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VOLUME:117 No.212, SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2020

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

TRUMP v BIDEN IN FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE - PAGE 10

BENEFITS GO ON

Cabinet agrees $45m funding to extend COVID-19 programme By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE deputy prime minister last night confirmed the Government will allocate $45m to the continuation of its COVID-19 support initiatives after the move was approved by the Minnis Cabinet. Peter Turnquest, in messaged replies to Tribune Business questions, said both the Governmentfunded unemployment benefit and various private sector assistance initiatives will be further extended beyond today’s intended expiry. Acknowledging that the tourism industry’s delayed return meant the extension was inevitable, Mr Turnquest said the unemployment benefits scheme

“will feature adjustments” and be vetted to ensure Bahamians who have returned to work are excluded from welfare support. Pledging that the resources will be directed to “our most vulnerable population” and those still unemployed, the deputy prime minister said the $45m will be found from the repurposing of existing funding already approved in the 2020-2021 Budget. “Cabinet has approved an extension to the [unemployment] programme, which includes support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs) and large taxpayers through tax incentive programmes,” Mr Turnquest told this newspaper.

NIB FRAUD WARNING: PAY IT ALL BACK

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net NATIONAL Insurance Minister Brensil Rolle yesterday issued a warning to all unqualified individuals who may have received unemployment assistance cheques from the agency, urging them to return the payments as NIB officials “are looking extensively” at all transactions made by employees. His warning comes amid an ongoing theft investigation at one of NIB’s branches. SEE PAGE FIVE

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

THE family of a young mother who was found dead in her Nassau Village home with her eight-yearold daughter say they want justice for the killings. “We will bring our sister’s (killer) to justice,” said Normuria Neilly, sister of the 30-year-old victim Alicia Sawyer. Ms Sawyer’s eight-yearold daughter Ednique Wallace was also killed during the incident, which police say was related to a domestic dispute. The young mother’s ten-year-old daughter, one of her three children, is said to have discovered their bodies.

The child has been left traumatised, relatives said. “They (are) talking to her. She is taking this hard because to see her mother like that laying in a pool of blood... ain’t easy,” Ms Neilly, 23, said yesterday. The eight-year-old’s father, Edward Wallace, previously told The Tribune he learned about the horrific incident through Ms Sawyer’s older daughter, who saw the little girl with a cut on her neck. Ms Neilly, who lives in Eleuthera, said she last spoke to her sister three days ago. She said her sibling never spoke about anyone being violent towards her. SEE PAGE THREE

THE VIOLENCE FACED BY WOMEN IN OUR SOCIETY

SEE PAGE EIGHT

DOUBLE MURDER FAMILY: ‘WE’LL SEE JUSTICE DONE’ By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PUZZLER INSIDE TODAY

‘WE NEED NEW PLAN NOW FOR CHANGE’

CROWNING GLORY KAYLA Culmer has been crowned the new Miss Teen Bahamas - and now has her sights set on the Miss Teen Universe contest in October next year. Read the Weekend section on Friday for a full interview with Kayla.

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FREEPORT stakeholders must “stop talking and create a real action plan” that holds all parties accountable for the city’s economic revival, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s chief urged yesterday. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

ANDROS SHANTY HOUSES NOW TARGETED TECHNOLOGY By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net WORKS Minister Desmond Bannister has vowed to clamp down on all unsanctioned construction on Andros, insisting that once assessments have been made on the island, officials will then formulate a plan to deal with the issue in a lawful manner. “I understand that there are a number of

MINISTER of Public Works Desmond Bannister. structures in Andros,” he said yesterday. “I’m going to personally

go to Andros and take a look at what’s happening, and my ministry is going to formulate a plan to deal with them. “We are going to be relentless in ensuring where illegal structures exist, those illegal structures will be taken down. I think all of you are aware of the limitations we have within the Building Controls Act and so there are certain things we have to do.” SEE PAGE THREE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

FUTURE IN THE PALM OF AMAZON’S HAND

SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

FERGUSON TEAM FORECAST TO WIN BPSU ELECTION AFTER BALLOT

BAHAMAS Public Service Union (BPSU) President Kimsley Ferguson and his team were unofficially forecasted to win the union’s election last night. Union members cast ballots yesterday for those vying for top posts in the organisation. Last night, Mr Ferguson said the union did not have all the official numbers as they were missing the results from Freeport. Yet, he said his team, the Workers Team, was still “ahead by so much and we’ve won unofficially”. He said: “I’m excited about it simply because I wouldn’t have completed some of the things that I would’ve liked to complete. I have the obligation and responsibility to try pull this organisation out a hole.”

THE BPSU elections at the National Stadium polling station.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 30, 2020, PAGE 3

Double murder family: ‘we’ll see justice done’ ALICIA Sawyer and Ednique Wallace. She described her as a he never got the chance to private person. call her back to say what Police said a man was was the matter. taken into custody on “It was concerning Monday night and is because he didn’t know helping them with their what she wanted to talk to investigation. This man him about.” is said to be Ms Sawyer’s Ms Sawyer’s father, ex-boyfriend. Norman Knowles, 49, said “She never brought up he kept in regular contact anybody that was violent,” with his daughter and her Ms Neilly said. “She never children. He said he didn’t told me about nobody know much about the man being violent to her. It was helping police, but said his just ‘how you doing, how daughter revealed she had the kids doing?’ left a relationship due to “She don’t tell nobody her partner’s jealousy. her business. She just is “She said she got out of keep everything to herself.” it because it wasn’t right,” However, she recalled a Mr Knowles said. “They time when her sister wanted weren’t together... She to discuss something with wasn’t happy.” their father. Both he and Ms “My daddy, after I came Sawyer are from Andros, off the phone, my daddy where she lived until she said she wanted to talk to graduated from high school. him about something, but Mr Knowles said his

THE SCENE of the double homicide in Nassau Village. daughter had expressed a employee, and her daughter. “We were heartbroken desire to move back to the island, but did not want to to learn about the death of return until she had found a a member of our Dunkin’ family, Alicia Sawyer, and job there. Meanwhile, yesterday her young daughter, both Dunkin’ Donuts issued con- tragically lost in a sensedolences to Ms Sawyer, an less act of violence,” the

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff company posted on its a devoted mother. We will Facebook page. miss her smile, her laugh“The entire Dunkin’ ter and her kindness every Bahamas family mourns single day.” her and our thoughts and Grief counselling has prayers are with her loved been made available for ones. She was an energetic other employees, Dunkin’ and passionate leader, and said.

ANDROS SHANTY HOUSES NOW BEING TARGETED

from page one

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis at the virtual UN meeting yesterday. Photo: Yontalay Bowe/BIS

PLAY FAIR IS MINNIS’ MESSAGE PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis highlighted the negative impact that criticism from developed countries about offshore financial centres has on the economies of countries like The Bahamas during a speech to UN heads of state yesterday. “On a matter of great importance to The Bahamas, adverse pronouncements by larger economies pertaining to offshore international financial centres, especially against those in small developing countries, further exacerbate economic challenges,” he said during the virtual meeting on financing and development in the era of COVID-19 and beyond. “Once again, we ask for the support of the United Nations, the relevant international financial institutions and like-minded countries to assist us in our call for fair play and equitable treatment in the global financial arena.” Dr Minnis commended the United Nations for its efforts in helping countries through the COVID-19 crisis but reiterated the government’s long held view that countries like The Bahamas are not given

sufficient financial assistance because of flawed methodologies. “Notwithstanding these noble efforts by the UN, funding and assistance of this nature remain largely unavailable to countries such as The Bahamas, because of perceived wealth that is measured by inadequate and improper tools,” he said. “The deleterious impacts of climatic events and the current pandemic on the global economy have made it abundantly clear that the outdated methodologies of assessing a country’s wealth are no longer justifiable. Priority must be given to developing a vulnerability index that will inform key policy

sectors of international financial institutions, and guide development assistance. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals seeks to leave no one behind, and so should financing for development. The world needs affordable development finance now, where no country is left behind.” He added: “Financing for development was of critical importance before the COVID-19 Pandemic. Such funding now assumes even greater priority as we witness economies, large and small, spiralling with uncertainty, operating in constant flux, experiencing fiscal shocks, and attaining adverse projections from international financial institutions.”

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“So, I will be personally going to Andros and taking a look at them and formulating a plan of action.” In February, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said there had been many complaints about illegal immigration in Andros and he vowed to deal with the problem in a humane manner. Days later, Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Michael Pintard confirmed officials had begun posting eviction notices on the shanty town structures on the island. At the time, it was estimated the move could possibly displace 1,800 people. However, in recent weeks, some Andros residents have expressed frustration with the illegal structures reportedly being built on Crown land, insisting the issue has still not been properly dealt with. Sources close to The Tribune have even claimed some residents in North Andros were clearing Crown land to construct their homes there since undocumented migrants

were being allowed to do the same without consequence. North Andros MP Carlton Bowleg has since dismissed the claims, saying the false information was being spread by Progressive Liberal Party propagandists. Yesterday, Mr Bannister said it had been brought to his attention that most of the illegal structures could possibly be situated on private property on Andros. “I’m understanding that a lot of these illegal structures may be on private land and these pose dilemmas for us and so we’re working with the Attorney General to get the proper wording for notices to ensure that we are compliant with the law because the last thing the government wants to be is non-compliant,” he added. “As much as we want to see us get rid of those structures, we have to ensure that we live up to the law otherwise we’re going to have judgments against us - we don’t want judgments against the government.” Mr Bannister said eviction notices will be handed out to residents there in a similar but “more precise”

exercise than that previously seen in Abaco. “It’s going to be a similar exercise but it’s going to be much more precise and whatever we do again in Abaco is going to be equally as precise,” he added. Last week, Mr Bannister confirmed eviction letters had been posted on some 50 newly built structures on Abaco since June. Central and South Abaco MP James Albury told The Tribune on Monday the government was now working “to renew” some of those notices to ensure they are compliant with the law. Yesterday, Mr Bannister said of the move: “Those notices are going to be renewed to ensure that if anyone takes action in the courts that we are well within our rights to do it notwithstanding the fact that someone may break the law, we still have to act within the law when we are seeking to get rid of those structures. “We’re going to renew anything that is over 56 days so if they’re over 56 days, we’re going to renew them and we’re going to ensure that they are brought to the attention of the people who live there.”

PAGE 4, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

LENDING A HAND

LEND a Hand Bahamas, a Bahamian nonprofit organisation, has announced a charitable contribution of $100,000 from Albany and one of its member families, the Rumpf Family. Together they will contribute a total of $100,000, for a $1 to $1 matching challenge. This will support the Lend a Hand Bahamas food assistance efforts in Nassau. As the country continues through these tough times, Lend a Hand Bahamas continues to ramp up operations to now assist approximately 50,000 individuals in Nassau each week. This donation will support Albany’s neighbours, Adelaide Village, as well as the communities of Mt Pleasant, Gambier Village and downtown Nassau, which Lend a Hand Bahamas covers as part of the National Food Distribution Task Force. “On behalf of the entire Albany community and the Rumpf family,

we are proud to partner with Lend a Hand Bahamas and support their tremendous efforts in helping thousands of families across New Providence,” said Christopher Anand, managing partner of Albany. This donation is in addition to the One Bahamas Fund’s previous donation of $70,000 to support the National Food Distribution Task Force in Abaco and Grand Bahama. One Bahamas Fund was created by Justin Timberlake, Tiger Woods, NEXUS Luxury Collection, Royal Bank of Canada and members from the Albany community to support Hurricane Dorian relief work and to date has committed $1.4m to the recovery efforts. Lend a Hand Bahamas was founded in 2014 to address the growing need for more opportunities and activities in socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Learn more at www.lendahand bahamas.org.

Man claims employer won’t let him work after he completed quarantine By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net A MAN who has been cleared by the Ministry of Health to leave quarantine after contracting COVID19 on his job says his livelihood is being threatened because his employer will not allow him to return to work. However, while he is asymptomatic, the man has tested positive for the virus several times, the most recent being about two weeks ago. In an interview with The Tribune, the man who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution, said he first exhibited symptoms about three months ago.

A colleague first began experiencing symptoms like a sore throat and headache while at work, prompting his employer to quarantine members of staff and order testing. Once the testing was complete, several workers tested positive. Given the circumstances, the employer paid for initial tests and those that followed. The man has taken issue with how his employer is handling the situation. Apart from disallowing his return to duty, his employers have also attempted to force him to either take vacation or sick leave. He said: “This company has acknowledged that I got sick while on their job. My

colleague started showing symptoms first while on the job and did not come back to work. “My work then told us who may have come into contact with him to quarantine and they paid for tests. “I didn’t have the symptoms at work, but I started to have headache, sore throat and nausea at home. This spread to others in my household. “My initial test was positive and all the other tests have been positive, but I don’t have symptoms now. The ministry has released me from quarantine, so why then can I not go back to work? On top of that at one point I was asked to take sick leave

and then they came back trying to demand that I take vacation. I have refused.” Yesterday, a senior Ministry of Health official said currently only some healthcare workers and those who were hospitalised for moderate to severe symptoms are required to have negative RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 to be allowed to return to work. Asked further if employers had to adhere to this position, the official said: “That’s an employer mandate. Not that of the ministry of government.” When contacted, Director of Labour John Pinder said a worker cannot be forced to take vacation or be barred from work if

the ministry has cleared a patient. “Part of that could be labour’s responsibility,” Mr Pinder said yesterday. “You can’t force an employee to take vacation for a COVID-19 situation and if the person has been quarantined and been released by a licensed physician, the employer has to accept that. If they want something else they have to pay for it. They might want you to go to ‘doctor so-and-so’ and let that doctor say you are negative. “But if the authority says you’re okay, the employer is not above the authority or above the law. but if they want a second opinion then they can pay for it. But no one can be forced.

“Now, according to the competent authority, in the event that the person has travelled to a high risk area then the employer has the right to force vacation because you put yourself at risk. However, if you are on the job and someone exposes you there, they can’t force vacation. “Even the NIB Act covers people in this situation. It’s more like an industrial incident so they are covered under that,” Mr Pinder added. As of July 20, the US Centers for Disease Control said a test-based strategy is no longer recommended to determine when to discontinue home isolation, except in certain circumstances.

CARTWRIGHT TESTS POSITIVE By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net ST BARNABAS MP Shanendon Cartwright has tested positive for COVID-19. In a statement, the MP said the positive result was confirmed yesterday afternoon. He was exposed after coming into contact with someone at a meeting who also tested positive for the virus. At this time Mr Cartwright said he is exhibiting no symptoms. “On Sunday the 27th of September I was advised that in a recent meeting I was exposed to an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19,” Mr Cartwright said. “On Monday, the 28th I attended at the Doctors Hospital West where I submitted myself for testing. Late this afternoon, I confirmed that I tested positive for COVID-19. “In compliance with national regulations I am following quarantine protocols, as well I have provided notice to those who I may have encountered in recent times, to assist with contact tracing efforts.” Mr Cartwright, who is chairman of Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches

SHANENDON Cartwright MP Authority, said he has postponed all meetings with constituents, in view of the positive prognosis. “At the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority, where I am chairman, the welfare of all our team members and the general public is of paramount concern. Accordingly, a separate statement will be released to appraise staff and the public of sanitisation, and operations at the Authority. “My constituents, the wonderful people of St Barnabas, you are resilient, I am honoured to represent you. Regrettably, I will postpone all the scheduled

meetings with you that were planned for the coming days. Rest assured that as soon as I receive a negative test I will be rescheduling and doubling my efforts to make you proud. “These are challenging times, but Bahamians are people who have and continue to face challenges head on. We have a responsibility to each other, and to ourselves to continue to adequately social distance, and correctly wear our masks and face coverings. We will triumph in this challenge. “Today I am not exhibiting symptoms and I have faith that through God’s grace and mercy I will recover. I humbly ask that you pray for me, and that we pray together for all Bahamians, and the people of the world who have been infected with or affected by COVID-19.” He did not confirm when he was last at Parliament. Several other parliamentarians have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few weeks, including opposition leader Philip “Brave” Davis, PLP Senator Dr Michael Darville, and Central and South Eleuthera MP Hank Johnson, who have since recovered. Two Parliamentary staffers have also recently tested positive for the disease.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 30, 2020, PAGE 5

‘Scrap GB power tax concessions’ By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net A LOCAL civic leader says the Bahamas Government should revoke tax concessions to the GB Port Authority following its approval to the GB Power Company of an increase in power fees. Rev Glenroy Bethel, Founder and President of Families For Justice (FFJ), says it is unfair that the GBPA and the GBPC have been granted tax concessions on real property tax, but still want to impose a fee increase “on the backs” of residents. “If the Grand Bahama

Port Authority and the Grand Bahama Power Company want to increase fees on the backs of the Bahamian people in Freeport every three years, and add these increases to the rest of the Grand Bahama settlements, then the Government of the Bahamian people should take back the tax concessions given to the Port Authority and let its licensee, the Grand Power Company, pay its fair share of taxes for the real property tax,” said Rev Bethel. “No investors should be allowed to benefit from the concessions given by the Bahamian people’s government and still profit every

three years on the backs of the Bahamian people. This would be unfair to the Grand Bahama community and the Business community alike.” Rev Bethel accused the GBPA and GBPC of double-dipping. “Stop double-dipping; wasn’t the concessions enough that the Bahamian people’s Government signed into an agreement so that the economy of Grand Bahama could be stimulated and to encourage foreign investment into the city of Freeport Grand Bahama?” Last Thursday, GBPC announced it was further suspending the

implementation of a storm recovery and stabilization (SRS) charge on October 1 to recover $15.6m in Hurricane Dorian restoration costs. The power company had initially planned to implement the increase on April 1, after receiving approval in February from the GBPA, the regulator, but deferred it after consultation with the Port Authority as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in March. Rev Bethel said the statement issued by GBPC about deferring the charge until January 2021 is good news for the GB community, but was concerned that

investors like GBPC are receiving major tax benefits and still profiting off residents. He noted that in 2017 the government granted tax concession in real property taxes for 20 years. Rev Bethel said this tax break has benefitted the Port Authority and passed down to the Power Company and all its licensees. “These tax concessions are the Bahamian people’s tax money,” added Rev Bethel. He stated that three main stakeholders in Freeport who benefit significantly from the concessions are the Port Authority, the Power Company and all

other licencees of the GBPA, and homeowners in Freeport. “So, if homeowners are beneficiaries for tax breaks in Freeport, and the Grand Bahama Port Authority and GB Power are beneficiaries, why…do we have to pay the increase in fees?” he asked. “Why are homeowners and business owners forced to pay higher fees if we are entitled to tax concessions too, just like the licencees of the Grand Bahama Port Authority? The government of The Bahamas, the Port Authority and the Power Company must answer this.”

that the government initially approved have to be diverted into this programme and that is how we

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff are addressing things. For had to put on but because example, in the Ministry of COVID, we had to recalof Public Service there are ibrate and address what is some programmes that we before us today.”

NIB FRAUD WARNING: PAY IT ALL BACK from page one Speaking to reporters before yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Rolle said officials are constantly on the lookout for fraudulent activities happening within the agency. In view of this, the minister urged all participants involved in any fraudulent NIB schemes to return the payments, suggesting it’s only a matter of time before they are caught. “... There’s a fraud unit at NIB that is doing exactly that, that is looking at the benefits, looking at payments and responding and talking to NIB and the director every single day on what’s happening,” he said. “... Individuals are to be warned that we are looking extensively and diligently at cheques and payments to individuals and those individuals who may have received cheques that they don’t qualify for should return them to NIB.” Asked if the public can expect to see similar actions being taken with companies that have failed to pay NIB contributions on behalf of their workers, the minister replied in the affirmative. Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic,

a number of employees have criticised their employers on learning that contributions deducted from their salaries had not been passed to NIB. Officials have previously said the agency will deal with those companies as necessary. Yesterday, Mr Rolle told reporters: “Yes, individuals who have collected monies from their employees and who have not provided monies to NIB, we are actively engaged in not only calling out these companies but encouraging them and to some degree forcing them and internally dealing with these matters at the moment. “But, if you take an individual’s money and propose to send it in at NIB and you don’t, then that individual also has an obligation to make it known but what NIB has done and has been doing is making sure these individuals do not suffer.” According to the minister, NIB has spent nearly $100m in unemployment benefit payments to its beneficiaries. As it relates to the government’s own unemployment benefit programme, he added that “nearly $50m” has been spent towards that initiative so far. The programme is

NIB headquarters. expected to end this month. However, Mr Rolle said yesterday a decision on whether the Minnis administration will extend the programme would be made during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting. He said: “We are mindful about what the situation is. We’re concerned about the people of The Bahamas and we’re taking steps to ensure that we’re providing income support as well as food and the necessary supplies for the Bahamian people.” Asked yesterday where the money will come from to fund the continuation of the programme, the minister replied: “It simply means that programmes

WOMAN STOLE FROM CHILDREN’S HOME By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 43-YEAR-OLD woman was fined $500 after she admitted stealing from a children’s home where she worked last month to help pay her rent. Jenny Mae Mott was accused of stealing a $150 donation from the Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel on August 26. She pleaded guilty during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Derence RolleDavis yesterday. The court heard on the day in question, the hostel’s supervisor received a call from one of the cooks who told her a man had made a donation to the facility. When she asked Mott about it, who worked as a child caretaker at the

short-term home facility, she denied receiving the donation. The prosecution heard the supervisor then viewed the hostel’s video footage and watched the man give Mott the money. Since Mott never turned in the funds and denied collecting the same, the supervisor requested police action. An investigation into the matter led to Mott’s arrest. In an interview with police, she admitted to the offence and said she did not record the donation in the hostel’s log book because she intended to use the money to help pay her rent. When given an opportunity to speak, Mott told the magistrate she needed an extra $50 to go towards her rent payment and said she and two other employees decided to steal the

money and split it among themselves. After listening to her explanation, Magistrate Rolle-Davis said she was in a position of trust where her employers expected her to be honest. As a result, he fined her $500 or three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. During the hearing, Mott was charged with Karen Sands, 46, who was accused of receiving the stolen donation on August 27. That woman denied the allegation and her matter was adjourned to November 9 for trial. She was granted $1,500 bail in the interim. The two were charged with Samantha Hart, 37, who had a warrant of arrest issued for her after she failed to appear in court.

HITTING MAN WITH KALIK BOTTLE BRINGS $1,500 FINE By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who admitted hitting another man on the head with a Kalik bottle during an argument last week was fined $1,500 in Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Wilfred Farrington appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence RolleDavis after he was accused of assaulting Bradley Russell with a dangerous instrument on August 22. The prosecution said around 9 o’clock on the

night in question, Mr Russell was at Hardrock Alley with his son waiting for a female friend. While waiting, he noticed Farrington who approached him and told him he owed him. The court heard that when Mr Russell denied owing the defendant, he threatened to kill him. The court was also told when Mr Russell and his son began to walk away, Farrington approached him with a Kalik bottle and hit him in his head with it. The defendant also grabbed Mr Russell’s chain and punched him in the eye and

about the body. Bystanders separated the fight and Farrington was arrested a short time later. In an interview with police, he told officers he and the complainant were attending a party and they got into an altercation because they were “clowning one another” and things got heated. The defendant claimed Mr Russell threw a bottle at his head first, so he grabbed a bottle and hit him back. After pleading guilty, he was fined $1,500 or six months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

PAGE 6, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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Extending aid scheme is the right move THE decision to extend the government’s aid programme for COVID-19 is the right choice. Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest informed The Tribune last night that the deadline for the expiry of the programme would be extended beyond today. Let’s be clear, no one wants the programme to be necessary. In the ideal world, COVID-19 would be under control, businesses would be back open, the hotels would be ready for guests and the workforce would be taken back on, no longer in need of government aid because they had salaries in their pockets instead. We’re not there yet. Despite the hopes that the country would reopen in mid-October, hotel after hotel said they weren’t reopening just yet, including the big resorts that are such huge engines for our economy. The choice was to let people fall in the gap between the end of the programme and the start of businesses taking people back on – or extending it and bridging that gap. Extending it is the right decision, and we commend the government for accepting the reality of the situation rather than pushing on in hopes that the deadline they set would be met. Mr Turnquest said so himself, saying: “With the delay in the return of the tourism sector to full production, there is a continued need to provide assistance to our most vulnerable population.” There will be adjustments to the scheme – those details will emerge shortly, we imagine – and if there are ways to tweak the system to focus the aid on those in need then all the better. So what do we do next? This bandage covers the wound, but we still need to fix it. The first thing we can do is to bring COVID-19 to a halt right here. We can’t control what is going on in other countries, and our biggest hurdle will remain the high number of cases in the United States, our biggest market. But we can control what we do. The last update to the daily dashboard at the time of writing was Monday’s, which saw 65 new cases in New Providence. That number needs to be back to the twos and threes rather than dozens. How do we do that? You know the answer by now. As hard as it can be to keep to the course, we must stick to the advice of experts. We need to wear masks, wash hands and keep our distance.

We feel there are still too few tests being done as a percentage of our population and fear that there are too many undiagnosed cases as a result. Tracking down as many cases as possible means we don’t have people unaware they have the virus and spreading it to others unwittingly. Whatever it takes, we need to reduce that number of COVID-19 cases. That is what will give the tourism industry confidence that it can open again – and allow the government to finally bring its aid programme to an end.

Our culture needs to change How seriously do we take violence against women? The question arises – yet again – following the killing of a mother and daughter on Monday. The trauma goes further, with another ten-year-old daughter finding the bodies. It is utterly tragic, of course. But do we care enough to try to change things? In her column today, Alicia Wallace spells out the hurdles that women face in our society, on the questions that get asked of women, even as they are the victims, and the excuses given to men for the violence they commit against women. She points out the acceptance for former MP Leslie Miller, talking about abusing a former girlfriend, and the comments by Miriam Emmanual MP saying there was nothing wrong with being “manhandled”. Too often we accept such casual violence – and we cannot gasp and hold our heads when a murder takes place if we accept the raised hand in the first place. Wrong is wrong and we need to say so. So how seriously are we taking this? In another story in today’s Tribune, you will read of a man who got into an argument with his girlfriend in their bedroom. He got out of bed, grabbed her by the neck and repeatedly punched her. He then got a six-inch knife and stabbed her repeatedly. When she grabbed her phone to call for help, he smashed it on the ground. What was the disagreement? He couldn’t see the television. For this, his punishment was to be ordered to attend anger management classes and pay his victim $883.50 for medical costs and the broken phone. That’s it. Are we taking this seriously? You tell us.

Do the right thing - stop oil drilling EDITOR, The Tribune. THE Bahamas has been inundated with many who would seek to exploit us. Lord knows who may be involved with the “proposed oil drilling” from behind the scenes. Be that as it may, we

Trump taxes EDITOR, The Tribune. Re: Trump paid just $750in income taxes in 2016, 2017 – The Tribune, September 28, 2020. Many a colourful tax cheat has been exposed due to tax evasion. Famously, Al Capone immediately comes to mind, as does John Gotti. As usual, the Orange Oracle has assured us his tax evasion is simply “fake news” - as are supposedly so many other inconvenient revelations he dislikes. KEN W KNOWLES, MD Nassau, September 29, 2020.

cannot allow any “pipe dream” or “trickle-down” nursery rhyme to cause us to be made fools of again. We know that there was a cry about the Oban deal and the potential destruction if such a project went forward. As fate would have it, low and behold during and after Hurricane Dorian, there was oil spilling all over the place. The eastern end of Grand Bahama suffered tremendously. Up to now, the cleanup has not been satisfactory. The damage to the environment is far-reaching and even though not enough people are hollering, the damage would be felt for decades to come. As a Bahamian who has lived for many decades and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere, would want the same for my grandchildren. I must go on record expressing my profound objection for any kind of oil drilling in the Bahamas, regardless of who

sanctioned it, approved it or who will benefit from it. I think it is high time we stop “laying down” waiting to be shafted by these “greedy people” whose only interest is their bottom line. We must hasten to protect generations yet unborn. It is astonishing why more of us are not taking to the streets to express our objections. We must not, for the sake of humanity, support oil drilling in any form, period. It is never too late to do the right thing. The voters must not let anyone ignore what is important to them. This is a perfect time to express our displeasure and we will not be taken for granted. Rescind the license to Bahamas Petroleum Company and save the Bahamas for generations to come. It is the least we could ask for. ALOMA THURSTON Nassau, September 29, 2020.

Church and Pride divided EDITOR, The Tribune. PRIDE Bahamas organiser Alexus D’Marco told the two major dailies that her organisation’s LGBTQI+Pride 2020 will go on as planned, albeit virtually, due to the social distancing requirements brought on by the COVID19 pandemic. One of the topics to be discussed will be “LGBTQI+ social interaction and church and spirituality.” D’Marco spoke about reaching out to the Bahamas Christian Council with the aim of starting a dialogue concerning homosexuals in the congregations of Christian Council members. The Christian Council acts as the de facto mouthpiece of the entire Bahamian Christian community, although many of the congregations throughout the country are acephalous, from a denominational standpoint at least. All of the views expressed by that body are not necessarily those of the entire church. Having said that, I see no point in engaging D’Marco and other Pride Bahamas officials in a dialogue, unless they’re willing to reform by submitting to the biblical injunctions regarding human sexuality. Until then, the chasm between the Bahamas Christian Council and Pride Bahamas will remain unbridgeable. Like Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521, the conscience of the Christian Council is to be captive to the Word of God. Homosexual intercourse between consenting adults was legalized in The Bahamas in 1991. Consequently, the LGBTQI community is well within its so-called constitutional rights to transgress the biblical laws against homosexuality, with eternal ramifications after death. The church is not attempting to replace our Westminster system of parliamentary government with a theocracy. What we are attempting to

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net do is to permeate all facets of Bahamian society with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bahamian Constitution gives us the right to openly express our faith, which also entails voicing opposition to any behaviour or practice condemned by the Scriptures. While Christians must honour the King (1 Peter 1:17) by submitting to him (1 Peter 2:13-14; Romans 13:1-7), we must follow the example of the early church in Acts 5:29 by not subverting biblical law by obeying man-made laws. First Corinthians 6:9-10 reads: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Romans 1 :26-27 says: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women did change the natural use into that which goes against nature. And likewise the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.” The foregoing New Testament passages are just one of the reasons why the Christian Council cannot entertain any thoughts of either capitulating to or compromising with D’Marco and Pride Bahamas. Both passages are unambiguous in their condemnation of homosexuality. For example, in the Corinthians passage, the English word effeminate comes from the Greek word malakos, which

means soft. The idea here is that men are supposed to be masculine, not feminine. The Greek word for abusers is arsenokoites. This word was also used in 1 Timothy 1:10 in reference to homosexuals. The Bible considers same-sex activity to be physically and psychologically detrimental to its practitioners, as has been confirmed by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. In closing, it would be remiss of me if I do not state the fact that I intentionally quoted from the King James Bible. LGBTQI apologists have repeated the centuries-old lie of King James being a closet homosexual. This is untrue. King James has been dead now for 395 years. He is not here to defend himself. King James I was Scottish. His ethnicity was frowned upon by the British, much the same way xenophobic Bahamians look down on Haitians. When James ascended the English throne in 1603, it angered many in England, including one Anthony Weldon, who was fired by the King in 1617 for his racist attacks on the Scottish people in his A Perfect Description of the People and Country of Scotland. It was Weldon who first alleged that King James was gay, without any ironclad evidence to back up his claim. People have simply echoed Weldon’s lie, as a way of attempting to discredit the Bible. But even if King James was gay, that would have no bearing on the divine status of the Bible. We must bear in mind that the King James Bible was translated by 47 Protestant Bible scholars, not King James. In any event, I would hope that D’Marco appreciates the Christian Council’s unwillingness to dialogue. Concerning the matter of homosexuality, there can be no compromise. KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, September 29, 2020.

ect in murder case 36-year murder sentence upheld THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 30, 2020, PAGE 7

oo Yard resequired to the By charge FARRAH JOHNSON ure of the

on the prospects of success in this case. The first ground alleging a breach of the applicant’s constitutional rights ccused, who THE Court of Appeal because he was not cautioned representahas reaffirmed the 36-year in Creole has no merit,” he e would go said. “The transcript reveals mesentence Court for of a man convicted of murder in 2013, that the applicant underVoluntary stood the English language t.after refusing his applicaand never suggested to dtion he didfor not an extension of time within which to appeal BI process. the officers that he did not hison conviction. hat June understand the caution. The Rodriguez Jean Pierre served with allegations about the compewaswitness convicted of murder ith tence of his representation use his on in February 26, 2013. A is negated by the affidavit little over two months evidence of his counsel who this process later in May 2013, he was conducted the trial.” sssentenced time-con- to 36 years’ He added: “The only ding a preimprisonment. Six years issue raised by this appeal after his conviction, Pierre that had any prospect s filed removed an extension of time for success was whether e magistrate application, despite the fact the judge was clear in his d the that Court if he of Appeal Act RODRIGUEZ Jean Pierre pictured in 2012. direction as to whether an attorney, requires conviction appeals website, Pierre appealed when he first formed an was not until six years after the applicant intended to to petition to for be one filed within 21 days his murder sentence on intention to appeal, no evi- his conviction did he mani- kill the deceased when he urt of the conviction date. Still, the grounds his verdict was dence as to what steps he fest any intention to appeal stabbed him which would gned before the appellant argued his “unsafe and unsatisfactory” took during the six years to his conviction.” cause the murder conappeal was delayed due in view of the circum- obtain counsel, no explanaHe also noted how viction to be reduced to ded to Her “circumstances” out of stances of the case. He also tion as to why he did not Pierre’s appeal did not manslaughter. “The probn,toFox Hill his of control since he did argued his sentence was write to the court indicat- include any “important lem with the applicant’s tion the not “have counsel nor the “unduly hardarriving and severe” ing that he wished to appeal questions of law Tim or of juris- caseStaff 39-YEAR-OLD Rodriguez Jean Pierre at court yesterday in Nassau. Photo: Clarke/Tribune is that the transcript means to obtain one”. and insisted the judge erred his conviction and ask the diction”. He said this fact contains denials by the Last week, Justices Sir by admitting the evidence court’s assistance in obtainthe appellant’s appeal applicant that he in fact NEW YORK supercopmade William Michael Barnett, Roy Jones of an officer regarding an ing counsel.Bratton It is tosays be noted farewell to different Bahamas from another suc- stabbed the deceased.” and Milton Evans refused alleged confession, where that in the Police trial below he cessful Sir Arthur Barnett said Commissioner Ellison case involving a the appellant’s application no interpreter was pre- was represented by atcounman who appealed his life he believed an application Greenslade the end of his visafter ruling it did not prove sent among a host of other sel, appointed it. by the court, imprisonment sentence six for an extension of time Pierre took any steps to concerns. pursuant to a CrownPhoto: brief.Felipé years out of time, since he must be dismissed when an Major/ “exercise his statutory right In his judgment, Sir He did not have the meansTribune was Staff able to show how he application is delayed in an of appeal” for more than six Michael stated: “It is to to pay back in 2013 but was “manifested an intention to “excess of six years with no n years. dismissed be noted that in his affida- able to obtain the court’s appeal” within the first 21 good or sufficient reason” media gimAccording to a judg- vit explaining the delay, assistance in representa- days of his conviction. to justify the deferral. ged the govment posted on the court’s he gives no evidence as to tion. On the evidence, it “We heard submissions He insisted the only way Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net Magistrate

ISIT UNT

ss crime “all just at elec-

such an appeal should be granted is if an applicant could prove that “significant injustice” would occur if the appeal is dismissed. He said he did not believe it was “sufficient” to argue that an appeal could have some “prospect of success where the intended appellant simply sat on his right to appeal for more than six years”. “If the reasons given by the applicant in this case for a delay of over six years were accepted by this court then any inmate in prison could wait for an inordinately long period of time before giving any indication of an intention to appeal and have his appeal heard on its merits,” he said. “In my judgment this would undermine the statutory time limit in section 17 of the Court of Appeal Act and the necessity for certainty and closure. A person has lost his right of appeal after 21 days. To obtain the indulgence of the court to hear an appeal after the time imposed by statute it is necessary that the delay should be of a much shorter duration and good and sufficient reasons given for it. For these reasons I would refuse the application for an extension of time and affirm the applicant’s conviction and sentence.”

MAN WHO STABBED GIRLFRIEND TOLD TO TAKE ANGER CLASSES

uest said the “He shared those experi- crime you must have a strong cal, and that ences. It re-affirmed the polit- leadership and your Prime d solutions ical leadership and also re- Minister has made it clear that scussions. affirmed the leadership and it is one of his top priorities. pleased with the work that the police areofficer When with crime you By FARRAH JOHNSON that an in dealing the conthe defendant stabbed the ussions thatStaff doing. The PLP’s criticism is cannot rely onthe looking inward with a silver colTribune Reporter trol room contacted woman ormer police all political. We areCentral the ones Detective but rather toUnit the shared expefjohnson@tribunemedia.net oured blade knife. When illiam Brat- getting the job done.” of other nations an a statement from in respect riences to a stabbing theyongot press on that issue we all share because A MAN whoSpeaking stabbedwith his theincident occurred in her later that day, she ion with the during Tuesday, Mr Bratton said the potential solutions and resogirlfriend a domesBlue Hill Heights. The told officers she was in d tic thatdispute they was issueordered of crime to continues to be lutions can be shared.” told Mr theBratton station her bedroom with Culmer eful. He has one of the biggest officer concerns, also praised the attend anger management the victim had been taken when they got into a disaried experi- not just in the Bahamas, but police force for their COMclasses and pay for the med- to the Princess Margaret greement. She said the America’s all over the world. STAT room, which he said is attention she received Hospital by ambulance. wical York and “It has been my experience on par with thosedefendant in New then got out of for her injuries. result York of the the bed, grabbed her by said. that to effectively As dealawith andreport, Los Angeles.

Tyrone Culmer, 43, was charged with grievous harm after he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend and smashing her phone on September 24. Thecar.court was told Taurus

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officers were dispatched to the scene where they spoke to Culmer, who admitted being involved in an argument with the complainant. The prosecution said

the neck and began repeatedly punching her. She also said Culmer searched the bedroom until he found a six-inch blade and stabbed her about the body. The woman said she was able

to fight him off eventually and tried to grab her phone to call the police. She said the defendant grabbed it from her and smashed the phone on the ground. According to the prosecution, the woman received multiple penetration wounds to her abdomen, left thigh and groin area. During the hearing, Culmer pleaded guilty. He also told the magistrate he only committed the offence because he was trying to “defend himself”. He

claimed his girlfriend was the one who grabbed the weapon and tried to stab him. When given an opportunity to speak, the complainant told the magistrate she had stitches in her left leg and two puncture wounds. She also claimed the incident occurred because Culmer had told her he couldn’t see the television when they were sitting on the bed and she asked him what he wanted her to do about it. “The next thing I knew

I was being attacked,” she said. As a result, Magistrate Rolle-Davis ordered the defendant to pay the woman $663.50 for her injuries and another $200 to replace her broken phone. He further ordered Culmer to stay away from the woman and told him he would have to attend anger management classes for six months. Magistrate Rolle-Davis warned him if he failed to do so, he would spend 18 months behind bars.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

A mother and daughter die but are we really shocked in a society complicit in violence against women? FOLLOWING the murder of a 30-year-old mother and her eight-yearold daughter on Monday morning, the conversation about domestic violence has started again. There is shock, sadness and frustration. We have questions that have been asked before and never seem to get answers. How are guns getting into the country? Why do so many disagreements end in violent death? Who could kill a child? Then there is the question far too many people ask: Well, what did she do for him to kill her? When domestic violence ends in murder, the general public makes assumptions about the people involved. Narratives are quickly woven, usually based on misogyny rather than truth. A woman was murdered by a man with whom she lived or had an intimate relationship and people want to know what she did. The fact that so many people are desperate to rationalise murder is an indication of the distance left to go in tackling misogyny and patriarchal views that plague society and are directly connected to domestic violence and intimate partner violence— inexcusable crimes. These three systems of oppression are linked. Let’s break it down. Misogyny, simply stated, is the hatred of women.

By Alicia Wallace It is a prejudice or mistrust of women and it manifests in many ways. Violence against women, sex-based discrimination and sexual objectification are included. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to be misogynistic and be in relationships with women. Misogyny does not have to prevent people from prioritizing their own desire. It is possible to have sex with women, enjoy proximity to women in public spaces and use women for personal gain while having a general disregard for women. Objectification can masquerade as reverence or honour because of its proximity to appreciation. Many people appreciate women’s bodies, but disregard our humanity. Misogyny does not just live within individuals. It permeates society. It is written into law. It is misogyny that says a man who rapes his wife is free from the hand of the law because a woman who marries loses her personhood and right to autonomy, becoming the

property of her husband. Misogyny was at the root of the argument in 2016 that women should have the right to confer citizenship on their non-Bahamian spouses because they are somehow less capable of making sound decisions and more likely to be duped than men. People joke, at the same time, about men who “get lost in the sauce” of sex and beauty, yet they can marry and confer citizenship. Misogyny convinces those it afflicts that, even when women and men face a common and have similar responses, men should be afforded the right and freedom to make choices for themselves while women’s rights and freedom are restricted. It is often said this is to protect women and that leads us to the second term: patriarchy. Patriarchy is a system in which men hold power and women are subjugated. These conditions exist under the guise of protection for women which is rooted in the belief that women are inferior to men.

THE SCENE of a double homicide in Nassau Village on Monday, with a mother and daughter confirmed dead. Photo: Shawn Hanna/ Tribune Staff

Patriarchy is in our eve- should “discipline” women ryday lives. It is a man in relationships with them requesting permission from view men as authority another man to marry his figures and women as subdaughter. It is a man giving ject to the whims of men. his daughter away to another Patriarchy and misogyny man. Patriarchy says women at work here, defining intimust be controlled by men. mate partner relationships Ownership and power trans- as limiting to women and fers from the father to the tools of power for men. Is husband. For unmarried it then surprising, especially women, when the father is considering the lack of preno longer able to parent, her vention programmes and eldest brother or an uncle is intervention, that domestic expected to take on the role. violence is a pressing issue When a woman requests in this country? tubal ligation, some doctors In last week’s column, I still ask for the permis- wrote about the importance sion of her husband. If the of parents talking to their patient is unmarried, some children about dating and refuse to do relationships. the procedure Domestic In many cases, in the interest violence is parents are of some future not well-suited a serious, husband. Patrito that duty archy extends to pervasive because they political leader- issue and it are in unhealthy ship and control relationships of property and is not being and have not yet other assets. It appropriately freed themselves seeks to force addressed. from the grasp women to get the of misogyny and permission of a Prevention patriarchy. man, privilege is everyone’s Who could his interests and responsibility. forget Leslie desires above her Miller, then MP own, rather than for Tall Pines enjoying the right to make making a non-joke about our own decisions. abusing a former girlfriend? Misogyny and patriarchy Less than three years ago work together to create MP for MICAL Miriam a society in which people Emannuel said there was believe men are to domi- nothing wrong with being nate and control women. “manhandled”. She said Women are expected to her father told her he would defer to their fathers on want to know what she did intimate partners. In fact, that “caused [her] husband women are expected to to probably shake [her], always have a parent— slap [her] or punch [her] in someone who not only [her] mouth” if she told him makes decisions and asserts of abuse. It was outrageous power, but disciplines. and, sadly, indicative of the In 2014, Bahamas Crisis way many people think. Centre and (then) College There can be no reason of The Bahamas conducted for assault. There can be a study with high school no reason for murder. What students and 58 percent of someone did or did not do the boys said they believed may be used as an excuse, “men should discipline their but these acts of violence female partners”. Thirty- are the result of the inflated seven percent of girls also sense of self, presumption believed this. Forty-nine of authority and refusal percent of boys said they to recognise women as a believed women should ask whole people with the right permission to go out and 46 to freely make decisions, percent said they believe and these delusions are women should have sex fuelled by misogyny and with their husbands when- patriarchal. ever the husbands wanted. We all have work to do. Just six years ago, high We need to understand school students indicated, that we do not own other through their responses in people. We can choose to a study, that patriarchy and make commitments to each misogyny have a central other. We can decide what position in relationships our relationships look and and the way we imagine feel like. We can talk about and construct them. If we what is working and what expect women to have is not working. We can sex, against their own will, engage a third party to help with their husbands, we us work through any issues are privileging the desires or determine whether or of men over the autonomy not it is best to end the and self-determination of relationship. women. People who think We need to talk to each this way believe women are other about expectations. to be of service to men and About our needs, where we do not understand intimate find joy, responsibilities we partner relationships to be are and are not prepared to between people who freely undertake, how much time agree to engage each other we want to spend together, in ways that are mutually how we deal with conflict. beneficial and enjoyable. Some people want to get People who believe men married and other people

don’t. Some people want monogamous relationships and other people don’t. Some people want to have children and other people don’t. We are not all the same, we do not have all of the same desires and our relationship needs vary greatly. Some of us need to do a lot of work on ourselves before we complicate the lives of other people. Communication and conflict resolution are no small part of that work. Domestic violence is a serious, pervasive issue and it is not being appropriately addressed. Prevention is everyone’s responsibility. From modelling healthy relationships in the home to encouraging people to communicate their thoughts and feelings in clear, non-violent ways, parents, teachers, employers, and religious leaders have important roles to play. We all know someone who has experienced domestic violence or intimate partner violence, and intervention is important. It includes showing people the warning signs, naming harmful behaviour and demanding that it stop and calling for help. One of the most important things for us to do is call on the government to take this issue seriously. The statistics have, for years, shown we have a serious domestic violence problem. We need a national campaign targeting different groups of people, a separate Domestic Violence Unit within the police department, health services and social service. We need more shelter and temporary housing and they need to be available for longer periods of time. We need better access to justice. We need conflict resolution, nonviolent crisis intervention, and healthy relationships to be a part of the school curriculum. It is not enough to be outraged when we hear about a domestic violence-related murder. We need to do the personal, familial, political and social work to offer the protection patriarchy has always failed to deliver and misogyny says we don’t deserve. Patriarchy and misogyny lead people to ask: “Well what did she do for him to kill her?” That question reveals a lot about the people asking and those who do not challenge them. What have we done and what have we left undone? This must not continue. We, individually and collectively, have to save the lives of women and children who are, every day, at risk of being “disciplined” to death.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 30, 2020, PAGE 9

TECHTALK

AMAZON SEES BROAD AUDIENCE FOR ITS PALM RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY THE Amazon One device at an Amazon Go store in Seattle. Amazon has introduced the new palm recognition technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees broader uses in places like stadiums and offices. Customers at the stores near Amazon’s campus in Washington can flash a palm for entry and to buy goods. (Amazon via AP) SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon has introduced new palm recognition technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees a broader potential audience in stadiums, offices and other gated or secured locations. Customers at the stores near Amazon’s campus in Washington can flash a palm for entry into secured areas and buy goods. The company chose palm recognition, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail & Technology, because it’s more private than other biometric technology, and a person would be required to purposefully flash a palm at the Amazon One device to engage. “And it’s contactless, which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times,” Kumar wrote in a blog post Tuesday. Like the human fingerprint, every palm is unique. Unlike fingerprints, the palm is not used for broader identification purposes because more body specific information is needed. Any palm image

THE AMAZON One device. (Amazon via AP)

proffered for use is never stored on the Amazon One device, the company said, for security reasons. The data is encrypted in a secured sector of the cloud that was custom built by Amazon, and customers can also delete their

Amazon One-related data permanently at any time. The company expects to roll out Amazon One as an option in other Amazon stores in the coming months, which could mean Whole Foods Market grocery stores. But

Amazon believes the technology is applicable in a myriad of secured locations. “We believe Amazon One has broad applicability beyond our retail stores, so we also plan to offer the service to third parties like retailers, stadiums, and office buildings so that more people can benefit from this ease and convenience in more places,” Kumar wrote. “Interested third parties can reach out through the email address provided on our Amazon One website.” For now, the technology is being used only at two Amazon Go stores. Amazon Go is the company’s first cashier-less supermarket, introduced earlier this year, where shoppers can grab milk or eggs and walk out without waiting in line or ever opening their wallets. People can sign up for an Amazon One account with a mobile phone number and credit card. An Amazon account isn’t necessary.

NASA ASTRONAUT PLANS TO CAST HER BALLOT FROM SPACE STATION By ALEX SANZ Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — NASA astronaut Kate Rubins told The Associated Press on Friday that she plans to cast her next vote from space – more than 200 miles above Earth. Rubins is just outside Moscow in Star City, Russia, preparing with two cosmonauts for a mid-October launch and a six-month stay at the International Space Station. “I think it’s really important for everybody to vote,” Rubins said. “If we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground, too.” Most U.S. astronauts live in Houston. Texas law allows them to vote from space using a secure electronic ballot. Mission Control forwards the ballot to the space

station and relays the completed ballot back to the county clerk. “It’s critical to participate in our democracy,” Rubins said. “We consider it an honour to be able to vote from space.” NASA astronauts have voted from space before. Rubins and Shane Kimbrough cast their votes from the International Space Station. Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space, plans to work on a cardiovascular experiment and conduct research using the space station’s Cold Atom Lab. While she’s there, she’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary of continuous human presence on the space station, and welcome the crew of the second SpaceX commercial crew mission, expected to arrive in late October.

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EXPEDITION 64 crew member NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is seen during Soyuz qualification exams at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia. Rubins told The Associated Press on Friday that she plans to cast her next vote from space – more than 200 miles above Earth. Rubins and two Russian cosmonauts are preparing for a mid-October launch to the International Space Station, where she’ll spend the next six months. (Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/NASA via AP)

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• MICROSOFT took five hours to resolve a major outage of its workplace applications on Monday, but has not clarified what caused the outage. The company said the outage, which affected users’ ability to log into Office 365 applications, began early evening Monday Eastern time. Microsoft did not reply to questions Tuesday about what caused the outage, but said on its service-status Twitter account that it had identified a “recent change” that appeared to cause problems. It then rolled back the change and applied other unspecified “mitigation efforts.” The company said five hours later that the problem was resolved. Internet service outages are not uncommon, and are only rarely the result of hacking or other intentional mischief. A Zoom outage disrupted virtual school for many back in August. On Tuesday morning, the workplace communications service Slack reported issues sending messages for over an hour. (AP) • AMAZON wants to be able to answer the nagging question: Did I leave the stove on? The company unveiled a flying home camera that you can ask to fly to check the stove while you’re out, or to see if you left the windows open. Amazon says the drone will automatically take flight if there’s movement in the house to show you what’s going on. The device was one of several that Amazon unveiled Thursday as part of its annual gadget event. Due to the pandemic, this year’s version was held online instead of at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. The indoor flying camera, called the Ring Always Home Cam, still needs approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, but Amazon said it expects to sell it next year at $250. It will also launch a camera and alarm system for cars next year under its Ring brand. Critics have raised privacy concerns about Ring, which is best known for its doorbell cameras, citing the company’s close relationship with police departments. Amazon said the drone only records when it is in the air, and that it makes a sound when it flies so any people in the house knows its recording. Besides cameras, Amazon also showed off a new look for its Echo Dot voice assistant. They’re spherical now, instead of the hockey puck-shape they’ve been since 2016. A kids’ version will have a panda or tiger face on them. The rounder Echo devices will start at $50 and will ship next month. Amazon also said Thursday that it will getting into the video game streaming business, competing with Google and Microsoft. Its service, called Amazon Luna, will allow a limited number of users to try it now for $6 a month, but didn’t say when it expects it to be widely available. Luna can be played on computers, Fire TV devices and through an iPhone app. (AP)

PAGE 10, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA BRUSH OFF SUGGESTION OF PEACE TALKS By AVET DEMOURIAN Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia brushed off the suggestion of peace talks Tuesday, accusing each other of obstructing negotiations over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with dozens killed and injured in three days of heavy fighting. In the latest incident, Armenia said one of its warplanes was shot down by a fighter jet from Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey, killing the pilot, in what would be a major escalation of the violence. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan denied it. The international community is calling for talks to end the decades-old conflict between the two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus Mountains region following a flareup of violence this week. It centres on NagornoKarabakh, a region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian government since 1994 at the end of a separatist war. The U.N. Security Council called on Armenia and Azerbaijan Tuesday evening to immediately halt the fighting and urgently resume talks without preconditions. The U.N.’s most powerful body strongly condemned the use of force and backed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ earlier call to stop the fighting, deescalate tensions, and resume talks “without delay.”

Resolution Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev told Russian state TV channel Rossia 1 that Baku is committed to negotiating a resolution but that Armenia is obstructing the process. “The Armenian prime minister publicly declares that Karabakh is (part of) Armenia, period. In this case, what kind of negotiating process can we talk about?” Aliev said. He added that according to principles brokered by the Minsk group, which was set up in 1992 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to resolve the conflict, “territories around the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region should be transferred to Azerbaijan.” Aliev noted that if Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says “that Karabakh is Armenia and that we should negotiate with the so-called puppet regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, (he is) trying to break the format of negotiations that has existed for 20 years.” Pashinyan, in turn, told the broadcaster that “it is very hard to talk about negotiations ... when specific military operations are underway.” He said there is no military solution to the conflict and called for a compromise. But first, Azerbaijan must “immediately end (its) aggression towards Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia,” Pashinyan said. “We all perceive this as an existential threat to our nation, we basically perceive it as a war that was declared to the Armenian people, and our people are now simply forced to use the right for self-defence.” Since Sunday, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry reported 84 servicemen were killed. Aliyev said 11 civilians were killed on its side, although he didn’t detail the country’s military casualties. Both countries accused each other of firing into their territory outside of the Nagorno-Karabakh area on Tuesday.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump responds to Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)

TRUMP AND BIDEN CLASH IN ANGRY FIRST DEBATE By JONATHAN LEMIRE, DARLENE SUPERVILLE, WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — Marked by angry interruptions and bitter accusations, the first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden erupted in contentious exchanges Tuesday night over the coronavirus pandemic, city violence, job losses and how the Supreme Court will shape the future of the nation’s health care. In what was the most chaotic presidential debate in recent years, somehow fitting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign, the two men frequently talked over each other with Trump interrupting, nearly shouting, so often that Biden eventually snapped at him, “Will you shut up, man?” “The fact is that everything he’s said so far is simply a lie,” Biden said. “I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar.”

Voters Trump and Biden arrived in Cleveland hoping the debate would energise their bases of support, even as they competed for the slim slice of undecided voters who could decide the election. It has been generations since two men asked to lead a nation facing such tumult, with Americans both fearful and impatient about the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 of their fellow citizens and cost millions of jobs. Over and over, Trump

GUESTS for the first presidential debate take their seats at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) tried to control the conversation, interrupting Biden and repeatedly talking over the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News. The president tried to deflect tough lines of questioning — whether on his taxes or the pandemic — to deliver broadsides against Biden. The president drew a lecture from Wallace, who pleaded with both men to stop interrupting. Biden tried to push back against Trump, sometimes looking right at the camera to directly address viewers rather than the president and snapping, “It’s hard to get a word in with this clown.” But despite his efforts to dominate the discussion, Trump was frequently put on the defensive and tried to sidestep when he was asked if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and paramilitary groups. “What do you want to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name,” Trump said,

before Wallace mentioned the far right, violent group known as the Proud Boys. Trump then pointedly did not condemn the group, instead saying, “Proud Boys, stand back, stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not right-wing problem. This is a left wing problem.”

Pandemic The vitriol exploded into the open when Biden attacked Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying that the president “waited and waited” to act when the virus reached America’s shores and “still doesn’t have a plan.” Biden told Trump to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap” and go in his golf cart to the Oval Office to come up with a bipartisan plan to save people. Trump snarled a response,

declaring that “I’ll tell you Joe, you could never have done the job that we did. You don’t have it in your blood.” “I know how to do the job,” was the solemn response from Biden, who served eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president. The pandemic’s effects were in plain sight, with the candidates’ lecterns spaced far apart, all of the guests in the small crowd tested and the traditional opening handshake scrapped. The men did not shake hands and, while neither candidate wore a mask to take the stage, their families did sport face coverings. Trump struggled to define his ideas for replacing the Affordable Care Act on health care in the debate’s early moments and defended his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, declaring that “I was not elected for three years, I’m elected for four years.” “We won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate. We have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee, respected by all.” Trump criticised Biden over the former vice president’s refusal to comment on whether he would try to expand the Supreme Court in retaliation if Barrett is confirmed to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The president also refused anew to embrace the science of climate change. As the conversation moved to race, Biden accused Trump of walking away from the American promise of equity for all and making a racebased appeal. “This is a president who has used everything as a dog

whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division,” Biden said. Recent months have seen major protests after the deaths of Black people at the hands of police. And Biden said there is systemic racist injustice in this country and while the vast majority of police officers are “decent, honourable men and women” there are “bad apples” and people have to be held accountable. Trump in turn claimed that Biden’s work on a federal crime bill treated the African American population “about as bad as anybody in this country.” The president pivoted to his hardline focus on those protesting racial injustice and accused Biden of being afraid to use the words “law and order,” out of fear of alienating the left. “Violence is never appropriate,” Biden said. “Peaceful protest is.” With just 35 days until the election, and early voting already underway in some states, Biden stepped onto the stage holding leads in the polls — significant in national surveys, close in some battleground states — and looking to expand his support among suburban voters, women and seniors. Surveys show the president has lost significant ground among those groups since 2016, but Biden faces his own questions encouraged by Trump’s withering attacks. ___ Lemire reported from New York. Price reported from Las Vegas. Additional reporting by Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Cleveland and Zeke Miller in Washington.

JUSTICE GINSBURG BURIED AT ARLINGTON IN PRIVATE CEREMONY By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, laid to rest beside her husband and near some of her former colleagues on the court. Washington last week honoured the 87-year-old Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18, with two days where the public could view her casket at the top of the Supreme Court’s steps and pay their respects. On Friday, the women’s rights trailblazer and second woman to join the high court lay in state at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman to do so. Already the capital is looking ahead to confirmation hearings expected to begin Oct. 12 for Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Donald Trump announced Saturday as his nominee for Ginsburg’s seat. Barrett was meeting with senators on Tuesday. Arlington, just over the Potomac River from Washington, is best known as the resting place of approximately 400,000 service members, veterans and family members. But Ginsburg is the 14th justice to be buried at the cemetery. Ginsburg’s husband Martin Ginsburg was buried at Arlington in 2010 following his death from cancer. He had served in the

THE FLAG-draped casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in state in the U.S. Capitol on Friday. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool) Army as an artillery school instructor at Fort Sill in Oklahoma when the couple were newlyweds. The couple was married for 56 years and had two children. The justice had kept the framed, folded flag from her husband’s casket in her office at the court. While the cemetery is known for its rows of white headstones, the section where the Ginsburgs are buried, called Section 5, is an older section of the cemetery

where markers chosen by families are allowed, and their headstone is black, with a Star of David at the top. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement that according to the justice’s family, Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt — who spoke at ceremonies last week for the justice at the Supreme Court and the U.S. Capitol — officiated at Tuesday’s burial and offered traditional Jewish prayers.

There were no formal remarks. Family, close friends, justices, and Ginsburg’s staff attended, Arberg said. Ginsburg was an opera lover, and the ceremony concluded with recordings of two arias by Giacomo Puccini sung by Leontyne Price. Ginsburg’s gravesite is just below the final resting place of former President John F. Kennedy. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are in the distance. Nine other justices are buried in that section, including three that Ginsburg served with. Other justices buried at the cemetery include President William Howard Taft, who served as chief justice after he was president, and Thurgood Marshall, the civil rights champion who argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case and became the court’s first black justice when he joined the bench in 1967. Harry Blackmun, the author of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a woman’s right to an abortion, is buried next to Marshall in Section 5. The last justice to be buried at the cemetery was retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who died in 2019 at the age of 99. In addition to Stevens, the other justices Ginsburg served with who are buried at the cemetery are Blackmun and Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

PAGE 16, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Nassau’s COVID rate is cruise line concern FROM PAGE 20

2021 was overridden by the Trump White House. “I’ve gone through the Healthy Sail Plan in great detail already with the team,” Mr Maura told this newspaper. “We are extracting, and have extracted, those elements of the plan that speak to the destination. For the most part, 75-80 percent we were already well ahead of, but for the other 20-25 percent there’s an action plan we’re working on.” Asked about the plan’s criteria for determining which port destinations are safe, especially when set against New Providence’s current COVID-19 data, the Nassau Cruise Port chief executive replied: “I would say it’s a concern for us because it’s part of the Healthy Sail Plan. “That said, another material element of the plan speaks to the evacuation and disembarkation protocols that support, if it becomes

THE TRIBUNE

necessary, the removal of passengers or crew that become sick through ground and air transportation. “We already have a protocol that we have shared with the cruise industry, the government, a fixed base operator (FBO) and Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) that allows that to happen,” Mr Maura continued. “While the point you raised is material, and would be a concern for every port destination, I would say that the work put into a safe evacuation by ground and air of both crew and passenger that needs to leave Nassau and fly somewhere else, we have developed that protocol.” With the cruise industry planning to restart by calling on its private island destinations only, so that it can test out health protocols and keep passengers safe in a controlled environment, several observers have raised concerns that sector could use New Providence’s high COVID-19 infection rate as a means to bypass Nassau for an extended period of time. Such a move would inflict further economic devastation on Bay Street merchants, restaurants, taxi drivers, straw vendors, hair braiders and others who have already been hit hard by the industry’s absence, as well as impacting Nassau

Cruise Port’s own financial forecasts and projections of 2.6m passengers for 2021. However, Mr Maura, who backed the cruise industry’s return in “an organised and systematic manner” by initially sailing to its private islands only, said he was confident The Bahamas would not allow such a practice for an extended period of time. “If the cruise lines were to take a position of only going to call on their private islands for 2021, and not call at Nassau and not call at Freeport, bypassing the commercial hubs in the country, would I be concerned? Absolutely,” he told Tribune Business. “Absolutely. Would I be alone in my concerns? No. “If that were to happen I don’t think the cruise lines would be playing fair. The minister of tourism has also advised that the government would not support such a move. I feel somewhat confident we would not permit that to happen as a country. “That said, I do understand and appreciate during the first 30 days it does make sense for the cruise industry and lines to use their private islands to test their protocols and get back on their feet before experimenting with cruises to Nassau and Freeport.”

NOTICE

Ex-governor: Reserves are ‘surprisingly strong’ FROM PAGE 20 year-end 2020 will now not happen to such an extent, the Central Bank suggested there will be sufficient foreign currency to maintain the one:one US dollar peg into 2021. “While private sector net foreign currency drawdowns are projected to continue

NEW YORK Associated Press PRESIDENT Donald Trump reportedly must pay back more than $300m in loans over the next four years, raising the possibility his lenders could face an unprecedented situation should he win a second term and not be able to raise the money: foreclosing on the leader of the free world. But financial experts say

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (4) (a), (b) and (c) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, notice is hereby given that:-

(a) ROSEWIND LTD. is in dissolution;

(a) NICKLE AND DIME LTD. is in dissolution;

(b) The date of commencement of the dissolution is the 28th day of September A.D., 2020 and

(b) The date of commencement of the dissolution is the 28th day of September A.D., 2020 and

(c) the Liquidator is C.B. Strategy Ltd., of Sassoon House, Shirley & Victoria Streets.

(c) the Liquidator is C.B. Strategy Ltd., of Sassoon House, Shirley & Victoria Streets.

C.B. Strategy Ltd. LIQUIDATOR

C.B. Strategy Ltd. LIQUIDATOR

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

TUESDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2020

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX:

CLOSE

CHANGE

2091.33

-0.2

%CHANGE

YTD

YTD%

-0.01 -140.27

-6.29

(242) 323-2330 (242) 323-2320

the notion of Trump going broke anytime soon is farfetched. Even with a total debt load across his entire business empire estimated at more than $1bn, they note he still has plenty of assets he could cash in, starting with a portfolio that includes office and condo towers, golf courses and branding deals that have been valued at $2.5bn. Based on Forbes magazine estimates of the value of his buildings, for instance, selling his partial interests in just two properties— an office complex in San Francisco and a Las Vegas tower that houses a hotel and condos — could bring in $500m alone. And even if he doesn’t sell, that kind of valuation backing up the loans could make them easier for him to refinance. “He’s going to be able to roll these loans over. They have collateral backing them up. They’re not that risky to the lenders,” said Phillip Braun, a finance professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. Trump’s true financial picture has gotten renewed scrutiny in the wake of a New York Times report this week that he declared hundreds of millions in losses in recent years, allowing him to pay just $750 in taxes the year he won the presidency, and nothing for ten of 15 years before that. But the Times report was quick to note that tax filings alone can’t help determine someone’s net worth. And several experts told The Associated Press that, while

52WK LOW 3.13 20.91 0.67 1.65 1.67 5.40 5.39 2.70 5.05 3.62 5.60 11.05 2.71 3.19 9.60 7.50 13.04 3.20 8.00 13.90

PREFERENCE SHARES 1.00

1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 0.90

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Benchmark Bahamas First Holdings Limited Bank of Bahamas Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Cable Bahamas Commonwealth Brewery Commonwealth Bank Colina Holdings CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Focol Finco J. S. Johnson

SYMBOL AML APD BBL BFH BOB BPF BWL CAB CBB CBL CHL CIB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FCL FIN JSJ

Bahamas First Holdings Preference Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

BFHP CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 102.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

52WK HI 2.35 4.43 2.12 198.39 168.29 1.69 1.85 1.77 1.24 8.34 10.26 7.08 12.15 12.71 10.81 10.00 8.98 11.79

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.64 1.79 1.73 1.06 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) + Bahamas First Holdings Limited

SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing)

MUTUAL FUNDS

MARKET TERMS

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0407

LAST CLOSE 3.90 17.43 1.62 1.65 1.67 6.00 6.75 3.00 5.10 3.76 6.00 11.26 2.15 5.50 10.11 8.44 14.30 3.96 8.97 15.20

CLOSE 3.95 17.43 1.62 1.65 1.67 6.00 6.75 2.98 5.10 3.76 6.00 11.26 2.12 5.50 10.07 8.44 14.30 3.96 8.97 15.20

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 0.95

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 0.95

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Preferred Income Fund Leno Growth Fund Leno Diversified Fund Leno Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

CHANGE 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (0.02) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (0.03) 0.00 (0.04) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

VOLUME 3,000 81,995

1,500

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.000 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

VOLUME

NAV 2.35 4.43 2.12 196.40 163.60 1.68 1.81 1.76 1.07 8.30 9.90 7.08 11.27 12.71 10.23 N/A 8.93 11.27

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 16.5 18.7 N/M N/M N/M N/M 18.3 -6.8 36.4 20.4 13.4 15.6 20.8 11.8 15.6 11.6 17.5 19.5 9.6 24.1

YIELD 4.30% 7.23% 1.23% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.85% 0.00% 0.00% 3.19% 3.67% 6.39% 20.47% 1.09% 3.26% 2.84% 3.78% 3.03% 2.23% 4.01%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25%

19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025

6.95% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 2.95% 4.23% 1.39% 3.17% 1.60% 2.52% 0.65% 2.50% -1.88% 3.33% 1.10% 2.34% -2.43% 1.49% 0.34% 2.43% -11.07% -9.92% -0.45% 8.36% -3.20% 11.46% 2.10% 5.15% -6.17% 3.54% 2.92% 5.55% -4.66% -3.81% N/A N/A -4.20% 0.20% -8.60% -2.90%

the true state of Trump’s financial situation is unclear because of a lack of public information, he is probably not scrambling for money. At issue is the often wide difference between what businesses report as profits and losses to the IRS and what they actually receive in profits they put in their pockets. Plenty of real estate investors report big losses under tax accounting rules and pay little in federal taxes. That is because the tax code allows them to reduce their tax bills with myriad legal loopholes and breaks, including sometimes generous depreciation charges that reflect expected wear and tear on buildings. Northwestern’s Braun said Trump’s minuscule tax payments don’t surprise him, nor do the losses claimed. “His accountants work really to make sure he doesn’t pay any taxes,” he said. A better idea of how Trump is faring, Braun said, comes from Trump’s operating profits. Forbes, which has been valuing Trump properties for decades for its annual billionaire issue, says Trump’s 40 Wall Street office tower generated $18m in operating profits in 2019, Trump Tower $13m, and Trump’s share in San Francisco’s 555 California Street tower $26m. According to Forbes’ latest valuation, even pandemic-reduced prices leave Trump with $2.5bn worth of properties and other assets, and that is after subtracting his $1.2bn in debt.

NOTICE

BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.08 22.65 2.00 1.79 2.46 6.00 6.75 4.80 8.59 4.50 6.16 12.77 3.64 5.50 10.88 8.44 16.99 4.25 9.40 15.21

only gradual recovery prospects for tourism, utilisation of private sector reinsurance proceeds still committed to hurricane reconstruction, and outflows on imports of goods and services, due to the various fiscal stimuli. Nonetheless, external balances are estimated to remain more than adequate to sustain the Bahamian dollar currency peg.”

Trump facing devastating debt load? Experts say not so fast

NOTICE

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (4) (a), (b) and (c) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, notice is hereby given that:-

through the end of the year, external reserves are forecasted to end the year higher than in 2019, largely supported by the front loading of government’s external financing operations,” the Central Bank said. “As a consequence, the cumulative reduction in external balances is expected to be delayed to 2021. This continues to be in line with

NOTICE is hereby given that DAPHNE PETIT, of Bacardi Road, Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 30th day of September 2020 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

MATURITY

NAV Date

31-Aug-2020 31-Aug-2020 28-Aug-2020 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

NOTICE IN THE ESTATE OF JOANNE GIBSON MAURA, late of Vista Marina in the Western District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Deceased IT IS HEREBY NOTIFIED, for the information of those it may concern, that all personshaving claim or demand against the said Estate are required to send the same to the undersigned on or before the 30th day of October, A.D. 2020 and if so required by notice in writing from the undersigned to come in and prove such demand or claim or in default thereof be excluded from the benefit or any distribution made before such debts are proved; AND NOTICE is hereby given that all persons indebted to the said Estate are requested to settle their respective debts at the Chambers of the undersigned on or before the date hereinbefore mentioned. Dated the 29th day of September, A.D. 2020 CALLENDERS & CO. CHAMBERS, One Millars Court, P.O. Box N-7117, Nassau, The Bahamas

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

Attorneys for the Personal Representative

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 30, 2020, PAGE 17

COVID relaxation gives Out Island eateries hope By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

lot of local support. During this closure we had a lot of requests. We were open during COVID but there was nothing really to speak about.” Daddy Joe’s is a hotel and a restaurant, and Ms Johnson added: “When we re-opened for the two weeks during the July reopening, we had huge domestic support from people travelling from Nassau and other things like that. So those two weeks were almost as if we hadn’t been closed. “Then we were shut

down again, and then we had the two weeks when restaurants weren’t allowed to open, which was discouraging as well. I tried to keep my staff employed and we let go our part-times but we kept our full-timers trying to keep them afloat. “Primarily we are a tourist venture and a tourism-based place with live music and that kind of thing,” Ms Johnson continued. “There has been a change, but we are figuring out how we are going to pivot through this season. As a restaurant we are very

Govt releasing $45m for extended COVID support between the social security system and the government. Mr Turnquest had earlier this month pegged the figure at $146.5m, adding that some 43,200 persons and their families had benefited from this welfare support. As for the private sector, the Business Continuity Loan initiative targeted at SMSEs as well as the tax credit and deferral programme will also be continued. Mr Turnquest, during a House of Assembly presentation in early September, said some 545 small businesses and entrepreneurs had benefited from $39m in loan and grant financing as at June 30, 2020. He added that this had helped to preserve some 4,304 jobs, and the receipt of a $200m loan from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) and $40m from the Caribbean Development Bank will finance the government’s budget pledge to provide $55m in additional small business funding during the 2020-2021 budget year.

The tax credit and deferral initiative, which is targeted at VAT registrants and allows them to offset business licence fees and VAT owed to the government in exchange for payroll support, was said by Mr Turnquest to have aided 80 businesses and preserved more than 9,000 jobs by early September. The amount of taxes either credited, or deferred, was $22.9m. Mr Turnquest last night did not state how long the COVID-19 support initiatives have been extended for, but based on the $45m allocation it is likely they will last for a further one to two months. This will effectively take the extension to either the beginning or end of November, which is when the intentions of major resort properties as to their likely re-opening dates will become clearer due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend - which traditionally marks the winter tourism season’s start - falling during that month. The government had been hoping that major resorts would have been encouraged to re-open by the Ministry of Tourism’s

Dorian-devastated state almost 13 months after the storm’s passage as to why an “action plan” - complete with deadlines - was needed. The REEF report called for the government to “enact or amend” any laws that would facilitate its rapid purchase from the joint ownership of Hutchison Whampoa and the GBPA, the latter ironically being the very entity behind the committee’s creation. “You are saying some policies, laws need to be changed to facilitate the airport’s acquisition by the government,” Mr Laroda added. “Let’s put a timeline on that. We’ve been talking in earnest about the government taking ownership of the airport for over a year. Instead of talking, hold ourselves to some deadline for this to happen so we can move the economy forward. “There are some folks saying we’ve heard all this before, but what are you going to do about it? When are we going to see some real action? We need to sit down as a group of stakeholders and come up with an action plan that has timelines for when we expect things to happen, and which the public and business community can hold us to. “You said these things would happen by this time, but I don’t see anything. Where are we today? We need to give regular feedback as to where we are. We need the major stakeholders involved, or otherwise we will not have buy in. We need to move to an action plan, not talk about what hasn’t or should have happened.” Many observers have suggested that any plan to revive Freeport’s economy will not succeed unless there is a change of ownership and management at the GBPA, with some even suggesting that the city’s quasi-governmental body has effectively created the REEF committee to tell it how to do its job. Others have privately voiced to Tribune Business their lack of confidence in the GBPA’s ability to execute any final recommendations coming from the REEF exercise, as Freeport has been allowed to steadily deteriorate under their

watch for the past 15 years. The need for full government co-operation has been cited as a further obstacle. Mr Laroda, acknowledging these concerns, said: “We need to have public confidence and buy in. We need to put everything on the table, so to speak. The GBPA that entered into the Hawksbill Creek Agreement in 1954 is not the GBPA that we know today... “Does the GBPA have the financial wherewithal to continue in the role it is supposed to play under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement? Once we answer that question, and talk about plans and action moving forward, we can come up with credible and legitimate action items. “If the only action items are what the government needs to do I’m not sure that will go over well with the business community and the public. The Port has a role to play, and it needs to demonstrate it can play that role, and then all of us can look at how to move the economy forward,” he added. “That part of the issue has to be addressed. What is the status of the GBPA right now? Do they have the wherewithal to live up to what’s required of them under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement? Once the answer to that question is given openly, and the public are aware of what it is and it’s favourable, it will give more credibility on the issue. “Everything has to be on the table. It may call for reform of the GBPA. It definitely calls for a better relationship between the GBPA and the government. It’s going to be a long road ahead, but we need to sit around the table and hash things out, not put fancy things on paper and not have a real action plan.” Rather than have to renew Freeport’s real property tax, business licence, capital gains and income tax exemptions every year to six months, Mr Laroda said this issue needed to be settled once and for all if investors - local and foreign - are not to be deterred by the uncertainty surrounding the city’s tax environment.

FAMILY island restaurants yesterday said they are looking forward to the return of indoor dining following the Prime Minister’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Tiffany Johnson, general manager of Daddy Joes in Eluethera, told Tribune Business: “We haven’t reopened yet; we open tentatively on October 1. We don’t know what to expect, but we do know we have a

FROM PAGE 20

crack down on waste and potential fraud to direct funds where they are most needed. While the extension had been widely expected, the government’s decision at yesterday’s full Cabinet meeting will likely be greeted with relief by thousands of unemployed Bahamians - especially those in the hotel sector - as well as many businesses. For jobless Bahamians it gives certainty that they will still receive income support. This amounted to $150 per week under the government’s previous unemployment benefit extension, which provided a further 13 weeks of welfare payments once the National Insurance Board (NIB) benefits were exhausted. Brensil Rolle, minister of the public service who has responsibility for NIB, yesterday said almost $150m in unemployment benefits had been paid out to-date

‘Freeport needs action rather than just talking’ FROM PAGE 20

GBPA-created REEF committee had been discussed or floated previously. The chamber chief, acknowledging that execution/implementation was what has been lacking, told this newspaper: “I think they [REEF] hit some of the major issues we are faced with here on Grand Bahama when talking about the airport and the hospital, and the extension of the tax provisions that expired under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. “You cannot talk about the economy here if you do not mention those. We plan to move forward and see if the three of us - the government, chamber and the port authority - can’t come up with a real action-type plan moving forward as opposed to reports which say what needs to be done. “We need to come up with some actual timelines and deadlines as to when we will do things to move the economy forward. I think if you were to ask, and I know the Port is soliciting feedback from the community now, but when you look at what’s been put forward, most persons who have their finger on the pulse will say we’ve been down the road of talk,” Mr Laroda continued. “It’s good they’ve [the GBPA] done something; we at the chamber said we wanted to see some plan from them as to what needs to be done, so this shows they’re looking at it and are aware of the issues but, instead of talking about what needs to be done come up with an action plan.” Calling on the government, GBPA and chamber to work together on achieving exactly that, Mr Laroda cited Grand Bahama International Airport’s

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hands on with our guests, so it is almost as if you are looking at an invisible enemy that you are facing, this invisible virus that is. “We really can’t embrace the way we would normally embrace our customers. We have had lots of requests from locals since the island has just opened up. We are actually only going to open from Thursday to Sunday now, and we are looking at an outside deck that we hope to complete soon, which would pick up on some of the lost revenue inside. There are some people that would prefer to sit outside during this COVID time. “Because we had to reduce our seating indoors to allow for social distancing we decided to do the

outside part, and hopefully pick up on what we would lose on the inside. It’ a day-by-day thing, a weekby-week thing and, just based on the response and, right now, we are only looking at locals.” Mary Rolle, owner/operator of Mel’s Snack Shack in Eleuthera, said: “We are on the highland. We are conscious of what’s going on with the COVID-19, so we aren’t going to find many people that are going to be dining in now; they are forced to take it out to our deck. “Most of the people would eat on my deck. My restaurant is by the waterfront, so they would take it out there under the cool trees. Most of the people would prefer to stay

outside or on the beach, and they are not particular with coming inside anyway and eating any more. It’s not going to change anything for me anyway. It’s not going to take away from the business.” Valencia Turnquest, general manager of Lloyd’s Sporting Lounge in Long Island, said: “It’s a lot better. We love it now; you could actually have people come in and sit down now instead of having takeout. Business has not picked up a lot but it is getting there. There are days where you are busy and other days where you don’t have much going on. Some weekends we are generally busier; not extremely busy, but better than through the week.”

recommended October 15 restart date for the industry that is The Bahamas’ largest private sector employer, as this would have given hotels time to prepare for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the upcoming winter season. However, the delayed re-openings of properties such as Baha Mar, Sandals Royal Bahamian, the British

Colonial Hilton and Club Med dashed the Government’s hopes of making quick, significant inroads into the unemployment rate and welfare dependency. Tourism’s anticipated return was seen as moving persons from the social security/unemployment lines and back to work, thus reducing pressure on the government

and National Insurance Board (NIB). But besides the extended resort closures, other major hotels such as Atlantis have also held-off on setting a reopening date as they assess multiple concerns including the level of COVID-19 infections in both their major source markets and The Bahamas.

PAGE 18, Wednesday, September 30, 2020

TOUR BOAT OPERATORS: NO OIL DRILLING WORRIES By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net TOUR boat charter operators yesterday said they have “no concerns” about oil exploration in Bahamian waters impacting the tourism industry provided regulators ensure the strictest safety protocols. Nicholas Pinder, general manager of Born Free Fishing Charters, told Tribune Business: “It depends where they drill and how close it is to a touristic environment. I don’t think the problem will be the drilling, but the effects of if there is a pipe burst. “If you had something like that around a touristic-based hub it would be problematic, so it is like a double-edged sword, I guess. It’s good for the country if people make any money out of it, but I don’t think it would necessarily negatively affect the tourism industry. “But how do you guarantee that they won’t have a burst and kill all of the wildlife? Just the storage of the oil in Freeport, when Hurricane Dorian busted the tankers, it’s the same thing. You never thought that would happen like that but it spilled oil all over the land,” Mr Pinder continued. “I would say go with it. It would be positive if they found oil, but again how much safety protocols are going to be put in place? The Bahamian track record is to just set things up and not manage it, but all of those safety regulations have to be followed.... You can’t have tourists because you have a beach full of tar.” The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), which has obtained all the necessary

permits and approvals to drill an exploratory well in Bahamian waters, has consistently pointed out that the site is located far from tourist destinations close to the maritime border with Cuba. It has also said the site is several hundred miles west of Andros, although environmental activists have said the true distance is closer to 80 miles. Celeuies Small, owner/ operator of Small’s Tours, said: “I don’t think it [oil drilling] is going to impact tourism at all. What I think is if we have that resource in our country, I think all Bahamians need to get together and mine it if we can do without the foreigners doing it. I just think we need to form a company and let somebody that knows how to deal with it, deal with it. “Everybody is concerned about oil damaging our waters, but right now the country is in such bad shape we need some sort of incentive to put it back on track. I am for it, but I know there are some environmental things what can happen, especially as we are in a hurricane belt and we have to be cautious.” Captain Mike Russell, owner/operator of Chubasco Charters, said: “I’m neutral about it. I can’t see it really affecting us that much per se. I mean, it’s always a possibility that there may be an accident, but we’ve got oil tankers going through here - a couple of hundred of them coming from South America and what have you - and they can do as much damage as the oil drilling could do if there was an accident. I have no concerns about it.”

THE TRIBUNE

Almost $150m spent on unemployment benefits By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE government and National Insurance Board (NIB) have to-date collectively spent almost $150m on supporting jobless Bahamians through COVID-19, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. Brensil Rolle, the public service minister who has responsibility for NIB, hinted strongly that the government would further extend the unemployment benefit ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting (see other article on Page 1B). Speaking outside the Cabinet Office, he said: “The government has always been there for the people, and so whatever decision is taken on the extension will be a collective decision by the government. There are thousands of Bahamians out of work, but the government has spent in its own assistance and benefit programme nearly $50m it has given to NIB. “That is separate and apart from the other programmes - food programme and other programmes that the government has provided in support of the people at this time. Again, we are mindful about what the situation is. We’re concerned about the people of The Bahamas and we’re taking steps to ensure we provide income support as well as food and necessary supplies for the Bahamian people.”

BRENSIL ROLLE Mr Rolle said NIB and the government had never before experienced the demand for welfare support created by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated economic lockdowns and restrictions. He added, though, that many Bahamians had failed to collect the unemployment benefits due to them. “There are many, many cheques that are unclaimed for various reasons,” the minister said. “We have been encouraging, and we have been calling, individuals to say to them your cheque is ready. Some people perhaps got frustrated and just don’t want to come out in this environment in this time to pick up a cheque, but we know we have given a service to thousands of Bahamians. “The government has spent nearly $50m on this programme, NIB is close to $100m in its programme. So we have never walked this road before and we are walking it now.” Should the government elect to continue with its 13-week unemployment benefit extension, Mr Rolle said funding it would

require the government to divert monies from other initiatives. “For example, in the ministry of public service there are some programmes we had put on, but because of COVID we had to recalibrate and address what is before us today,” he added. Mr Rolle said previous complaints about delays and problems in receiving unemployment benefits a third-party provided contracted by NIB, Island Pay, had been resolved. He said: “You can see it for yourself. You can go to the Sports Centre [stadium]; you could see the lines if they exist. “I can bet you $100 to $1 that if you go there at 11am you won’t find five persons on the line. You would find more persons on the bank line than you would find at NIB at the Sports Centre, and we are serving thousands of individuals.” He said difficulties were caused by the struggle of some to adjust to electronic payments. “It was the adjustment to an individual getting a cheque as opposed to getting an app, downloading the app to a phone and then using a kiosk” Mr Rolle added. “That was the initial problem, but I say to members of the media, there was only one day this year that I am aware of that there was an extensive line, and that line was generated because a number of names were published in the papers of individuals who had already received their cheques. But I say to you, if you don’t believe me, go down to the

Sports Centre any day and you will find lines that are much, much shorter than the bank lines.” K Peter Turnquest, deputy prime minister, indicated at the weekend that the government’s COVID19 support initiatives will likely extend beyond their end-September expiry given the delayed re-openings of many major hotels. Acknowledging that that many Bahamians and their families will need such assistance “for a bit longer”, he added that any continued spending will not require the government to undertake any additional borrowing beyond that already approved by Parliament to cover the 2020-2021 budget’s projected $1.327bn fiscal deficit. Instead, Mr Turnquest indicated that the Ministry of Finance would look to reallocate existing Budget funding to provide extended support for individuals, households and businesses amid the wait for tourism’s return and ongoing uncertainty over the strength and timing of its comeback. He acknowledged that the delayed re-openings of properties such as Baha Mar, Sandals Royal Bahamian, the British Colonial Hilton and Club Med had dashed the Government’s hopes of making quick, significant inroads into the unemployment rate and welfare dependency, and hinted that the government had little choice but to continue propping up the economy for the time being.

Govt invests $20m in Nassau sidewalks By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister yesterday said the

DESMOND BANNISTER government has allocated $20m to the construction of New Providence sidewalks in an initiative that has provided work for some “200 contractors”. Desmond Bannister, minister for works, said: “I spoke in the Budget debate about what we’re going to do with respect to the economy, and one of the things we are going to do is ensure that as many small Bahamian contractors as possible are put to work. “That is what we are seeking to do now. In the same process they are going to be able to improve their communities, so if, for example, you go into Englerston you will see

sidewalks everywhere in Englerston for the people of Englerston.” Mr Bannister added: “What that does is, instead of someone simply getting a cheque from NIB, that person can have the dignity of working and understanding that they can take a fair amount of money home for the work they do, and they are going to spend that money in their communities. “So you see a guy. He gets paid and he goes to the barber in his community. He will be buying food and giving his children lunch money, and you will see the spin-off effects that impact all of us. That is what we’re seeking to

do, and seeking to do as much as we can - to help as many people as we can - so that people can get back on their feet and have a fighting chance. Have the dignity of working, earning money and being able take care of their families.” Mr Bannister continued: “I believe we have an initial allotment of around $20m that we’re going to spend. It doesn’t go very far, but you are going to see a change in your community parks. Over 100 parks on this island, you are going to see a change in them, and you are going to see a change in a lot of change in a lot of the communities and how people traverse the streets. Asked how many contractors have been hired to improve the capital’s sidewalks, Mr Bannister said: “Approximately 200; in that area. But depending on how things go, it’s likely to change. We had wanted to do this in July, but we haven’t been able to roll it out until now and depending on how things go, depending on how the economy goes, we’re going to see what we can do to help people get back on their feet.”

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

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Govt releasing $45m for extended COVID support ‘Freeport

GREG LARODA

MICHAEL MAURA

Nassau’s COVID rate is cruise line concern By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

NASSAU Cruise Port’s top executive has conceded that New Providence’s high COVID-19 infection rate is “a material concern” but believes it has established protocols to mitigate any health risks. Michael Maura, in a recent interview with Tribune Business, agreed that the island’s average of between 50 to 100 new cases daily could be a potential turn-off for the cruise lines based on the industry’s recently-released Healthy Sail Plan. That plan advises the cruise lines to look at “three key parameters when determining whether to travel to a given port”, with the top two being a destination’s COVID-19 infection, testing, death and “positivity” rates as well as their testing capacity and use of such measures. The Bahamas is presently not faring well on either indicator, but Mr Maura voiced optimism that Nassau Cruise Port has developed health and safety protocols to address the industry’s concerns, such as an evacuation procedure via ground and air transportation for any passenger/crew member that becomes seriously ill inport and needs to leave The Bahamas. The cruise industry was last night eagerly awaiting word from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as to the fate of the “no sail” order that was imposed upon it. That order is set to expire today, and media reports last night suggested that it may be extended for another month to October 21 after the health regulator’s desire for a longer ban to February

SEE PAGE 16

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

T

HE deputy prime minister last night confirmed the government will allocate $45m to the continuation of its COVID-19 support initiatives after the move was approved by the Minnis Cabinet. K Peter Turnquest, in messaged replies to Tribune Business questions, said both the government-funded unemployment benefit and various private sector assistance initiatives will be further extended beyond today’s intended expiry. Acknowledging that the tourism industry’s delayed return meant the extension was inevitable, Mr Turnquest said the unemployment benefits scheme “will feature adjustments” and be vetted to ensure Bahamians who have returned to work are excluded from welfare support.

• Cabinet approves jobless benefit continuation • Move brings relief for thousands unemployed • Business assistance initiatives also carry on

K PETER TURNQUEST Pledging that the resources will be directed to “our most vulnerable population” and those still unemployed, the deputy prime minister said the $45m will be found from the repurposing of existing funding already approved in the 2020-2021 budget. “Cabinet has approved an extension to the

[unemployment] programme, which includes support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs) and large taxpayers through tax incentive programmes,” Mr Turnquest told this newspaper. “These programmes are geared towards supporting continued employment of staff. “It is estimated that this programme will result in additional costs of up to approximately $45m. This funding will be reallocated from contingent funding and reallocation of other delayed commitments.” Confirming that the tourism industry’s slowerthan-hoped-for restart had left the government with little choice but to extend such support beyond their planned September 30 end,

Mr Turnquest added: “With the delay in the return of the tourism sector to full production, there is a continued need to provide assistance to our most vulnerable population. “The programme will feature adjustments in the scheme, and persons returned to work will be rotated off so as to provide an opportunity for those still adversely affected by the circumstances brought on by the pandemic.” Mr Turnquest did not detail what he meant by “adjustments”, but his remarks indicate unemployment benefit applicants will be scrutinised to ensure they remain jobless, thus enabling the government to

SEE PAGE 17

Ex-governor: Reserves are ‘surprisingly strong’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Central Bank governor says The Bahamas’ critical foreign currency reserves are “surprisingly strong” at a level that is around $1bn higher than he had forecast. Julian Francis, who held the post from 1997 to 2005, told Tribune Business he had expected the reserves to decline to around $1.2bn by end-September yet they closed August 2020 some 77 percent higher at around $2.128bn. Besides the Central Bank-imposed restrictions on capital outflows, Mr Francis said the COVID-19 induced recession and high unemployment had likely produced a significant fall in demand for foreign currency as Bahamians slashed spending amid the ongoing economic uncertainty. He added that foreign travel restrictions alone were likely to have saved “in excess of $100m” in

JULIAN FRANCIS airline tickets and other transportation costs as Bahamians were unable to head to Florida and other US destinations over much of the summer month. Disclosing that he has no concerns over the external reserves’ health in the short-term, Mr Francis said in a recent interview that he based his optimism on two factors. “One is the fact the reserves are around $2bn at the moment, which is very, very strong - surprisingly so by the way.

“If you had asked me a couple of months ago where the reserves would be at the end of September, I would have said $1.2bn - some point like that. The fact they are at $2bn is a hugely positive thing. It’s possibly by the borrowings the government has undertaken, but it shows we are comfortable and that they won’t necessarily run down too quickly.” The second factor identified by Mr Francis was the fact “the bulk of the demand for foreign currency and US dollars usually comes from that middle level consuming person that buys imports quite aggressively”. However, the restrictions on foreign travel by Bahamians and residents that was re-imposed in late July, together with the economic fall-out from COVID-19, placed an immediate dampener on such consumption patterns. Mr Francis said this was likely to have saved “a huge number already, possibly in excess of $100m” on “pure vacation” costs - airline

tickets and accommodation alone - regardless of car, home and back-to-school. “That’s a lot of pressure off the foreign reserves. People don’t have the Bahamian dollars in their bank account, and Bahamians are learning they don’t have to spend as much money,” Mr Francis added. The Central Bank earlier this week confirmed the government’s “front loaded” foreign currency borrowing meant the expected decline in The Bahamas’ external reserves will be “delayed” until 2021. The regulator, in its monthly economic developments report for August, said the Minnis administration’s borrowing to fund an anticipated $1.3bn deficit for the 2020-2021 fiscal year had increased the external reserves by $145.3m compared to July to hit $2.128bn by month’s end. Indicating that the previously projected drawdown on the reserves to $1bn by

SEE PAGE 16

needs action rather than just talking’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FREEPORT stakeholders must “stop talking and create a real action plan” that holds all parties accountable for the city’s economic revival, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s chief urged yesterday. Greg Laroda told Tribune Business that while the Revitalization and Economic Expansion of Freeport (REEF) committee “hit some of the major issues” any strategy for the city’s rebound required “timelines and deadlines” for achieving key milestones and objectives. He argued that this was the only way to hold the government, Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and private sector accountable for their promises and actions, as he called for all sides “to put everything on the table” in charting Freeport’s path to a better future. The chamber president said key questions surrounding the GBPA and its owners, the Hayward and St George families, also need to be addressed - especially whether Freeport’s quasi-governmental authority “has the financial wherewithal to continue in the role they’re supposed to play under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement”. Mr Laroda said a positive answer was critical to fostering private sector and public confidence, and buy-in, to any Freeport revival plan as well as giving credibility to the effort. Arguing that short-term solutions “to get us out of the situation we’re in now”, especially the absence of a fully-functioning airport and public hospital, needed to be married with long-term goals, he added that most of the ideas generated by the

SEE PAGE 17