WOMAN & HEALTH TUESDAY
Savory & Sweet Mornings
HIGH 78ºF LOW 69ºF
i’m lovin’ it!
Monday,
February
CARS! CARS!
8, 2021
The Tribune Established
Being Bound To
Swear To The Dogmas
1903
Of No Master
The Tribune L A T E S T
Volume: 119 No.7, November 30, 2021
N E W S
tise Call
To Adver
-2351
601-0007 or 502
Starting at
$33.60
CLASSIFIEDS TRADER
ed
VAT includ
Established 1903
O N
T R I B U N E 2 4 2 . C O M
Biggest And Best!
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1
MINNIS DEFENDS RCL’S LAND LEASE
Insists project brings jobs but agrees length of deal was not usual By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has defended the agreement his administration struck with Royal Caribbean for the lease of Crown land on Paradise Island. Press Secretary Clint Watson said last week the Davis administration will not let Royal Caribbean lease seven acres of land for 150 years. “I agree that the standard lease time is 100 years,” Dr
Minnis said in the House of Assembly yesterday. “I accept that and I am certain that RCL would have no problem with reverting rather than 150 to 100 years.” Toby Smith, a Bahamian entrepreneur who is behind a $2m investment in the Paradise Island Lighthouse & Beach Club, has an ongoing court matter in which he alleges that he has a valid lease for two parcels of land included in RCL’s agreement.
FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands believes the government should move away from rapid antigen testing and instead require all travellers seeking to enter the country to produce a negative RT-PCR test in response to heightened concerns over the Omicron variant. Stressing now is the time for the country to act in preparation of a potential
SEE PAGE FOUR
VAT INCREASE HAD $2BN HIT ON ECONOMY
CONSUMER spending shrank by $2bn in the year after the Minnis administration hiked VAT to 12 percent, the Auditor General’s Office calculated in a report. The report said tax filings showed money spent on goods and services in the Bahamian economy nosedived in 2018-2019 by 34 percent year-over-year. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
SEE PAGE THREE
fourth COVID wave, the former Cabinet minister recommended the rule be applied to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people and added the test submitted should be no older than three days. Dr Sands spoke after the government-imposed travel restrictions against several African countries, including Botswana and Zimbabwe, in view of concerns of the new strain, which has since been identified as a variant
- SEE PAGE EIGHT
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
‘MAKE ALL VISITORS TAKE PCR NOT ANTIGEN TEST’ By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
FACE TO FACE: IF YOUR PARTNER IS AN ABUSER, YOU HAVE TO END IT
FIRST DAY ON THE JOB THE NEW Leader of the Opposition, Michael Pintard, in the House of Assembly yesterday. He pledged yesterday to hold the government’s feet to the fire. See PAGE THREE for more. Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
MAN FOUND DEAD AT WHEEL OF HIS CAR By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net POLICE are investigating after a man was found shot dead in the driver’s seat of a running car on Hospital Lane last night. According to Assistant Superintendent of Police Audley Peters, shortly after 8pm officers were called to the area after receiving information about gunshot sounds in the community.
POLICE on the scene of a homicide on Hospital Lane North. Photo: Racardo Thomas/ Tribune Staff “Upon arrival of first responding officers, they
met a grey Nissan March with (its) engine running parked at an angle on the corner of Hospital Lane and an unknown named road. The officers inspected the vehicle and discovered a dark male slumped over the front seat,” the police press liaison officer told reporters at the scene. ASP Peters said Emergency Medical Services were called and later pronounced the victim dead. SEE PAGE SEVEN
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
...DAVIS SAYS PLAN WAS TO GO TO 15 PERCENT
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net WHILE outlining plans to steer the country in a new direction, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis insisted the former government planned to increase value added tax to 15 percent. Mr Davis told Parliament this was the suggestion of the International Monetary Fund’s technical report that either the structure of the tax be changed or it suffer a rate increase. SEE PAGE FIVE
PETER YOUNG: SO MUCH TALKING AS DESPERATE CONTINUE TO DIE
- SEE PAGE NINE