island’s lighthouse yesterday argued it was “a complete nonsense” for the Government to assert that lease documents it dispatched for signing were part of continuing negotiations. Damian Falkowski, the UK-based counsel representing Toby Smith and Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club in their bid to persuade the Privy Council they had a valid, legally-binding and enforceable five-acre Crown Land lease, challenged why Richard Hardy, then-acting director of Lands and Surveys, would send his client a lease with instructions on how to execute it if negotiations remained ongoing. He also pointed to evidence given by Candia Ferguson, former director of the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), at the earlier Supreme Court trial when she said she was unable to think of any remaining issues to be decided over the lease for two parcels on Paradise Island’s western end - one
for three acres, the other for two. “The case the defendant can run is this part of ongoing negotiations,” Mr Falkowski said. “In my submissions, this is a nonsense. She [Ms Ferguson] could not think of anything to be agreed. Everything that had to be agreed was done, and the letter contains the answer.” The dispute centres on a 21-year lease that the then-Minnis administration allegedly granted Mr Smith for two Crown Land parcels in the Colonial Beach area. The Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), via a May 23, 2018, letter informed him that his $2m beach club project had been approved, although rather than the 17 acres initially sought, the Crown Land lease was to cover just five. Then, on January 7, 2020, Richard Hardy, acting director of the Department of Lands and Surveys, sent Mr Smith and his company a letter headlined “approval for Crown Land lease”. This covered a two and three-acre parcel, respectively, with the first adjacent to the lighthouse at Paradise Island’s western end and the other for the ‘beach break’ destination.
HEARING - See Page B5