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Volume: 118 No.223, October 15, 2021
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A NEW DAY - BUT WITH OLD FACES
Cabinet decision to hire retirees defended amid ‘double dipping’ claim By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Office of the Prime Minister has defended Cabinet’s decision to allow re-engaged retirees to receive a salary and their pension, saying the process will be selective, meritbased and infrequent. Two retired civil servants have already been re-engaged, the OPM said in a statement. The statement came after The Tribune reported that Cabinet, according to a leaked memo, has changed the official policy of the
Minnis administration that prevented returning retirees from receiving a salary and a pension. “As we transition into government, the Davis administration, like many administrations which preceded it, has decided to re-engage two former senior public officials out of retirement,” the OPM said. “Their expertise and long years of experience in the public sector are invaluable in guiding us through the kind of systemic changes which we have promised to deliver for the Bahamian people. SEE PAGE THREE
DARVILLE BLAMES MINNIS FOR VACCINE SHORTFALL By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net
AFTER urging the government to implement more restrictive measures to curtail COVID-19, former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has come under heavy fire from Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville who said his “poor management
INSIDE TODAY
of the pandemic is public record”. Dr Darville said the Free National Movement should have been actively working to secure additional vaccine supplies before it was voted out of office in September and reminded the public that Dr Minnis called a snap election in the “middle of the strongest” COVID19 surge. SEE PAGE FOUR
NAUGHTY: VACCINE RUSH FOR BLACK FRIDAY SALES
- SEE PAGE EIGHT
APPEAL PLAN OVER INVALID INDICTMENTS
By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net THE Department of Public Prosecutions intends to appeal a Supreme Court’s judge’s ruling that states that a rape accused’s voluntary bill of indictment was not valid as it was signed by an African prosecutor who was rejected for practice at the Bahamas Bar. Last week, Justice Deborah Fraser delivered her decision after attorney David Cash challenged the validity of his client’s VBI. SEE PAGE SEVEN
‘MAKE ABACO A SECOND FREEPORT’
SAVED FROM THE STORM
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
WHEN Hurricane Dorian battered Grand Bahama, East End resident Maydon Cooper Swann, left, found her wedding dress after the storm covered in dirt, torn and tattered. Yesterday, she was reunited with the dress, restored and, as she said, “snow white”. Read the full story on PAGE FIVE.
DAVIS: 150 HOMES FOR ABACO UNDER REVIEW By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis promised his government will bring change to storm ravaged Abaco and said a plan to rebuild 150 homes on the island is under review. Speaking at the 17th annual Abaco Business Outlook yesterday, Mr Davis said the previous administration neglected Abaco and Grand Bahama
PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis. in the two years since Hurricane Dorian ravaged those islands.
He said his government is committed to bringing change and thanked Abaco residents for electing both of the Progressive Liberal Party’s candidates to represent them. He said the government has extended the Special Economic Recovery Zone Order, which will allow those impacted by Hurricane Dorian to import vehicles duty free, no matter where they currently reside. SEE PAGE THREE
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
ABACO’S Chamber of Commerce president, Ken Hutton, yesterday called for the Dorian-ravaged island to be designated as a ‘second Freeport’ with the creation of an Abaco Special Economic Zone to further spur its recovery from the devastating storm. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
EDITOR’S NOTE
DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL, THE CLASSIFIED SECTION OF TODAY’S TRIBUNE COULD NOT BE PRINTED. HOWEVER, THE SECTION WILL STILL APPEAR ONLINE AT WWW. TRIBUNE242.COM.
OUR APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.
PAGE 2, Friday, October 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
LONG lines at Kendal Issac Gymnasium as locals wait to get vaccinated yesterday. Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
SCORES FLOCK TO GYMNASIUM TO GET THEIR VACCINATIONS SCORES of people flocked to the Kendal G L Isaacs Gymnasium yesterday hoping to get vaccinated against COVID-19 amid dwindling supplies of the vaccine. Some complained about the long lines and wait times to be seen. At one point a police officer was seen trying to quell the crowd that had gathered outside, asking
people to remain calm and to stay physically distant from each other. This comes as the November deadline approaches when the United States will require all adult foreign visitors who are travelling by air to show full COVID-19 vaccination status. Earlier this week, local officials said that first doses of the Pfizer vaccine will no longer be offered as of
October 18 due to “diminishing supplies”. Effective October 23, second doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will not be offered. However, the Pfizer vaccine will be made available as a second dose instead. Additional vaccines are expected to arrive in the country early next month.
Rolle: Pension was suspended only for those who didn’t show they were alive By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net FORMER Public Service and National Insurance Minister Brensil Rolle said the Minnis administration had suspended pension payments to nearly 10,000 people who failed to verify if they were alive. Myles Laroda, the state minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the National Insurance Board, told reporters on
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Wednesday that all but 850 of those people have since been reinstated to pension payrolls. “NIB regulations say individuals receiving these benefits must verify twice annually,” Mr Rolle said yesterday. “We relaxed that because of COVID-19 and last December we determined that okay what we are going to do is stretch the verification process out over two sessions so all those persons who are not verified would have an opportunity over March of this year and July of this year and we began that process of verifying individuals. “The reason why verification is critical and important is because if someone is receiving pensions and we’re just printing pensions and sending it to them, they may die. And if they are dead they’re not entitled to pensions. Alternatively, their life condition may change. Like me, I was between 2012 and 2017
pensionable at NIB but when I got the job in 2017 my pension at NIB stopped. “So your life condition may change so that you’re given an opportunity to verify so NIB could check and confirm that either you’re not dead or your life condition has not changed so you are still entitled to the benefit. The pension package from NIB may be $7m. If 50 persons die, it means those persons don’t qualify to continue getting cheques. If they get the cheque it may be difficult for NIB to get the monies back. That’s why it’s so critical for NIB to verify. “We made the verification process very easy. We said to them you could verify via a justice of the peace, you could use your pastor to verify you or a senior member in the community that is known. You didn’t have to physically come to NIB to complete the process as was the practice before COVID-19.”
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 15, 2021, PAGE 3
MITCHELL DENIES PLP IN-FIGHTING OVER GOVT ROLES By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Fred Mitchell has denied allegations of infighting in the party over board and government appointments that supporters say are taking too long to be delivered. A PLP stalwart councillor told The Tribune yesterday that before the recent general election, the PLP had a “solid plan” of quick execution of “rewards” for
its party supporters. The stalwart councillor said something must have gone wrong as there is no forward movement with those plans and supporters are now up in arms as they are tired of waiting. “Something is going on and we know it cannot be anything good,” the source said. “Every decent and deserving PLP was promised board positions and other jobs. We were told the minute the election was over and the PLP won, we would get our rewards right away. There was a solid plan to be executed.
“As you can see, everything started off okay. From day one the prime minister was working and so was the deputy prime minister. So what happened? All of a sudden everything stopped. People not answering their phones to us, the wicked FNMs who have been ostracising PLPs for more than four years are still in those positions running things. “Word is out there that our leaders are being sympathetic towards FNMs and don’t want to let them go and that’s what is stalling us being placed where we
were promised. Naturally we are not happy about this as the FNM showed no mercy to us when they came into office in 2017. There is a lot of quarreling going on and some MPs just decided to turn off their phones to avoid us. Well five years go by quickly. They will need us.” The Tribune contacted Mr Mitchell, who is also the minister of foreign affairs and public service. Mr Mitchell denied any knowledge of infighting and promised to rectify the situation as soon as possible.
“There is no infighting that I know of,” Mr Mitchell said. “Board decisions are done at Cabinet level. It takes a while, but they will be settled in as timely a manner as humanly possible.” Yesterday, the PLP stalwart councillor said if PLP supporters are not satisfied with promises fulfilled soon, then party officials will be deemed untrustworthy and regarded “differently” by supporters. “We all about talking about Minnis don’t keep his word,” the party member said. “We are calling him
names and saying that he says one thing and does the other, but we will be just as bad if Brave, Chester and Fred don’t start making a move. “Everyone is really mad about all of this because we made plans. We would have to look at them differently and put them in a certain category. “They need to remember that five years go by quickly.” The stalwart councillor said supporters are willing to give PLP leaders one more week to get party affairs in order.
A new day - but with old faces
from page one
“Along with their salaries, they are being paid the pensions which are due to them for their long years of previous service. The pensions are legally and rightly due to them for this past service and continues irrespective of future employment. This is not a new policy. “This is not a policy under which scores of retirees will be brought back into the public service. The process by which such public officers will be engaged is selective. It is merit-based, and focused on filling assessed skills gaps, meaning that by definition it will be used infrequently.” The OPM said despite the official policy of the Minnis administration, some returning retirees still received both a pension and salary under the former government’s tenure. This was done “with characteristic favouritism and complete indifference to ordinary Bahamians,” the OPM said. “…They (the former administration) applied the policy just to the favoured few, cancelling it for all other workers. The Davis administration does not support the unequal application of this policy. This administration believes
that all re-engaged public officers should be treated fairly and equally.” Yesterday, former Public Service and National Insurance Minister Brensil Rolle said he could not recall his administration re-engaging retirees that received both a pension and a salary. He gave examples of two senior retirees who were re-engaged by the Minnis administration, David Davis and Harcourt Brown. He said both men, who worked in the OPM under the previous administration, were hired on the condition that they stop receiving their pension. “I don’t know of any other person or group who may have been re-engaged in those conditions,” he said. He argued that it is costly to let people collect a pension and a salary and it puts current senior public officers at a disadvantage. “Let’s say you’re a permanent secretary,” he said. “Let’s say your salary as permanent secretary was $80,000. Are you saying to me that if I retire and come back now that you’re going to pay me $150k or more? The challenge is that the serving permanent secretary, they’re now going to be measuring their job status. “Let’s say I’m a permanent secretary, I have responsibility for the
Ministry of Public Service and my salary is $75,000; so here’s my colleague who is a retired public servant who is now a permanent secretary and since they are now able to get their salary that they retired with plus the new salary that they get you actually really almost doubling what permanent secretary A is getting compared to permanent secretary B. “The second part of that is what it does to individuals who are aspiring to become the permanent secretary who are working and perhaps doing a good job. Now their opportunity is blocked.” On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs and Public Service Minister Fred Mitchell said the Davis administration’s policy on the matter is the same as previous Progressive Liberal Party administrations. In 2017 when he announced a policy shift, Mr Rolle said the Minnis administration was reverting to the policy of the last Ingraham administration. The Torchbearers Youth Association, the Free National Movement’s youth arm, criticised the decision yesterday. “This policy of double dipping is reprehensible and should be reconsidered,” TYA president Carlyle Bethel said in a statement. “Scores of
DAVIS: 150 HOMES FOR ABACO UNDER REVIEW from page one
He also said: “For Abaco specifically, we must also pursue rebuilding initiatives, with a bias towards action. So, for example, we are currently reviewing a house building proposal to build 150 homes. “Several construction types are being considered, including modular and prefabricated housing. The prefabricated housing provides for a rapid factory to be built on Abaco, with the equipment brought in and people trained to operate them. This is just one, costeffective option.” Mr Davis said there were other issues which came out of Hurricane Dorian. He said officials were in the process of looking at how the government could shorten the time it takes for formal presumption of death after a natural disaster. The issue was brought to the fore in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as some people who had missing loved ones expressed the need for closure. “There are other issues specifically arising out of Hurricane Dorian. Currently, life insurance terms don’t allow for timely payouts after people have gone missing, even when their
absence is so clearly associated with a catastrophic event such as a Category 5 hurricane. “We are reviewing this to see what interventions may be required, legislative or otherwise, so that people aren’t forced to wait seven years for a formal presumption of death after a disaster. “Apart from the financial burden this imposes, the psychological burden is immense, and closure is not possible. This is a tremendous human cost in health and well-being. We know, because these are the stories which Abaconians have shared with us. “This cannot be right, and my government is committed to fixing it. But even as we move forward with recovery efforts, we are very mindful of the need to adapt,” Mr Davis said. Mr Davis also spoke about the country’s finances, saying with public debt now at more than $10bn, the government has not yet been able to understand where the funds were applied or how they benefited the Bahamian people. The unprecedented situation, Mr Davis said, presents a fiscal position that has placed a great strain on his administration.
Officials are also grappling with a significant downturn in public revenue, he said. “Apart from the strains being faced by the global economy, many of them due to the pandemic, here in The Bahamas our current fiscal position places even greater pressures upon us,” Mr Davis said: “We have unprecedentedly high levels of deficit and debt. Public debt levels have hit over $10 billion, having doubled during the past four and a half years. “We have yet to understand how these funds were applied or how they benefited the Bahamian people. Public revenue remains significantly down, because of a combination of uncollected taxes; tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals, businesses and properties; and a sluggish recovery with no articulated plans for growth.” He continued: “The news of a further credit-ratings downgrade, that had been suppressed until just after the election, made the situation even more bleak. But as we have promised the Bahamian people during the campaign, my administration runs towards these challenges, not with hand-wringing despair, but with a variety of proposed solutions.”
young people could be hired with the money the PLP will now give to the double-dipping, retired civil servants. Additionally, this practice will harm morale and hamstring the career advancement and succession planning within the civil service. “The nation is allowing this administration time to get their agenda going. It is a concerning indicator of things to come, though, when one of the first orders of business is being in contravention of the promises made on the campaign trail such as investing in young Bahamians, and fiscal prudence. “This is no new day. This is the same old PLP way of doing business,” Mr Bethel said.
FORMER Minister for Public Service and National Insurance Brensil Rolle warned of the problems of rehiring retired civil servants both in terms of cost and morale.
Public Notice Lighthouse Point
The public is advised that the Construction Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for Disney Cruise Line’s project at Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera, The Bahamas, is now available for review. The EMP has been submitted to the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and reviewed by DEPP and third-party international firm Black & Veatch, under DEPP’s direction. The development, a Cruise Ship Destination, will include an open-trestle pier and marina that don’t require dredging, open-air buildings and other structures, walking paths, a new public roadway, service roads, and back-of-house support areas. The development will utilize 16% of the 758-acre site, with Disney donating 25% of the site to the people and Government of The Bahamas. Bahamian residents and citizens will have access to the site. Information about the project and a downloadable version of the EMP are available at http://www.lighthousepointbahamas.com. The EMP is available to the public for review at DEPP offices in Nassau and the Eleuthera Administrator’s Office in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, during normal business hours. The public is invited to send written comments to
inquiries@depp.gov.bs no later than 14 days after the public posting of the EMP or October 28, 2021, by 5:00pm.
PAGE 4, Friday, October 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
Showing up for work with COVID is ‘mind-boggling’ By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net CONSULTANT Physicians Staff Association President Dr Sabriquet Pinder Butler said it is “mind-boggling” that some people who have contracted COVID-19 are still reporting to work and not properly isolating themselves. She made the comment yesterday while telling The Tribune that Bahamians have generally not got accustomed to changing their behaviour to safeguard themselves against contracting COVID-19. This behaviour, she said, has contributed to the “concerning” increased virus
deaths in recent weeks. In other cases, she said people who have tested positive have questioned whether they should inform people they have been around that they too could potentially have contracted the disease. Asked if she was of the view that the country needed to return to harsher measures to curb the spread, Dr Pinder Butler was noncommittal, saying restrictions only work as well as the people who are being restricted. “It’s just like wearing a seatbelt,” the CPSA president told The Tribune. “A lot of people don’t like to wear seatbelts, but you know if you have a fine and people are actively
MINISTER of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville.
going to be checking we do what is necessary. “But when we don’t feel like people are looking and we don’t feel like this is something that we need to do even though we know that it will safeguard our lives, unfortunately we let our guards down. We do these things that we know are not to our best interest, nor to our population.” She continued: “We’re still having people knowing they have COVID and going to work. You would not think that you’re having that but we’re still having that and so the question is are we not thinking it through as a people? Are we tired of it? “We do know that a lot of times we have challenges
Photo: Racardo Thomas/Tribune Staff
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with persons accepting that it is actually impacting them until it’s too late and we really never want that to happen. We want people to be able to feel that they can reach a healthcare provider. That they can let us know what’s going on. That we can provide help to them if they don’t know what to do before it’s too late. “I mean it’s absolutely mind-boggling. Why are you still calling to find out if you should still go to work? Why are you still calling to ask if you should let the people who you’ve been around know? Shouldn’t that be automatic by now? But it’s still not happening. “Again, if we really thought about each other
as our neighbour, even beyond that, thinking of them as ourselves because sometimes neighbourly is as neighbourly does. If you think of it impacting yourself and it could critically impact you maybe, we would think differently. “Unfortunately, the same behaviours keep occurring and I think that’s what’s going to cause us to be in this pandemic for a while.” The COVID-19 death toll rose to 608 after three more deaths were recorded on Monday. In its October 11 dashboard, the Ministry of Health noted that two women and one man died from the disease on September 27 and 29. The deceased were
between the ages of 47 and 73. These deaths were previously under investigation and were recently reclassified. Fifty-seven new coronavirus cases were also recorded on Monday. Thirty-five more cases were recorded on Tuesday, pushing the nation’s toll to 21,815. One hundred and fortytwo people are in hospital with the virus, 15 of whom are in the intensive care unit, according to the latest data. In recent days both former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands have called for harsher measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
from page one
of lockdowns. While Dr Minnis is now criticising the PLP government and making suggestions of how to handle the pandemic, just before the general election he relaxed restrictions to allow for campaigning where there were many instances of large crowds, no social distancing and limited use of masks. Dr Darville did not take too kindly to Dr Minnis’ criticisms. “The feedback from the former prime minister in today’s Nassau Guardian on the COVID pandemic is arguably the most detailed response that he has given to the Bahamian people in all of the past 18 plus months since the start of the COVID pandemic,” Dr Darville told The Tribune. “It is interesting that as he seeks to find his political footing and maintain his relevance in the lead up to the fight for leadership of the FNM he is now seeking to engage the local media when he previously treated them with little short of contempt. “His poor management
of the COVID pandemic is a matter of public record. During his tenure The Bahamas ranked second to last in the world in the management of the pandemic.” Dr Minnis said with the country’s vaccine supply running low, death rates will remain high and hospitalisations would start to increase again. Shortly after Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, chairman of the National Vaccine Consultative Committee, told The Tribune that The Bahamas faced rapidly diminishing COVID-19 vaccine supplies, authorities in the Pan American Health Organization promised the arrival of 57,300 doses during the first week of November. Dr Darville also addressed Dr Minnis’ comment on the vaccines. “And even while he attempts now in opposition to offer recommendations, his views are yet still focused almost exclusively on restrictions,” he said continuing. “Lest we forget this is the same person who called an election in the middle of the strongest surge in COVID cases in The Bahamas. “The securing of additional vaccines is something that his government should have been actively engaged in up to the day of the election. The fact that these vaccines are not yet on island is reflective of the poor pandemic management of his government and not of the Davis administration who have been in office for just shy of one month. “The Davis administration encourages healthy feedback from all sectors of the Bahamas in the fight against this pandemic but discourages discourse aimed at petty personal score settling and political posturing.”
DARVILLE BLAMES EX-PM MINNIS FOR VACCINE SHORTFALL On Wednesday, Dr Minnis told a local daily that the Free National Movement is concerned about parties and other social events being held recently and the rising COVID-19 death toll. He called on the government to introduce more aggressive measures for large gatherings that are currently happening. Since assuming office, the Davis administration has relaxed the nightly curfew, pushing it to 11pm. The FNM leader echoed sentiments previously expressed by former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, as he reminded the public that The Bahamas has the highest obesity rate in the Caribbean and in the presence of COVID, obesity increased the hospitalisation rate by an additional 150 percent over the normal rate. When he served as prime minister, Dr Minnis implemented Emergency Orders, which are still in effect, and several bouts
DRUG POLICE FIND HIDDEN MARIJUANA GRAND Bahama police discovered marijuana hidden in bushes yesterday. Police said around 1pm, a team of officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit, acting on information, went to an area on Rippindale Drive off Fortune Hills Subdivision. Officers searched a footpath in the bushes where a crocus sack was discovered containing nine plastic wrappings with suspected marijuana and one plastic bag containing a quantity of suspected marijuana. No arrest was made. The drugs weighed seven pounds and have an estimated street value of $7,000. An investigation is ongoing.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 15, 2021, PAGE 5
Saved from the storm By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net EAST End resident Maydon Cooper Swann could not believe her eyes when she was finally reunited with her fully restored wedding dress that was found battered in dirt after Hurricane Dorian destroyed her home two years ago. “It is snow white - it has been completely restored to its original state,” said Mrs Swann. “I am so overwhelmed with joy.” Mrs Swann lost everything in the 2019 storm. She never dreamed the dress could be restored. “I never dreamed it would look like that because that dress was torn, tattered, and battered when we found it in a pile of dirt,” she told The Tribune. “My sister noticed it while we were walking around the yard. She said, ‘Maydon that looks like your dress,’ and we started pulling it from under the debris.” Dusty Adinolfe and Joy Kairalla, of Project
Bahamas Strong, along with Andre Spence, returned to Freeport to deliver the fully restored wedding dress – a promise they made two years ago when Mrs Swann entrusted them with it. “We were building bungalows to house people and her mother was chosen as one of the people for a bungalow and as we were walking the property we heard a little bit of a scream and she (Mrs Swann) picked up this wedding dress out of the mud and started crying, and I could not believe she found it. “And we just kind of sat there and were in awe and decided if there was any way at all we could restore this we would really love to because it was one thing found on the property after everything was lost. We thought it was something to at least attempt to do for her,” said Ms Adinolfe. Ms Kairalla said they are just happy they were able to help. “We were able to touch so many lives and help so many people and the dress is, just for me, a representation of
everything being wrapped up into something that was salvageable and meaningful. It’s just so touching,” she said. Mrs Swann - who was married on June 20, 2009 still vividly remembers the day she first saw the wedding dress in David’s Bridal. She said that Ms Adinolfe told her about a friend in Canada who could restore the dress. “When she presented the dress to me, I was in awe. I learned that they contacted David Bridal. The dress was discontinued and they did not have the pattern, but they were able to send them the beads and accessories for the dress,” Mrs Swann said. Ms Adinolfe and Ms Kairalla tried to deliver the dress to Mrs Swann during the summer, but were not able to because of the travel ban and shut down following the COVID-19 pandemic. Mrs Swann said that the return of the dress gives her hope. She said that she is still trying to recover from the devastating losses the family experienced during the storm. She lost a sister and her two nephews in High Rock during the storm. Her home was also destroyed and all the contents, including the wedding dress. “The roof was blown off and we made lots of trips and did not find it. I thought it was washed out to sea. It has a very sentimental value to me, and I never thought we would find the dress.” Mrs Swann said her mother is still without a house and losing three relatives was a painful loss. “High Rock suffered worse than any other settlement in the east. It was decimated. We never dreamed this would happen. We never
MAYDON Cooper Swann with the dress as she found it after Hurricane Dorian and, bottom left, reunited with the restored dress. witnessed anything like this, but we have to deal with it through the pain.” Mrs Swann said when she learned that her sister and two nephews were missing, she did not believe it. “I just brushed it off and said she probably went to McLean’s Town by my aunt. So, the next day… we all caught a dump truck from COB to the break in the road at the Lucayan National Park, and we had to walk from there to High Rock. And I call it a journey to hell. When we got there… it was total destruction. All I could do was fall to my knees, and we started running around the yard calling for my sister and nephews. We were turning up rocks just looking for them,” she said.
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PAGE 6, Friday, October 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
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A new government with familiar faces THE promise from the PLP in their campaign slogan was clear: A New Day. Things aren’t looking quite so new in practice. A number of familiar faces from the previous Christie administration have already reappeared – Jerome Fitzgerald, for example, finding a home for his political garbage can be seen as an advisor in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit. And now Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ Cabinet has decided to allow retirees who have been rehired by the government to receive both their salary and their pension. Two retired civil servants have already been brought back onto the wage bill, David Davis and Harcourt Brown, who will work in the Office of the Prime Minister. There are obvious cost implications for this. As former Public Service and National Insurance Minister Brensil Rolle points out, if you have someone with a salary of $80,000 who retires and is then brought back, are you suddenly going to be paying them $150,000 for doing the same job? At a time when the public purse is under pressure, that’s certainly one consideration. But as Mr Rolle points out, there is another – perhaps a bigger question. “The second part of that,” he says, “is what it does to individuals who are aspiring to become the permanent secretary who are working and perhaps doing a good job. Now their opportunity is blocked.” In what we hope is not to become a characteristic attempt to muddy the waters, the new administration said that some retirees under the Minnis administration also received both a pension and salary. That doesn’t address the question of whether it is right or wrong, just points a finger and says look, they did it too. There sometimes seems to be a wall for young people trying to make their
way in their careers. Is there really no one else who could do these roles, so retired civil servants had to be dusted off and brought back to the office? As the president of the Torchbearers Youth Association, the FNM’s youth arm, said: “Scores of young people could be hired with the money the PLP will now give to the double-dipping, retired civil servants. Additionally, this practice will harm morale and hamstring the career advancement and succession planning within the civil service.” A retiree brought in as permanent secretary blocks the next person in line for that post. That person doesn’t move up and blocks the next deputy. And on and on down the line. Meanwhile, a source in the PLP says that people are up in arms over a delay in “rewards” for party supporters after the election. “Every decent and deserving PLP was promised board positions and other jobs,” said the source, adding: “Word is out there that our leaders are being sympathetic towards FNMs and don’t want to let them go and that’s what is stalling us being placed where we were promised. Naturally we are not happy about this as the FNM showed no mercy to us when they came into office in 2017. There is a lot of quarreling going on and some MPs just decided to turn off their phones to avoid us. Well, five years go by quickly. They will need us.” Is this how our government should work? On promises of jobs for the boys, and political favours for the favoured? We cannot even pretend to be a society where people earn their place on merit if this is the state of our nation. PLP chairman Fred Mitchell, of course, denies any such claims of infighting over appointments. The PLP source said supporters are willing to give party leaders a week to get affairs in order. The next week should make for interesting viewing indeed. Watch this space.
Costs, costs and more costs to bear EDITOR, The Tribune. WELL the Camelot celebrations are all over… $’000’s spent on hats… wonder how much Tax arrears the 1000 chosen owed the Treasury had enough to embellish themselves but..... Gone Ivan Johnson of The Punch fame and especially the Grapevine…. many sleep easier now... then we hear Gorman Bannister passed a lot more gave a sigh of relief, wonder who inherited Gorman’s father’s black book? Oh, Columbus – shame or rejoicing? For sure you can’t change history so the destruction of a material statue means nothing are you going to censor all the books written about Columbus? Methinks if you read his memoirs he was most happy if not totally thrilled when his look-out shouted ‘landa-ho!’ as the crew was close to mutiny....was it actually Cat Island or San Sal? Real things now — Central Bank tries hard to reassure no default, but rarely tells the truth by 2024 we have an exposure
of $1.23 billion to find... Reserves are borrowed money — post Moody’s rating is our interest rate now over 10% the last stretched 8.95%. Thank God tourism seems to be developing well, but there are still 25,000 still unemployed....can we afford extending the $150.00 a week allowances? What will those 25,000 do to survive? Promises? How stupid some politicians are... you know your bank account is overdrawn and you promise... Pension increased by how much $5.00 a month – S10.00 per month? NIB is empty contributions on the high end will have to increase appreciably to replenish and I don’t mean by a small amount. VAT? The FNM remember increased it to 12% and included exemptions on 80% of bread baskets which are what joe average buys weekly... the effect was the low wage people continued to hit/purchase 80% of bread basket items losing VAT millions, but the higher wage sector increased their buys and not bread basket items which actually increased
VAT receipts but that was pre-COVID 2019. Most pundits question can VAT be lowered without adjustments to exemptions? You know we excel in double dipping... concede VAT-Duty and to that travel exemptions and hope revenue will increase. Motor vehicle licensing... Minnis told us all you don’t need to do so 2019–2021 many ‘00’s didn’t, but now it is in the 3rd year... Let’s speculate 130,000 didn’t licence at least $120.00 per vehicle – that’s some $15.6 million da people got to find... Minnis, of course, would simply say.....we forget that! Camelot we certainly don’t have some hard and harsh fiscal decisions will have to be made... false promises like from the visiting Black Hotel group — heard their promises under Christie much fanfare then and guess what.... they didn’t even purchase a Time-share! Please get real they came to enjoy themselves. TOM K SMITH Nassau, October 11, 2021.
Unite the nation with appointments EDITOR, The Tribune. AS THE newly installed Prime Minister, the Most Hon Philip “Brave” Davis, QC (PLP-Cat Island) fleshed out his administration, I would hope that several appointments be made to reflect national unity and continued nation building and reconstruction. The Urban Renewal Commission, as then led by the Hon Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt and the Hon Algernon SPB Allen, was an excellent and highly effective community tool for the then administration to directly impact the lives and housing conditions of thousands of Bahamians, especially in the inner city areas of New Providence and Grand Bahama. I respectfully recommend to the Davis administration that “Bulgie” be reappointed as one of the chairs for the revamped Urban Renewal Commission. Algernon has the experience and passion to duplicate what he and Mother Pratt did before. I would also reappoint Mrs. Emmanuel over in Grand Bahama back to her post. All hands are needed on deck at this critical juncture. Relative to the office of the Governor General, I recommend that Sir Cornelius Smith continue until
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net next year to permit him to retire with civility and, of course, the appropriate gratuity and pension. Once this is done, I recommend that the PM appoint the Rt Hon Perry Gladstone Christie or the Hon Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt to the position of Governor-General with the concurrence of Her Majesty the Queen. Either of them would make Bahamians proud while recognising their considerable collective public service over the past decades. The reconstruction work in Abaco and Grand Bahama continues. It is clear that the personnel appointed by the FNM administration either dropped the ball or they really did not know what the hell they were doing. The work is simply taking too long while residents in those two islands continue to catch hell right here on earth. May I suggest that the Davis administration appoint (with his agreement, of course) the former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Hubert A Ingraham, as National Recovery Czar for those two islands. Ingraham is an Abaco native. As a former PM he has
extensive knowledge as to how to circumvent the “system” where necessary to effectively get things done, on the ground. He’d offered to assist Minnis, but we all know just how Minnis operated. He was a one man band, in the truest sense of the word and appeared to be intolerant of anyone sharing the light with him. Now, however, is not the time for pussyfooting and playing doll house games. Collectively, we need and require all able bodied hands on deck. To quote the late great and deeply lamented first Prime Minister of our wonderful nation, the Rt Hon Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling: “Fish; cut bait or get the hell out of the boat” rings as true today as it was decades ago. Bahamians have entrusted “Brave” and the New PLP with our future. He is more than aware that while he and the administration will be given a political honeymoon, the bulk of Bahamians expect to see and feel concrete things in short order. If he fails to deliver, the tenure of the New PLP will be just as slippery and tenuous as that of the now, mercifully, defunct FNM. ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr Nassau, October 14, 2021
We don’t have a First Lady EDITOR, The Tribune. OH, we love to copy Americana and their habits. Least we start something which is totally incorrect if The Bahamas were to have a person so titled “First Lady” she would have to be the wife of the “First Male” who is the Governor General. Media please don’t start this foolishness...the Prime Minister’s wife is not the first lady. A commentator on ZNS started talking about the very American thing after a US election “the first 100-days”... sorry in the
Westminster system doesn’t exist. Press — media access to a public official? In bygone times access would be limited, but today whether the elected official or appointee likes it they have to be fully accessible to the media and press... remember who writes the last words. Tuesday Cabinet... surely it would be easy for the Press Officer to hold a Press conference in the afternoon and outline items on Cabinet’s agenda and where applicable communicate the resolution or agreement of cabinet?
Again all Ministers are ‘servants of the People’ access should never be denied. In the House Assembly the Minnis regime refused to answer Opposition questions...in four plus years there were over 300 questions answered.... advice to PM Davis... every Wednesday the morning session should be Prime Minister’s Question time. Yes, Editor... every Wednesday without fail. SONIA MEADOWS Nassau, October 11, 2021.
THE TRIBUNE
‘Colleague hit me with his truck in parts row’ By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A TOW truck driver yesterday testified of how an old colleague struck him with his truck after he confronted the man about parts that were stolen from his vehicle. Clyde Watson is accused of breaking Edison Newry’s leg after he allegedly knocked him down with his Ford F-150 truck during an argument at a local gas station in June 2020. Although Watson maintains his innocence, Mr Newry insisted the incident left him with a fractured fibula and damaged nerves in one of his feet. During his testimony, Mr Newry said he was a New Providence resident who had been working at a marina in the Berry Islands for three years. He said on his “first visit back” to the capital, he noticed that parts from his tow truck had been removed. He said he reported the matter to police, but nothing came of his complaint. The court was told that Mr Newry eventually replaced his missing parts to continue his work, but his parts were stolen from the back of his tow truck a second time. He said on the day in question, he stopped at Texaco gas station on Baillou Hill Road to get some diesel. He said while
he was waiting to be served, he noticed Woodside sitting on the line waiting for a tow job. He said he then walked over to the accused and had a “casual conversation” with him because they had not seen each other in years. “I then paused and I looked on the back of Woodside’s truck and I ask him where he get his parts from because they were stolen from my house,” Mr Newry said. “He gave me his phone and let me speak with (another man) and when I was done talking to him, I told Woodside (the man) knew where I lived so he could come and see me because I’m taking my parts back.” Mr Newry said it was at this time that Woodside told him: “If you don’t go from round this truck I will wap you with these chains.” He said this prompted him to go back to his truck and get a “little kids bat” because he was in fear for his life. “As I was walking back to my truck (with the parts) I heard an engine roaring and before I could turn around Woodside struck me, everything fell out of my hand and I was on the ground,” Mr Newry continued. He said Woodside then placed his truck in reverse and the only thing he could do was “roll to get out of
the way” because he could no longer walk. Mr Newry said the accused then rolled over his ankle and left the scene shortly after. “Thank God I was wearing steel toe boots (because) my left fibula had broken and I damaged all the nerves in my left foot,” he said. Mr Newry added that although he did not require surgery, he spent three days at Princess Margaret Hospital. He also said he never received his stolen car parts back. Yesterday, Woodside was represented by attorney Ryszard Humes. When he cross-examined Mr Newry, he noted that the service station where the incident was alleged to have taken place was close to the Baillou Hill Road Police Station. When Mr Newry agreed with this fact, Mr Humes said he found it strange that the witness chose not to go to the station to report the matter as he believed Woodside had stolen his parts. Yesterday, Mr Humes also suggested that Mr Newry was the aggressor in the situation and alleged that he assumed Woodside was driving around with his stolen car parts. In response, Mr Newry stated: “I know for a fact that (the parts) were mine because they had a significant mark.”
PROBATION FOR WOMAN WHO SAID SHE HIT HUSBAND IN SELF-DEFENCE By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 33-YEAR-OLD woman who claimed she hit her spouse during an argument in an act of self-defence was yesterday placed on a year’s probation. The woman, whose name has been withheld to protect her identity, pleaded guilty to one count of causing harm just before her lawyer explained that she had been a victim of domestic abuse on multiple occasions. The court was told that around 4.30pm on the day in question, the complainant
and his wife got into a verbal argument at their home. The prosecution said during the argument, the accused grabbed a metal object and hit her husband across his left eye which wounded him. After he requested police action, the woman was taken into custody, where she admitted the offence. During the arraignment her attorney told Magistrate Algernon Allen, Jr, that his client and the complainant had been married for three years but were in a “tumultuous” relationship. The lawyer said the woman had filed a complaint against her husband both locally and
internationally on two separate occasions and added that on the day in question, she hit him with a part from a grill because she was being choked. After listening to his plea in mitigation, Magistrate Allen, Jr, said he considered the fact that the complainant’s injuries were not serious and the fact that the accused had no antecedents. He subsequently placed the accused on probation for a year on the agreement that she would be of good behaviour. He warned her that if she were convicted of an offence within that time frame, she could risk spending three months on remand.
APPEAL PLAN OVER INVALID INDICTMENTS from page one
Earlier this year, Canes Villus, who is charged with four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, was presented a VBI bearing the signature of Ugandan native David Bakininga, a lawyer, who currently serves as the assistant director of public prosecutions, but has not been called to the Bahamas Bar. Mr Cash argued that Mr Bakininga erred in law when he signed the VBI of his client, as he has not been approved by the Bahamas Bar Association for practice. The Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that only the attorney general or a legal practitioner acting on his behalf can sign VBIs. Mr Cash contends that because Mr Bakibinga and another African prosecutor working in the Department of Public Prosecutions have been denied the right to practice by the Bahamas Bar Association, they cannot be considered legal practitioners in the country. In her ruling, Justice
Fraser said it was “clear from the words of the relevant statutes considered by the court” that Parliament intended to ensure that the “person who exercised functions under section 258 of the CPC were appointed in accordance with the Constitution.” She said the court found that section 258 of the CPC is not in contravention of the Constitution, which meant that the person who signed the VBI should have been the director of public prosecutions, or a person acting on their behalf, who was a legal practitioner in accordance with the CPC. In a notice of motion formally filed yesterday, the DPP said the office is appealing Justice Fraser’s ruling on the grounds that she “erred in law” when she declared that section 258 (2) of the CPC is not inconsistent with Article 78A(4) of the Constitution to the extent that section 258(2) of the CPC mandates that only the DPP or a legal practitioner (as defined by the CPC) can sign a VBI. The DPP’s motion said the learned judge “erred
in law when she declared that Article 117(2) of the Constitution requires ‘such persons’ appointed as legal public officers (that is who are appointed to public offices) to be legal practitioners as opposed to declaring that Article 117 (2) applies to ‘such public offices’ as may be prescribed by Parliament.” In grounds three and four, the DPP also argued that the judge made a mistake when she declared that there was “no (and cannot in law be a) distinction between a legal public officer and a legal practitioner” and finally, that Justice Fraser erred in law when she asserted that Mr Bakibinga “could not sign a VBI ‘for’ the DPP, pursuant to Article 78A(4) of the Constitution.” If the Court of Appeal rules in favour of Justice Fraser’s ruling, it could result in several court cases being sent back to Magistrate’s Court if the VBIs the accused were served were signed by the two African prosecutors employed at the Department of Public Prosecutions.
Friday, October 15, 2021, PAGE 7
ALLIANCE SEEKS TO HELP VISUALLY IMPAIRED THE Bahamas Alliance for the Blind and Visually Impaired celebrates White Cane Day today after marking World Sight Day yesterday. The month of October is celebrated as Blindness Awareness Month. This month, BABVI is asking the public to assist them in their goal of having an official location from which to operate and continue their work. BABVI, a group of about 70 members, help members to live more normal lives. They offer training in reading Braille to youngsters and adults. They also train them in the use of special software for phones and laptops to help make life easier. For anyone who may have recently become blind or visually impaired, the group is a vital part of helping them to have the support they need to adjust and go on living their their lives. Life skills training as well as job training skills help make it easier for them to achieve gainful employment and live full,
BABVI president Robertha Johnson. happy lives. It has been 24 years since BABVI was established. To date, the association still does not have a fixed location for members. This year, BABVI president Robertha Johnson is calling for the public to assist with donations. In addition to a location, funds are vital to continue their training efforts. She said this year’s theme of “Embracing Diversity and Inclusiveness is a call
for society to recognise the important role that each individual plays, irrespective of their status, disabled or not”. She added: “They should be allowed to exercise their rights to participate fully in all areas of life including education and training, rehabilitation, employment, and recreation. This allows everyone to become whatever he or she wants to be.” For those who donate to BABVI during Blindness Awareness Month, they will be entered into a raffle to win $25 Edson Gas Vouchers and the grand prize - a two-night stay in a three-bedroom villa in Moss Town, Exuma, at Mattie’s Place, accommodation only. For more information and to donate to BABVI, visit their Facebook page: The Bahamas Alliance for the Blind and Visually Impaired; contact President Johnson at 802-BABVI (802-2284); or make a direct donation to their account at Scotiabank Square, under the Association name, account number 700459911.
Funeral Service For
Rotasja Bethell Saunders, 40 a resident of Hampster Road will be held at Lakeview Memorial Gardens, John F. Kennedy Drive on Friday, October 15, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Officiating will be Rev. Dr. Wilton Strachan, assisted by other ministers of the gospel. Cherished and loving memories will forever linger in the hearts of all her precious loved ones sons: Donovan and D’Kyrie Saunders; father: Timothy Sr.; grandmother: Delores Saunders; step mother: Elizabeth Saunders; sisters: Rev’e McIntosh, Ronique & Ronnette Harrison, Samantha and Sarai Saunders; brothers: Randazzo Saunders (Deceased), Demetrius & Timothy Saunders Jr., Kendall Dawkins, Tameko & Dominic Sr. Vilneus; aunts: Shirlene & Irene Shepherd, Angela Evans and Minister Zoneita (Deacon Kendal) Jones; nieces & nephews: Randia, Randazz, Randazzo Jr. and Dazzanae Saunders, Rataeja & Sheree, Harrison, Rayvon King, T’Myah Robinson, Dominique, Tameka, Kaylee and Dominic Jr.; grand aunts and grand uncles: Vernell & Lucille Davis, Jacqueline and Jonathan Mycklewhyte, Emily Osadebay, Inrgid King, Eleanor Conliffe, Kerlin and Sherry King, Clement and J. Camille King, Vincent and Ursula King; special friend: Kenneth Mott; cousins: Missionary Shirelle Lewis Dorsett, Caranikka Lewis Miller, Relaudo Miller, Vincebert and Glenice Lewis, Sherry, Vandyke, Clinton, Virgina, Anastasia, Alicia and James Bethel, Sumya Ingraham, Allan Dorsett, Ashinique Newbold, Ashantique, Allyah Basden, Tyeisha Williams Treniqueand Troy Rolle Unique Noel, Jakayden Hanna, Antonio Williams Jr.( Akai) Renauldae & Renikkay Miller, Liam Lewis, Ethyln Caple, Family, Debbie Rolle & Family, Monette, Lynette and Dareth (Rocky) Russell, Delno and Takia Williams, Mauriece and Valencia Conliffe, Mancini and Rev, Father Mario Conliffe, Meneria and Jason Sturrup, Yvonne Rolle, Jacqueline and Andrew Marshalleck, Jeunesse and Germain Bullard, Dr. Janell and Edroy Brown, Allyson Mycklew, yvonne Rolle, Austin and Donna Rose Wilson, Dr. Rudolph King, Ria, Brittany, Kadijah, Farrah, Dante, Ranyda, Maurice Jr., Dareth Russell Jr., Haliee Williams, Justin knowles, Dennique Harrison, Precious, Takeisha and Dewitt Mille, Irvinette and Jarrett Pratt, Advado and Tina Malcolm Dr. Laurent Kin, Vincent King Jr., Yasmin and Ethan Slarke, Simone, Jeremy and Sinclair King, Tiffany Kendi, Kashif, Kenja, Kerlin Jr (Ching), Ian, Keron, Kerhnell King; other relatives and friends: Freeland Charmeeka Dean, Darcell, Tiffany, Tanya Smith, Georgette Christie, Angel, Ms. B, (Pappy) Deveaux, Rev. Dr. Wilton Strachan, Deacon and Mrs. Arthur Peet, Inspector Kingley Burrows and Family, Billy Burrows, Dr. &Mrs. Vantoureen, Mrs. Dorethea Thompson and family Sharon Lewis and family, Ethelbert Harrison and family, Kevin McIntosh and family, E. P. Roberts Primary School, Class of 98 S.C. Mcpherson, Mount Moriah Baptist Church Family, Mrs. Ellis, Mrs. Willamae Cunningham, Rev, Dencil Ker, Deacon Helen Rolle, Deacon Nellie Marshall and Family, Keva Ferguson and Family, Pastor Tom Roberts & the Family of East Street Gospel Chapel, Bishop David Braynen& the Family of Christ Temple Ministries, Walk in Medical Clinic Family, The Carmichael Road Family, The Lifebuoy Street Family, Yellow Elder Family, many others too numerous to mention, but who are all loved and appreciated. Friends may pay their last respects at Demeritte’s Funeral Home, Market Street from 01-5:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Death Notice For
Frank Solomon Clarke, 96 a resident of #15 Minnie Street & formerly of The Ferry, Exuma died at his residence on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. He is survived by his 1 son: Michael Richard Clarke; 1 granddaughter: Cassandra Clarke; daughter-in-law: Jennifer Clarke; adopted daughters: Flossamae Curling, Muntrella Woodard; dear friend: Greg Ritchie; great grand niece: Bernadette Rolle & a host of other relatives & friends. Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.
PAGE 8, Friday, October 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
LONG lines at Kendal Issac Gymnasium yesterday as locals wait to get vaccinated.
Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
All that it took to get people vaccinated was Black Friday I COULD go so many ways this week; the material has been in abundance. However, after seeing Bahamians descend en masse upon vaccination centres across the island, of course, it grabbed my attention. I had to find out what was causing increased interest in vaccines all of a sudden?
WHAT’S GOING ON?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to see Bahamians making the responsible
A Comic’s View
By INIGO ‘NAUGHTY’ ZENICAZELAYA
choice to get vaccinated. Better late than never, as the old saying goes. But I still have to ask myself what’s the real reason for the sudden shift towards vaccines. I know my people. Is
the information provided regarding vaccines and their efficacy rates and availability that’s causing the uptick in vaccinations? Well, that information has been circulating internationally and locally
for a while now. It gets updated regularly since the inception of the vaccines becoming a viable option in the fight against COVID. I know we are famous globally for being “on Bahamian time”. However, this recent phenomenon has nothing to do with us as a nation finally buying into accurate vaccine information and the latest advice from medical professionals. No, sir, collectively as a nation, we are too enthralled with conspiracy theories and fake news to ever “catch sense” that quickly. The various “D Average” factions that exist in our communities simply won’t allow it.
AN EPIPHANY....
Then it happened. I came across a particular press release from the US Embassy here in Nassau. As announced by the White House on September 20, beginning in early November, all adult foreign nationals travelling to the United States by air must demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19. At a recent press briefing, the US will open up the country to non-citizens starting in November under a “new international air travel” system, White House Covid-19 Response Co-ordinator Jeff Zients said. International travellers
will need to show proof of vaccination before boarding US-bound planes in addition to a negative Covid-19 test taken within three days of the flight, according to Zients. Zients elaborated in more in detail at the presser, adding: “International travel is critical to connecting family and friends, to fueling small and large businesses, that’s why, with science and public health as our guide, we have developed a new international air travel system that both enhances the safety of Americans here at home and enhances the safety of international air travel.” With these new requirements in place, fully vaccinated visitors will not need to quarantine upon arrival in the country. However, airlines are asked to collect the information of travellers for contact tracing purposes, Zients said. American travellers also will be subject to stricter requirements and will need to take a coronavirus test both a day before they leave the US and when they return. After some more research, my conclusion is that there are certain things my fellow Bahamians cannot do without. Walmart is one, and postThanksgiving Black Friday Sales is the other. We will suffer through curfews, lockdowns, social distancing protocols, etc., but we will not be denied trips to Florida, Walmart
shopping, and the “Black Friday” experience. I suspect that is why vaccination centres are being overrun with citizens wanting the “jab”. The call of “attention Walmart shoppers” and “save up to 90% off” is luring Bahamians out of their COVID funk. Especially Bahamians with a penchant for travel and shopping. I’m happy to know that many of us finally found the motivation to get vaccinated. With 98 infections per 100K people reported over the last seven days and 21,580 infections on top of over 600 coronavirusrelated deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began, we need as many Bahamians vaccinated as possible. The Bahamas has administered at least 224,531 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 28.8% of the country’s population, it’s getting there, but still not where we need to be. I’m thinking a Bahamasair’s ‘Black Friday’ shopping junket along with some ‘blue light’ specials at Walmart in November should push us over the required number of citizens to be vaccinated and get us to the desired “herd immunity” status that the Bahamas has been seeking. Can you imagine how far along we would have been as a nation if I would have thought of this sooner?
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 15, 2021, PAGE 9
The surprising twist in the Christopher Columbus statue saga
O
N Saturday, October 9, two days before Heroes Day, police arrested a man for destroying the statue of Christopher Columbus on Government House grounds. The act went locally viral in minutes. Judging by the people who witnessed the man shouting, slashing and smashing the historic figure, and chose to record the activity or do nothing about it, there was strong sentiment in favour of its destruction. What they did not realize was how that statue came to stand where it was, who paid for it and why it was erected. Given that knowledge, would they have been so eager to be complicit, I wonder. Saturday’s furious bashing was part of a larger movement to erase history we do not approve of or resent. Statues all over the United States are being removed or destroyed because their presence reminds us of incidents and symbols of hatred and injustice.
History But thanks to historian, author and former Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Tellis Bethel who had researched the history of Christopher Columbus for the second book in his trilogy about the Lucayan Sea, a book that hit the stands, Kindle and Amazon this week, we know the destruction backfired in a way that should startle all of us into recognizing how little we know about our own history. What will become of the stories that shaped us when people like Dr. Gail Saunders and Paul Aranha pass away or Sir Orville Turnquest is too old to share tales and Sir Arthur Foulkes falls silent
(may that be a very long time from now). Former Commodore Bethel urges us to bring balance to perspective “to prevent the human tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater due to a lack of critical information.” These are his words as he begs Bahamians to take an informed response to any decision made concerning this statue’s past significance and the role it should have in The Bahamas’ future. The following points are excerpts from his manuscript titled “The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands— The Peace Capital of the Americas.” The book, the second in a trilogy, provides insights into how Bahamians should respond to the traumatic events left in the wake of Columbus. “The statue was installed at Government House in 1832 by Governor Sir James Carmichael Smyth about two years before the emancipation of enslaved persons throughout the British colonies in 1834. Sir James was appointed Governor of the Bahama Colony in 1829, five years before emancipation. The transatlantic slave trade was abolished by Britain in 1807, but the practice of slavery in British colonies continued until 1834.” He notes that Governor Carmichael was an abolitionist who opposed the institution of slavery and we mark his name with the Carmichael Road and the
constituency honouring his legacy, though few know why Carmichael carries the name. We pick up again from his telling of the story. “The Columbus statue was purchased by the Governor of the Bahama Colony with monies freely donated to him by black Bahamians. Black Bahamians raised the monies as an expression of their appreciation for Governor Carmichael’s public stance against slavery and his fair treatment of oppressed Bahamians.” Bethel researched the story, showing the Governor had also attended Sunday worship at a black church on the corner of Gladstone Road and Carmichael Road and that is why it was named after him.
Gift “The Governor wanted to use the monies to invest in something that would be a lasting legacy of the gift he received and the mutual respect he had for the Bahamians who provided the money,” he writes. “In 1828, four years before the statue was purchased, biographer and historian Washington Irving published a book on Columbus’ biography, glamorizing the explorer’s singular achievement in ‘discovering a New World.’ The truth about the horrors associated with the indigenous (Native American) slave trade and genocide initiated
INCENTIVES DO WORK, SO DO DISINCENTIVES
W
hen someone I respect fired a verbal canon at me saying I was off my rocker to recommend incentives for vaccinations, even cash, I gave it a moment’s thought. Maybe I was wrong. Was it unfair to those who had taken the vaccine early when there was no incentive? Was an incentive to pay past due real property tax unfair to those who paid on time? The debate is not about what is fair and unfair. In both cases, we are in a battle, one to get as many jabs into as many arms as possible so we can regain our freedom, hug our friends, see more of our family, not be afraid to gather or travel. We need jabs to give our frontline workers and our health care system a break before they collapse like a castle in the sand on an incoming tide. We need jabs to get our economy up to full steam because God and Brave and every individual of every political persuasion knows if we don’t get that momentum going, the hole we are digging will make the climb back out that much harder. Incentives go far deeper than giving a population a reason to do the right thing. Sometimes they just make economic sense over the long haul. This is a lesson we might want to consider as we attempt to reignite our economy. My friend who thought I was crazy to recommend incentives for jabs should see what cities throughout the U.S. are doing to
provide incentives to fill jobs. In Vermont, where tax incentives-incentives attracted top tier companies and there are more than 12,000 jobs to be filled, the state is paying between $5,000 and $7,500 to those who move and call Vermont their new home. Topeka, Kansas, just recently announced it will pay workers $10,000 to move to the city even if they are working remotely for a company elsewhere. Little Harmony, Minnesota, with a population of less than 2,000 but with more than 600 jobs to be filled, is offering $12,000 in cash rebates to those who build a new home. In Maine, where the attempt is to attract well-educated residents, incentives are tied to reduction in student loans and in New Haven, Connecticut, the city is not only offering up to $10,000 to call the hometown of Yale University your hometown, but up to $30,000 in energy upgrades. Take your pick of the zip code that offers a financial reason to call it home – Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma are all competing for residents, trying to kick their economies into high gear. Incentives work wonders. And if you don’t believe that incentives work, just consider disincentives. When the US announced that as of November 1, all foreign nationals visiting the US must be fully vaccinated, suddenly all that hesitancy about conspiracy theories and “man won’t be man” vanished in the face of a ban from Walmart, Target, Home Depot or Brandsmart.
THE DAMAGED Christopher Columbus statue at Government House. by Columbus in the Americas were not as widespread among the general public as it is today. Governor Carmichael thought the statue would be the perfect representation of appreciation that was expressed to him by oppressed Bahamians.” Here is the part that might have shocked the man who destroyed and the bystanders who did nothing to stop the act. “Governor Carmichael wanted to install the statue in the public square downtown but was resisted by the white elite, who wanted nothing to do with a gift sponsored by black people. Governor Carmichael then decided to place the statue on his property on Peck’s Slope on the Government House Grounds where it is located today.” He paid the price and was transferred, according to historical records uncovered by Bethel – in his words: “The Governor was later transferred from the Bahama Colony in 1833 due to pressure placed on British authorities by the white Bahamian ruling class, a year before emancipation.” “The Bahamas shunned him but another British colony recognized the honour and principles for which he stood. “Governor Carmichael died in 1838 in Georgetown, British Guiana (Guyana) where he oversaw the passage of legislation for the Abolition Bill. He died the year enslaved persons had
completed their four-year apprenticeship programme in the Bahama Colony (1834 -1838). A monument (bust) of Governor Carmichael was erected in Guyana in his honour.” Says Bethel: “The story behind The Bahamas’ statue of Columbus is one of injustice by the oppressor and the collaboration between the oppressed and those who were empowered to stand against it, even though both were on opposite sides of the ethnic divide.
Reminder “This Columbus statue and its story should be a constant reminder to those who possess the capacity to do so to stand up for human dignity. It should also encourage the oppressed to unite not on the grounds of ethnicity but human dignity. More importantly, this statue and its story should inspire Bahamians and the millions who visit our shores to learn from the mistakes of the past, improve on any positive accomplishments made by those who preceded us, and strive to create success stories of our own for humanity’s betterment. “Our lack of understanding of the past will breed zealous immaturity that will cause us to toss the baby out with the bathwater. The bathwater is Columbus’ involvement in the slavery of the indigenous
peoples and the exploitation of their wealth. The baby is what this statue ironically represents, a stand against slavery and exploitation.” The recent attack on this monument is a testament to the destruction of our rich heritage that ignorance can create. In a way, this recent incident concerning the statue adds to its story. To throw out The Bahamas’ Columbus statue is to toss out the blood, sweat, and tears of the enslaved persons who invested in it and to do away with the sacrificial efforts made by a white Governor who stood against slavery. Furthermore, getting rid of this statue negates the significant role this monument can play in bringing reconciliation and restoration to humanity through the story it now reveals to the world.” Thank you, Tellis Bethel for sharing that information. How ironic that the book hit publication date less than 48 hours after the nearcrumbling of the statue that was a gift to the governor who represented and sided with the oppressed and after whom New Providence’s fastest-growing community is named. The history of The Bahamas is complex and needs to be told in its entirety, the raw beauty of its romance, the ugly underbelly of its disgrace and the moments that made and continue to make a difference.