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GOVT’S PLAN FOR $90M EXTRA FEES Report suggests raise to cover cost of public services By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition yesterday urged the Davis administration to “come clean” over plans to raise an extra $90m from increasing user fees paid by the Bahamian people to access multiple public services. Kwasi Thompson, the FNM finance spokesman, accused the government of trying to “sneak” the increase past taxpayers by “burying it” at the back of a report released on Monday, which disclosed “sorely inadequate” user fees could yield “potentially $90m in the coming year” if increased to cover the cost of services.
Among the most commonly used services that could be hit are those provided by the Road Traffic Department, such as driver and vehicle licensing, plus inspection and registration fees. Besides passports, birth, marriage and death certificates from the Registrar General could also be increased, along with company registration and incorporation fees plus certificates of good standing. Police character certificates, and Immigration processing and application fees, plus those associated with the permits issued by that department, could also come under the microscope.
A TRADE union leader last night forecast the government will likely approve a 24 percent hike in the private sector minimum wage to $260 per week after a presentation was made to Cabinet yesterday. Obie Ferguson, the
NEW Providence police are investigating a shooting that left a 42-year-old man of Red Land Acres dead and a second man with injuries to the leg. Initial reports indicate the deceased was not the intended target. Police said the incident occurred shortly before 9pm on Monday on Shah’s Drive off Summer Street. According to initial reports from police, the deceased was outside a residence on Shah’s Drive when he was shot multiple times by a gunman, who was in pursuit of the second male that was shot. SEE PAGE FIVE
By LETRE SWEETING
FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, said such an increase - $50 per week or roughly $200 per month - was something the organised labour movement can live with given the economy’s continuing struggles to fully recover from COVID19 even though it falls short of their $300 target. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net
‘PROTECT OUR NURSES - OR FACE POOR HEALTHCARE’
$260 A WEEK PREDICTION FIVE HOURS FOR NEW MINIMUM WAGE OF WAITING By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
VICTIM WAS NOT INTENDED TARGET OF MURDERER
FOR FOOD COUPONS
SENIOR citizens and disabled people waited in long lines for five hours yesterday outside the Department of Social Services in Freeport to receive food coupons in humid and rainy conditions. Although five days are set aside for the distribution of food coupons to senior citizens and the disabled, many turned out on the first and second day of distribution. See PAGE TWO for the full story. Photo: Denise Maycock/Tribune Staff
PM: WE MUST HELP HAITI FIND SOLUTION By KHRISNA RUSSELL and LETRE SWEETING
PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis says it is important that The Bahamas help find a solution to the issues in Haiti that influence a continued exodus of its citizens to this country. Mr Davis told reporters that The Bahamas is one of the lead heads of a CARICOM committee that has been given the responsibility of ensuring that a
PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday. Photo: Austin Fernander solution is found. “But the solution has to be a Haitian solution,” Mr
Davis said yesterday on the sidelines of a symposium at the SuperClubs Breezes Resort on West Bay Street. “There was a meeting held on Saturday past in Trinidad. I was unable to attend because of the other pressing matters we are dealing with here and the deputy has attended in my stead,” he continued. “I have been briefed and the next step is for me to determine when I will host SEE PAGE THREE
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
BAHAMAS Nurses Union President Amancha Williams said she hopes people in Family Island communities would refrain from threatening the lives of nurses, because it restricts needed healthcare. She spoke after a nurse’s home in Andros was reportedly damaged by fire on Friday following alleged death threats. Police are investigating. Yesterday, Ms Williams said an incident like this could leave Family Island communities with gaps in health care. “If the community do not want this to happen, the nurses leaving out of the island, which will cause the community to be at high risk for not SEE PAGE FOUR
ALICIA WALLACE: TIPS FOR GOING BACK TO SCHOOL
- SEE PAGE EIGHT