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Volume: 122 No. 16, December 12, 2024
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1
SUSPENDED Six FNM MPs to miss two House sessions following mace toss last week
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net FREE National Movement (FNM) leader Michael Pintard accused the Davis administration of trying to silence the opposition after he and five other opposition members were suspended from the House of Assembly for two sittings following last week’s chaotic scenes in the chamber. Government Business
and National Security Minister Leader Wayne Munroe moved to suspend Mr Pintard, deputy FNM leader Shanendon Cartwright, Kwasi Thompson, Adrian White, Adrian Gibson, and Iram Lewis after House Speaker Patricia Deveaux condemned the opposition’s “disrespectful” behaviour last week. The suspension came after St Barnabas MP
THE EMPTY bench after the suspension of six FNM MPs from the House of Assembly yesterday.
Photo: Dante Carrer/Tribune Staff
SEE PAGE THREE
Fire destroys the homes of four URCA TAKES GBPA ENERGY SEVEN CHARGED IN $15M families on Dunmore Street
ACKLINS COCAINE BUST
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net FIVE Bahamian men and two Colombian men were remanded in custody yesterday after being charged in connection with a $15.3m cocaine bust involving a crashed plane in Acklins last week. Senior Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux arraigned Bahamians Mickey Albert, 36; Jerry
Pierre, 46; Chelsey Armaly, 54; Robert McSweeney, 46; and Demario Ferguson, 40, as well as Colombians Julio Alberto Casadiego, 63, and John Gomez Peña, 39, on multiple drug charges. These include two counts of conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply, conspiracy to import dangerous drugs, and abetment to import dangerous drugs. SEE PAGE TWO
BATTLE TO SUPREME COURT
By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
A FIRE ravaged homes on Dunmore Street, consuming funds an elderly man was saving for his cancer treatment and compounding the grief of another family mourning the loss of its matriarch. Bain and Grants Town SEE PAGE FIVE
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
FIREFIGHTERS at the scene of the fire on Dunmore Street yesterday. Photo: Nikia Charlton
Munroe: Government cannot track Bahamians named in US indictment By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net
NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe.
NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said government could not track the Bahamians mentioned in a recent US federal indictment, adding that if the people named flee The Bahamas, they would be subject to extradition proceedings wherever they go. Mr Munroe noted that Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has said
that when the United States makes an extradition request, the Bahamas government will abide by the rules that govern the country. His comments follow a US federal indictment that claims drug traffickers have smuggled tons of cocaine through The Bahamas into the US since 2021, with the “support and protection of corrupt Bahamian government officials, including SEE PAGE FOUR
THE Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has put its battle with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) over who has the authority to regulate Freeport’s energy sector before the Supreme Court. Tribune Business can reveal URCA has filed a legal action, seeking to resolve this long-standing vexing dispute, following the two sides’ much-publicised summer exchanges sparked by the GBPA’s decision to proceed with reviewing Grand Bahama Power Company’s threeyear tariff application that includes a 6.3 percent base rate hike. The legal action’s filing, though, has never been publicly disclosed until now. All parties involved were tight-lipped on the move when contacted yesterday. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS