A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Monday, January 18, 2021
The History of Majority Rule in The Bahamas
THE ROAD TO MAJORITY RULE (1942 –1967)
This singular event in Bahamian history played a significant role in shaping the modern Bahamas we experience today. The significant events leading up and emanating from Majority Rule must become permanently etched in the Bahamian historical landscape as these events define us as a people, reveal what we believe in as Bahamians, and serve as a constant reminder of our vision and values.
Following is a cursory account of the significant events surrounding and leading up to Majority Rule, the meaning of Majority Rule, and homage will be duly paid to the freedom fighters that fought this epic battle in the name of freedom and justice.
The Burma Road Riots
Many local political historians believe that June 1, 1942 marked the beginning of the modern political history of the Bahamas. The events of the Burma Road Riots came as a result of the agitation by labourers for equal pay for equal work, regardless of colour or nationality.
As you know, a satellite airfield was being constructed in western New Providence for use by the American armed forces. A labour dispute ensued over equal pay and this dispute took on a life of its own and became intimately interwoven with the overall movement for freedom and social justice. Today that site is the Lynden Pindling International Airport.
So it is clear that from the first stirrings of political activity in the country, labour has been an integral part of the struggle.
The Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas
The Movement really started with a conversation between Mrs. Mary Ingraham and her husband following his defeat in the 1949 general elections. The defeated candidate opined that his political fortunes could have been very different had women voted in that election. Other significant national events that fueled the Suffrage Movement were the Burma Road Riots of 1942, the General Strike of 1958, and the Labour Movement of the 1950s. The civil rights movement in the United States with Dr. Martin Luther King was an international event that also fanned the flames that burned for social justice and equality in The Bahamas.
Mary Ingraham formed alliances with kindred spirits from across the political divide as Bahamian women and men worked tirelessly together to fight racial, political and economic injustice in The Bahamas. This alliance included freedom fighters such as Georgiana Symonette, Eugenia Lockhart, Althea Mortimer, Albertha M. Isaacs, Doris Johnson, Grace Wilson, Mildred Moxey, Ethel Kemp, Gladys Bailey, Una Prosper Heastie, Veronica Lotmore, Nora Hannah and Madge Brown.
Mary Ingraham was elected as President of the Suffrage Movement in 1957. Georgiana Symonette was the Vice-president and Eugenia Lockhart was the Treasurer. In 1958, Dr. Doris Johnson returned home from studying abroad and joined the Suffrage Movement.
During the years 1959 and 1960, the Movement gained considerable ground advancing petitions and demonstrating publicly for the right to vote. In November 1960, Eugenia Lockhart and Dr. Doris Johnson accompanied Henry M. Taylor, Chairman of the PLP, to London to present a Petition to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. In January 1961 a Select Committee of the House of Assembly gave a Report in favour of the right to vote for women but with effect from January 1963. The PLP and the Independents in the House of Assembly opposed the report. An appeal was made to the House of Commons in England again. On February 23, 1961 a Bill to enable women to vote was enacted with effect from June 30, 1962. Bahamian women voted for the first time on November 26, 1962.
The Birth of the PLP
The PLP was born out of a movement that embodied the hopes, aspirations, and feelings of a generation of Bahamians who were demanding equal work, majority rule, and freedom to pursue any hopes and wishes they dared conceive. The man who generally credited with conceiving the Progressive Liberal Party was William Cartwright, a publisher, real estate broker, and Member of the House of Assembly for Cat Island. In August of 1953, Mr. Cartwright reportedly invited to the first meeting on Bay and Frederick Streets, the following men: The Hon. Charles Rodriquez, Mr. Henry Milton Taylor, Mr. Cyril Saint John Stevenson, Mr. Samuel Carey, Mr. Holly Brown, Mr. Clement Pinder, Mr. F.W. Russell and others.
Many black businessmen and lawyers were invited to join, but for reasons of their own, decided not to be identified with the new movement. But the party’s course was clear from the beginning; the PLP was designed to represent all that was opposed to unfair privilege and the wealth and power this afforded the Bay Street Boys.
General Strike of 1958
In support of 1957’s protests, a 16-day General Strike brought Nassau to a screeching halt. Unionized or not, just about every worker participated, and the strike was quite peaceful. The result was the Trade Union and Industrial Conciliation Act and the setting up of a Labor Department. The General Strike took place in January 1958.
Later that year in June, Allan Lennox Boyd, Secretary of State for the Colonies ordered that the first constitutional steps be taken toward Majority Rule. The voting franchise was extended to all males whether they were land owners or not; the once ubiquitous unlimited plural vote was ordered to be reduced to two and the abolition of the company vote was ordered.
Women’s Right To Vote
In November of 1960 Sir Henry Taylor led a delegation to London to champion the right of women to vote in The Bahamas. Accompanying Sir Henry were notables like Dame Doris Johnson and Eugenia Lockhart. Shortly after their return, women received their right to vote and exercised those rights during the November 26, 1962 general elections.
This new women’s right brought a force and element into the history of The Bahamas that affected the country’s social, economic and political development. To this day, the effect of women exercising their right to vote has impacted all aspects of national life as women from all sides of the political divide have, and continue to make their contribution to the country, holding key positions in many offices throughout our country.
Black Tuesday
On this day, the governing United Bahamian Party sought the approval for a Boundaries Draft Order, which established the boundaries for the various constituencies of New Providence and the Family Islands, under the provisions of the 1964 Constitution. During a sitting of the House of Assembly, the PLP proposed two amendments to the revision of the Boundaries Draft Order which the UBP had presented. The amendments were designed to get a fairer idea of the number of voters and their distribution, but both proposed amendments were rejected.
It was at that point that Sir Lynden walked over to the Speakers’ table and lifted the 165-year-old mace, the symbol of the Speaker’s authority, and said, "This is the symbol of authority, and authority on this island belongs to the people and the people are outside."
With that he raised the mace and hurled it through the open window of the House of Assembly.
The Progressive Liberal Party describes this event as "an act of deviance in the pursuit of liberty and fairness." So Tuesday 27, April 1965 was destined to go down in Bahamian history as Black Tuesday.
Majority Rule Day
Some have argued that the great significance of Majority Rule was that after years of struggle by many freedom and justice loving people, the back of the old oligarchy was finally broken. More importantly, Majority Rule presented the opportunity for real democracy to come to The Bahamas, underpinned by equality, tolerance, economic justice, social justice, all important elements in the creation of a free, modern, democratic state.
All Bahamians benefited, in one way or another, from the historic event that took place on January 10, 1967, a day that now wears the rather inelegant appellation of Majority Rule Day.
Majority Rule ushered in the opportunity for all Bahamians to have constitutional, political, social, cultural and economic rights. Where these rights were not readily accessible, the Government of the day created laws and implemented policies to enable these entitlements.
January 10th is a day in the national calendar that belongs to all Bahamians – not just PLP’s but to all Bahamians, black and white, rich and poor, young and old, city dweller and Family Islander, and, yes, PLP and FNM alike. January 10th needs to be commemorated and celebrated by all of us because it represents one of the truly great and defining moments in our evolution as a people.
With the exception of Emancipation from Slavery in 1834 and the attainment of Independence in 1973, there is no event of more consequence and historical importance than the attainment of Majority Rule on January 10th, 1967. January 10th, 1967 represents the transition from the old Bahamas to a New Bahamas; the point of transition from minority government to Majority Rule; the point of transition to a modern democracy.
It also represents, however, one of the highest pinnacles in the historic – and still ongoing – struggle of the Bahamian people for economic empowerment, for equality of opportunity, and for social justice.
January 10th, 1967, to be sure, was neither an end nor even a beginning. Instead, it was an important milestone in a journey that was begun centuries ago when some anonymous slave struck a blow for freedom for the first time. We pause to pay homage to the personalities and players in this epic struggle. In a hard fought and competitive election in 1967, the PLP delivered the following 18 members to a 38-member House of Assembly. They were: Lynden Pindling, Preston Albury, Clarence Bain, Milo Butler, Clifford Darling, Elwood Donaldson, Arthur Foulkes, Carlton Francis, Arthur Hanna, Warren Levarity, Curtis MacMillan, Uriah McPhee, Maurice Moore, Edmund Moxey, Jimmy Shepherd, George Thompson, Jeffrey Thompson and Cecil Wallace Whitfield. Randol Fawkes who successfully ran as Labour in 1962 and 1967 with the support of the PLP threw his support behind the PLP and became a member of the first Majority Rule cabinet. He figured prominently in the movement toward Majority Rule.
Successful Independent candidate Sir Alvin Braynen threw in his lot with the PLP and accepted the post of Speaker of the House.
These two warriors for justice and freedom tipped the proverbial scale in favor of the PLP and the first Majority Rule cabinet was formed: This distinguished group consisted of Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Milo Butler, Arthur Hanna, Clarence Bain, Jeffrey Thompson, Carlton Francis, Randol Fawkes, Warren Levarity, Curtis McMillan, Clement T. Maynard and Lynden Pindling.
In this 40th year of nationhood, we come together as one people to mark a critically important milestone in our progress as a people – and to re-commit ourselves to a struggle that never ends.
As The Bahamas looks to the future, it must be that the average man, making the average salary, with children to educate to university level; that they see not a glass ceiling but opportunities that give rise to hope as we work to build the best little country in the world.
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Here is how a Bahamian Resident is able to Purchase Cryptocurrencies in The Bahamas
IslandBit sought persistently to acquire cryptocurrencies in BSD
Dear Clients,
Thank you for you overwhelming support, encouragement and concern during this time.
There has been much discussion about our notice dated Wednesday December 23rd, 2020 that prompts us to clarify a few points.
IslandBit was developed during a time of economic recovery efforts. We are strong supporters of economic development and realise the importance of healthy foreign reserves.
As such, we built our business with The Bahamas and Bahamians in mind. We sought persistently to acquire cryptocurrencies in BSD- and only in BSD- so that the impact on foreign reserves were lessened to the point of negation.
Our business was resultantly allowed to operate by the Central Bank and The Securities Commission allowing us to make crypto more accessible and more affordable to Bahamians than most methods.
In our previous notice, it was never our intimation that the Central Bank does not allow Bahamians to own cryptocurrencies. Instead, our notice intended to inform our clients that, at this time, purchases of crypto for Bahamian residents who did not acquire investment dollars through the ICM prior to its suspension on 1st May 2020 is prohibited.
We were expressly informed that the suspension of ICM transactions “would not permit residents to acquire foreign currency assets such as crypto currencies at this time.”
To avoid any further confusion, here is how a Bahamian Resident is able to purchase cryptocurrencies based on our communications with the Central Bank:
1. Cryptocurrencies have been deemed a “foreign currency denominated asset” and must be purchased in a currency other than Bahamian dollars
2. If you are a Bahamian resident (Citizen or foreigner with the right to earn Bahamian dollars) you require permission from the investment currency market (ICM) to purchase crytpocurrencies. If you have prior approval from the ICM you may purchase cryptocurrencies with previously approved investment dollars.
3. If you do not have prior approval from the ICM, you must apply to purchase cryptocurrencies. (Note: The ICM has been suspended since May 2020 and no date has been scheduled for resumption.)
4. The purchase of cryptocurrencies via credit and debit cards also requires approval of the ICM because of the intervening foreign currency access.
IslandBit remains in contact with regulators and is actively pursuing the appropriate pivot that allows the country to benefit from our business model which has the least impact on foreign reserves while addressing the concerns of the Central Bank.
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Royalty, Oil Royalties and Oil Madness with the Grimpen Reprobates and Greed-lusting Lunatics in The Bahamas
PROFESSOR GILBERT MORRIS ON BAHAMAS’ POOR CONCEPT OF NEGOTIATION:
IN TODAY’S PAPER, the Attorney General of The Bahamas intones that “if they find oil” we’ll negotiate a royalty!
Every hedge fund manager, investment banker, every bond investor, and investment grade insurance broker spilled his coffee at those petulant words. Every first year student in finance or graduate student in a negotiation or mediation seminar knows this statement goes against every basic rule of negotiation or even business strategy.
Here is the context any strategist sees immediately:
1. You (THE BAHAMAS) allows a no name company that’s no where near the best-of-brand to travel around the world flogging the name of The Bahamas in some ‘hustle and flow’, selling their eyelashes and toenails to raise money for what purpose? TO DRILL in The Bahamas...HEAR ME NOW: THE BAHAMAS!
2. This name (BAHAMAS) that evokes natural wonder GLOBALLY; a luxury brand that the world saves-it’s-money in hopes to enter and engage...you allow this BRAND to be flogged in every slopbucket across the globe...altering IMMEDIATELY 120 years of branding.
3. Just to emphasise: It’s not as if this company moved around saying “Hey man, this process is like we are exhibiting at the Louvre or in the Vatican. THEY ARE NOT HAVING TO SAY: this is the Bahamas. We have strict rules on who can participate in this deal, even stricter rules on how we mention the Bahamas’ name and still stricter rules on the methods: in fact, we have to work with the best engineers in the world and the leading environmental scientists...basically inventing a new concept and method for even preliminary exploration and it has to go before a global panel of experts and the science has to show a “Saudi Reserve level motherload” of potential oil”, with forward contracts for sales of $100 billion in 10 years”.
This is the language and pressure ANYONE WHO GAINS THE CONCESSION TO DRILL IN THE EARTH’s MOST PRISTINE ENVIRONMENT SHOULD SPEAK AND FEEL. This raises a question: WHERE IS THE SCIENCE? The science and engineering methodology that allows a company to DRILL IN THE BAHAMAS should be of a quality to win the Nobel Prize! It should have tongues wagging about a NEW BAHAMIAN SCIENTIFIC STANDARD! Where is the science?
4. The fact that the company does NOT have to speak in this manner and the fact that they NOW KNOW, gaining a concession to drill in The Bahamas is little different from selling fake hair, IT IS THEY who gained confidence in this affair?
THEY GREW FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING!
THE BAHAMAS GAINED NOTHING: we didn’t set a new deal standard, we didn’t layout new green criteria...NOTHING! Instead this process shows any hustler can gain access to the world’s most pristine environment because we, to whom God granted stewardship, are low-information fools, who would sell our children’s tongues for disposable shiny objects!
5. Negotiations depend on leverage: so if this company knows we are so clueless, backward and morally vulgar toward our birthright, that we put them under ZERO PRESSURE to violate a 120 year old hospitality brand, under zero pressure to INVENT some new process for this privilege to drill in our environment, then we’ve lost already! UTTERLY!
6. What the AG’s apocalyptically dissonant statement says is this: WE permitted a nothing company a concession to VIOLATE the tranquility of our NATURAL LANDSCAPE THAT WE DIDNT CREATE AND CANT REPLACE, which the entire world envies, and now that they have this concession and USED THE NAME AND PRESTIGE OF THE BAHAMAS to gain notice in the world - FOR NOTHING - we will wait until they discover the two cups of dirty dishwater under OUR PRISTINE OCEAN FLOOR...then when that company goes from nothing to making an oil find in THE BAHAMAS...and once they HAVE ALL THE POWER AND LEVERAGE in the deal structure...we, THE BAHAMAS will negotiate a royalty!!!!!!
Are we smoking the hair of our armpits?
7. This telegraphs to the entire world that we are not just clueless to have allowed this TREASONOUS ASSAULT ON OUR ENVIRONMENT, but we have not even a basic clue how deal-structure functions. This leads to another question: WHERE IS THE DEAL STRUCTURE, BENCHMARKS, HURDLE PROPOSITIONS AND SPILL INSURANCE EQUAL TO THE RARE ENVIRONMENT THAT’s BEING PUT AT RISK? WHERE IS IT?
9. But here is the ‘coup d’ grace’, any deal specialist knows already the investment begging company can’t monetise any oil find. As such, they likely would have to flip it to a major oil company if they find anything. Given that the world is awash in cheap oil, and with major new oils finds in Russia, Brazil and with Iran set to come online forcing global prices lower, they would cap those wells in The Bahamas and we get NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING....as usual!
10. BUT the world knows now that we are grimpen reprobates and greed-lusting lunatics, who would sell a priceless irreplaceable environment - with a 120 year global profile - for NOTHING, ignoring our competitive advantages in new hospitality models, for a dying industry in which we have zero and would have zero influence!
Friday, November 27, 2020
I no longer have faith in the leadership of the Democratic National Alliance - DNA
DNA Vice chairman for the Youth arm, RESIGNS & SHE drops a bomb saying Komolafe is NOT the one!!!!!
The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has lost its core.
Letter of Resignation
August 29, 2020
Kellie Rolle - Vice Chairman of Youth Affairs
To: Democratic National Alliance
Please accept this letter as my formal resignation from my position as your Vice Chairman of Youth Affairs effective immediately.
This decision was made because I no longer have faith in the leadership of the Democratic National Alliance. To continue with the DNA, would go against my morals as a human being and as a citizen of this beautiful country I call home, The Bahamas.
To stay with the DNA, would be like sacrificing pieces of my soul, the core of my being and who I am as a person. The Bahamas is supposed to be a democratic country, and I have personally seen situations where democracy was thrown out the window.
The Democratic National Alliance portrays characteristics that are more in line of a dictatorship. I have seen where a person can be crucified for standing up for their morals and for what they believe to be right because it is not in line with the beliefs of particular individuals within the leadership of the party.
The Democratic National Alliance is spiteful, and I will not stand behind a party where persons cannot decipher between personal and professional or cannot stand up for what is right when they know something is wrong. A party that will stand with the wrong, knowing it is wrong, but will stick with it because what is right is the unpopular belief.
The Democratic National Alliance claims to be a party that is inclusive of the youths, but they truly are not.
They include us without really including us. We are just there for show, so that they can sell the fairytale that they are for the youths of this country to the public eye.
I will never be a person that will sacrifice my morals for the betterment of ANY PARTY and will always stand with my PEOPLE. I am loyal to the PEOPLE.
The Democratic National Alliance has lost its core.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
The Lincoln Bain of division, hate and entertainment
Lincoln Bain coalition real political motives are division, hate and entertainment
By: :
What have we here...
Response to Lincoln Bain response:
1. The is a moratorium on aragonite mining. Curling license is to mine SAND only. He never said that he was mining aragonite.
2. You claim that they are mining from ships. How come no one has ever spotted them. The entire Bahamas is covered by both satellite and radar. There is a record of every ship in our waters. Where is the evidence. Scroll over the arrows and click to see the names of the ships and detail information. https://www.marinetraffic.com/.../centetony:24.5/zoom:7
3. Marcona Ocean Industries is a company registered in Florida. Tony Myer name is not in the records.
4. A simple check with customs would confirm that customs, police and immigration were on the cay.
5. In Michelle Malcolm interview, you said that the Symonettes been mining aragonite for 40 years. Aragonite mining did not start until 1971. Pop Symonette and the UBP were long out of power. Dillingham was a US company listed on the NY Stock Exchange.
6. Tony Myers said that he sold everything. You said that he held on to the mining license. Still no proof.
7. Tony Myers has a company in Alabama but sand and aragonite can easily be sourced from the US wholesale market with less hassle than mining here.
8. The Aragonite Bill was specific to Ocean Cay which is just one location. That does not mean that no Bahamians could get involved in the business at that location or any other location.
9. So you know how to write bills better than the AG office.
10. Curling does not have an aragonite license. The witness said that they were involved in illegal operations well that doesn't count and should be investigated.
11. You do not seem capable of understanding that the processed value is not the same as the mining value. It does not matter what your aggregate is used for. You can only charge what it is worth in your possession which is $50 per ton.
12. Everyone involved in mining also is involved in the end product business also. The money is not in mining. Most just breakeven for the returns at the end. Therefore there is nothing wrong with owning companies in other countries.
13. The Central Bank reports show that he paid all his local taxes in full and on time. Taxes are paid on volume at extraction, not at export. You are very confused. See exhibit A
14. The witnesses testimony can not stand up in court. Completely circumstantial about ownership and value.
16. You do an audit first and then say corruption it is the other way around.
17. You admit to tapping Manny Alexio phone and should be arrested for that. You even threaten to do the same to those around you. What type of Pastor are you?
18. Everything that you have produced is totally irrelevant.
19. Your real motives are division, hate and entertainment.
20. All of your videos are circumstantial, hearsay and exaggerated.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Covid-19 Madness in The Bahamas
By Dennis Dames:
So, we are on lockdown until September 30, 2020. Let’s pray that everything works out by then. We are really a lockdown-weary people right now. Life cannot continue on this road beyond September – in my opinion.
One of the dirty secrets about COVID-19 in our country, is an ill-prepared and Ill-equipped healthcare infrastructure. We did not reach here in 2017. We know that our healthcare system is in critical condition, and we knew it for decades now.
It looks like many of us will die, or become wounded from COVID-19 for life. Thanks to a half century of inept, incompetent and plain old visionless black governance.
So, if things do not improve on the Corona Virus front by September 30, 2020 – we will have lots more weeping and wailing to do for our love ones and country, as life must go on – for all that it’s worth.
The first order of business should be to: Break the culture of the pervasive government dependency in The Bahamas, and move full steam ahead with the implementation of local government on New Providence Island. There is an unacceptable and unsustainable level of dependency on the national government – by the people; even in the good times.
Next, let move to build a healthcare system that’s wholly wholesome for our people and nation; but progressive vision will be required.
That’s where 2022 come in folks. Let’s get to know every Tom, Dick, and Harry; and Mary, Sue and Jane – and all the others who will come our way to seek the majority support. Let’s ask them about their plans to fix our healthcare system. Let’s ask them about their vision for local government on New Providence Island. Let’s ask them about their plans to correct the unproductive culture of government dependency.
Yes, let’s ask them about their national vision for the country. It cannot be just tax, borrow and spend – as usual. It cannot be a broken centralized bureaucracy for five more years. It simply cannot be the same old-same old political jive and madness, like locking-down the country in hopes that the Corona Virus disappears by the end of the lockdown period.
God knows it.
Monday, July 27, 2020
The Daggers Are Sharpening Against Brave Davis
By Dr Kevin Alcena
It's imperative that the opposition leader Brave Davis QC consolidates his politically base. An example— Leslie Miller, Alfred Sears, Obie Wilchombe: bring them to the table. If he politically disses them it can cause him the election. He needs everyone on deck, it's about winning. He must learn to be strategically aligned. The PLP is a fraternity and to create any form of dissent would have a catastrophic implication, in respect to winning the next election.
Brutus is dancing with Judas, and the chickcharney is echoing the beat of the Junkanoo in respect to the PLP party. This is moved by some wannabe elitist boys, who are thinking in their heads that they can outmanoeuvre Brave Davis and actually assume the leadership of the PLP—they’ve got to be crazy.
“The power of the people and the power of reason are one.”(Georg Buchner)
There are several reasons that can help one to clearly understand why the PLP Government lost the 2017 General Elections. This article attempts to articulate in an objective fashion that they PLP lost as a result of: misinterpretation, elitism, polarized democracy, nescience, allegations of corruption, last minute changes, arrogance and nonchalance by Cabinet Ministers.
There is an old African proverb saying that goes, “Listen to the sound of the grass”. I believe the former prime minister Perry Christie was weak, in fact he’s the first Prime Minister in the entire Commonwealth of Nations who embarrassingly lost his seat by 4 votes and when he won it, it was by 1700. He established a systematic form of elitism and created a form of Camelot in that the people were not important unless in his inner circle. People did not feel as though he was sensitive enough to their needs and concerns in order to prevent or make things happen for the small man. In the words of Plato “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” As Bahamians, we are a unique set of individuals and know exactly how and when to make our presence felt.
There are different styles of leadership. Former Prime Minister Perry Christie is very ambiguous in his style of leadership and somewhat transactional, whereas Brave Davis the opposition leader is caring, strategic, and people oriented. An example— he will go over the hill and hang with the boys, even now as the opposition leader, a true Cat Island man.
Brave Davis was even apologetic as to what occurred under the Christie administration. The former prime minister alone has himself to blame in terms of the defeat of the PLP in 2017. He portrayed a perception that made him appear uncaring but now, there’s an undercurrent trying to undermine Brave Davis’s leadership, and it isn’t going to work.
Somebody gooseing the chickcharney to play Iranian poker against Davis. They are clueless in understanding what Cat Island is and what Cat Island represents. No Iranian poker no, betrayal of Brutus and Judas would allow the conspirators within the PLP party, to advance to manoeuvre the PLP council to replace Brave Davis. It isn’t going to happen. The strategy is that they want Brave to weaken himself by moving against Alfread Sears, Obie Wilcombe, Leslie Miller and others, which will angry the base and be a detriment to his political future. Consolidate, and consult with these gentleman and political comrades and bring them in moving forward.
The PLP is not a party of dissent, it’s a fraternity.“Must a government be too strong for the liberties of the people or too weak to maintain its own existence?” (Abraham Lincoln) To make matters worse, former PM Perry Christie did not understand the factors and possibilities of network centric campaigns and the impact it had from a micro scale. There are certain groups of networked organizations that he insulted and we all know how well an insult can resonate through entire constituencies. He failed to consult with constituents blaming Brave Davis for being too generous to the Bahamian public when he was the Minister of Works, stopping him from giving out contracts; it was the beginning of Christie’s political demise. In the words of the late Abraham Lincoln “This country, with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right to overthrow it” and that is exactly what the Bahamian people did. The Bahamian people voted against Perry Christie in the last general election. And let’s remember the PLP won the popular vote but they lost the general election.
The PLP forgot until moments before the 2017 General Elections that the power of the Government lies within the people. People choose Governments in order to look out for the interest of every Bahamian not just the elite and so called wealthy. The small man far outnumbers the elite. It is quite obvious by the way the PLP ran their campaign that they did not learn from the Bi-elections of Elizabeth. Approximately 1,500 people did not show up to vote. That election was the lithmus test that the people did not appreciate Mr. Christie’s style of leadership. He also lost referendum. He did not understand the sound of the government is supposed to reflect the voice of the people, not kill them with his brimeborion accusations against the opposition in a circumambigious manner. Besides, “the comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor”. (Voltaire)
There are members within the PLP who will never ever be re-elected by the Bahamian people simply because of their lack of concern for the average citizen. They possess egos that hindered them from remembering the needs of the voters who elected them in the first place. An example, the former attorney general under the PLP was very heartless in regards to some decisions she made reading the labour law, and hundreds of people lost their jobs as a result. There were some who operated as though they got there by their own strength and only looked out for their own interests rather than the interest of the people. He could not be re-elected because of the inexplicable attitude, contempt and Machiavellian agenda he treated so many Bahamians with. Bahamians have developed long term memories which cannot be erased with a few slogans and slurs of the opposition’s character during election campaigns. “To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered” (Voltaire)
“To prejudge other men's notions before we have looked into them is not to show their darkness but to put out our own eyes.” (John Locke) Like I said before, rallies do not win elections, network centric campaigns and showing people you care, wins elections. The Honorable Brave Davis leader of the opposition, has the opportunity to win the next general election—so all the knives that are sharpened against him should pull back, come as one and unite. And the Brutus and Judas dance should be given notice to cease and desist and unite behind this humble giant to give him an opportunity in the upcoming general election. Let him show Bahamian people that he is ready to lead. Remember “A brain is a society of very small, simple modules that cannot be said to be thinking, that are not smart in themselves. But when you have a network of them together, out of that arises a kind of smartness”. (Kevin Kelly)
Never mind the number of persons who showed up at the rallies. The former Prime Minister, whilst his style of leaderships was a new order for Bahamians, some people felt they were treated unfairly especially since he introduced VAT. And he refused to give the Bahamian people accountability on how he was spending the VAT money he obtained. We must remember that “democracy arose from men’s thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely” (Aristotle).
There is a trichotomy of factors as to why the PLP lost. Brave Davis is a belle esprit because he showed that he cares by making himself visible to as many events as possible. He’s very pragmatic. Persons can relate to Brave Davis— you could meet him on the street and share a cocoa cola with him and chat, and thats the real man, that’s the deal. Some people felt that the primary focus of former Prime Minister Christie was on establishments and the elites. His focus was totally out of zone with the common man and out of touch with the needs of the average Bahamian. Brave Davis understands the sound of the grass as he is about to launch his campaign. He understands the importance of rejecting opulence in establishment and self, because he realises it is the people who count and he listens to them from all walks of life. What is imperative now is that opposition leader Brave Davis, listens, embraces and uses the political coalition which I mentioned previously, in the next general election, he must not abandon them.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Have You Heard about the North Andros Green Free Trade Zone - Proposed by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong?
ANDROS’ DEVELOPMENT MUST NOT MERELY MEET, BUT SET THE WORLD’S HIGHEST ECOLOGICAL STANDARDS!
By: Professor Gilbert Morris
I argued that Andros should not be an experimental playground, given its strategic and environmental significance, together with its iconic status in this country, constituting nearly 45% of the total land mass of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. I suggested that Andros’ delicate ecology, if mismanaged, could wreck havoc on the interior islands of the Bahamas, whilst I assert in like manner that any potential development must represent an opportunity for the Bahamas to gain a foothold in the global conversations on climatology; from which we’ve been shamefully absent.
The issue of Andros’ development has been as heralded as it has been difficult to execute; as well it should be. Andros, its seems, is the place where projects go to die; for which there is a simple reason: they’ve been the wrong projects, presented in the wrong manner.
The current discussion of Andros arose when it emerged that Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong - a respected international investor and philanthropist - “submitted” a proposal to the government of the Bahamas for a project called: “North Andros Green Free Trade Zone” for the strategically prominent area of Morgan’s Bluff. It is proposed that the project would produce 10,000 jobs, so doubling the population of Andros; not a light consideration.
The Hon. Peter Turnquest MP - Minister of Finance - is reported to have said the proposal had not yet come before Cabinet; which raises questions as to why or how it has become public?
Essentially, the proposal - such as its understood - whilst rumoured to be a port development, is actually a completely new city, (along the lines called for routinely by Mr. Lester R Cox), which includes a port, cruse ship berths, limestone processing, medical facilities, alternative power generation and housing and all the corollary amenities of a cityscape. Therefore, this proposal seeks to transform the face of Andros considerably beyond what has been imagined previously.
Let me make a few final preliminary points:
It is well nigh impossible to discuss these matters in the Bahamas: 40% of persons belong to one political tribe and 45% to the other. 10% don’t care at all and the 5% who care are never heard.
We Bahamians - sadly - in the larger percentages accept any proposals coming from the government they support, utterly blindly. Moreover, when an investment is proposed, all we Bahamians seem to care for is who is close enough to politicians to get a piece of the contracts.
We seem willing to break our islands in half, no matter the consequence, so long as we hear contracts for the politically connected, and jobs for the man in the street.
Finally, those to whom I am known, know well, I DO NOT support or speak for ANY political party. My interest here is not to oppose development in Andros. Rather it is to ensure that any approach to developing Andros is transparent, inclusive and sensitive to Andros’ unique, delicate ecology.
As an economist, former chairman of the Turks and Caicos National Investment Agency and having completed in 2003 the largest ever study on “Shipping and Multi-modal Distribution Centres” commissioned by global investor/project developer Mr. Jim Zenga of StarCapital, the Chinese International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) and the office of Madam Wu, then the Vice Premier of China, I surmise that such experience provides me solid standing to speak with some insight on this question.
As part of the FACEBOOK exchanges mentioned previously, Miss Myra Farquharson provided a link to a study VISION 2040. Here I want to link and merge the VISION 2040 with the prospects of Dr. Soon-Shiong’s proposed project.
I reviewed this plan twice now, since having been introduced to its Andros section. The plan is described as: “Vision2040 is an initiative of the Government of The Bahamas, developed in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank and in close cooperation with the College of The Bahamas and The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation”: http://www.vision2040bahamas.org/
Here are my preliminary observations:
The VISION2040 plan is an excellent piece of descriptive work. It is refreshingly comprehensive in its descriptive scope and is an instructive starting point for any framing of options for development in these islands. It would be wise to have conducted such heuristic treatments of every island of the Bahamas; framing and emphasising the ecology, carrying capacities, preferable densities and infrastructural needs of each island zone, premised upon assumptions of their highest and best land uses for developments, as social theatres capable of enhancing the quality of the lives of Bahamians and our guests.
I focused attention on a special eBook section of the plan, called: “Masterplan for Andros Island”
1. The document - for all its excellent work, is NOT a masterplan and NOT a strategy
document: In the sense that it contains NOT a single point of strategy. It is a work for a pre-VISION. No development could be premised on such a document. Rather, VISION2040 is a perfect tool for setting a national development vision, followed by a master strategic document
2. In fact in several places, in the Andros eBook alone, the document calls for further studies and the cultivation of the very strategies I mentioned above.
3. The document contains some misconceptions (I must confess here that our own distinguished Bahamian Mr. Felix Stubbs - who oversaw VISION2040 - did ask me to meet with him to discuss the plan before its release. Unfortunately, I was in Central Asia for that time and and did not arrive at Nassau before the plan’s promulgation. Had we been able to rendezvous, I am certain these observations would have been made and accommodated. I render them now not to criticise, but to show that the plan is a Vision document and not a strategy).
I emphasise these distinctions so we are clear on what must occur in and for Andros:
The document refers to Andros as an “island”. It is not. Andros is an archipelago within an archipelago. This is crucial for understanding why its development must be approached thoughtfully; avoiding the catastrophic mistakes made in Grand Bahama, which exacerbated the flooding from hurricane Dorian.
The document calls for the establishment of a UOB campus at Andros, once BAMSI gains research funding. As a vision, a UOB presence at Andros is an excellent proposition. But a strategy document would have laid out the roadmap to attain funding, premised on cultivating a value-chain between BAMSI-UOB and the development of Agro-tech. We cannot possibly envision in the 21st century a physical campus, when universities with endowments larger than the Bahamas’ GDP are selling campus buildings.
The document recognises Andros’ delicate ecology, yet calls for an enlargement of conventional farming. A strategy document would have emphasised Hydroponics, as both labour-saving (given the plan’s notation of the small population), and as a cutting edge proposition that limits carbon footprint, whilst maintaining low density development with potentially greater productivity.
The document identifies what we all know, which is that Andros can supply 40% of the fresh water needs in the Bahamas. However, the entire document should have been premised on two points:
That Andros is potentially a “rescue destination”. That is, the land mass of Andros and its geographical positioning, protected by Cuba on one side and the Atlantic Bahama Islands on the other, makes Andros a safe “rescue destination” for a significant share of the Bahamas population in conditions of a national catastrophe where other islands become uninhabitable.
Andros’ fresh water resources are a national treasure, at a time when wars are already being fought (Egypt and Ethiopia for instance) over fresh water. This means, the mangroves, marshes and wetlands of the Andros archipelago are crucial to maintain, and cannot be sacrificed for any development and potential risks cannot be explained away in a few pages of a proposal.
To emphasise the points above: I am certain any competent strategist - beyond what coastal engineers or environmental scientists or geologists would recommend; all of whom I worked with in previous capacities - the strategist working from worse-case assumptions, would advise BANNING all pesticides in farming in Andros, all cesspits or conventional sewerage and all landfills, treating the fresh water as a strategic national asset.
5. Consideration in any strategy must be given since Andros sits on the world’s most politically advantageous and sensitive reef systems (and so is an important fish nursery), which is another leverage-point for participation above-our-weight in the global conversation on climatology. Between this fact, Andros’ foothold in the Gulf Stream and the two points above, Andros’ development must be the most refined, discrete, transformatively sensitive anywhere in the world.
6. A stealth strategic aspect of Andros is the AUTEC Base, and certain undersea exercises that make the potential presence of volume ocean traffic a considerable concern. The base makes the Bahamas part of an American coastal national security network - the most important outside the US on its Eastern seaboard.
7. Clearly the Soon-Shiong team did their research and modelled the concept of their proposal on the Hawksbill Creek Agreement (HCA). Here I speak with an even surer expertise in saying the following:
Constitutionally, it is unlikely that a port competitive with Freeport could be developed without compromising the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. The Port Authority is a trust capable of binding a sovereign government and not merely a contract or agreement for development as is commonly and erroneously supposed.
The assets held by the Port Authority are not their own according to the agreement. Rather, they are to be returned to a municipality - as Maurice O. Glinton QC has emphases these many years - so that the exclusivities are part of the value which must be returned to the sovereign.
As a commercial matter, announcing the intention to develop a port, means that other port operators take defensive action to offset the prospects of such a possibility. Therefore unless there is an unrestricted book of business, its hard to advance such a notion as a “green-field” strategy. It is notable also that discussions around this idea of such a port for Andros mentioned the possibility of an “entrepôt”.
This is mistaken. Entrepôts are natural port centres between larger trading posts, with significant trade demand in the entrepôt itself: Singapore is ensconced in proximity to Indonesia and Malaysia with its major trade destination as China.
Singapore itself represents a significant demand for its own trade. Therefore, consideration must be given for the triangulation of trade between a potential port at Andros (possibly a break-bulk installation) and the US Eastern seaboard ports like New Jersey, where business volume would be impacted.
8. The VISION2040 plan does make mention of elements of eco-tourism, but does not outline what linkages, or leverage options could generate or contribute to an aggressive development of Andros away from our plantation tourism model or which Dr. Ian Strachan warned in his 2003 book “Paradise and Planation”. Additionally, there at least three endangered bird species whose natural habitats are in the proposed development zone; particularly at Joulters’ Cay.
9. The plan does not address investment models, which leaves us with the old model that has failed so often:
1. Foreign investor, who is friend of a Minister arrives
2. Links up with local oligarchy
3. Ministers and Prime Minister gives assurances...hangs out at house or on Yacht
4. The usual law firms are retained
5. Minsters’ children, spouse or sweethearts’ family are engaged
6. Political lackeys are promised contracts
7. Investment is approved and yet another plantation emerges in which Bahamians have no equity, gaining mere jobs, subject to the same vicissitudes, the ebb and flow of which is outside our control or influence.
I think Bahamians may agree that this model must be rejected, a new model adopted and that model must permit development ONLY within the constraints laid out by the VISION2040 document above, subject to a comprehensive strategy that deepens and enriches the intrinsic value and wealth of Bahamian citizenship.
These must include:
a. A comprehensive strategic plan for Andros
b. A Sovereign Wealth Fund, so that there is no direct investment in Andros - given its significance - which excludes the Bahamian people as equity stakeholders.
c. That the water resources of Andros be declared an unimpeachable “National Treasure” and NO DEVELOPMENT - for whatever purpose - should be allowed unless and until it satisfies an independent review that that development does NOT impeach the fresh water resources.
d. All aspects of ANY investment must be fully transparent, rendering ANY development on Andros must be the most “green” sustainable and developed against a 50 year horizon, so ensuring that future generations of Bahamians enjoy this birthright.
The objective shouldn’t be to prevent or ignore Dr. Soon-Shiong’s proposal, but to show ourselves capable of rational deliberation of such proposals against and within terms of our own strategic vision for our country.
Andros is a line in the sand, as its development alters the balance of the Bahamas: either toward a new sustainable model in which Bahamians share in the prosperity, or the old model of plantationism that leaves the many outside looking in on the few, who’ve compromised our resources for a half bowl of stale porridge.
Source
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
BAHAMIANS MIXED UP PRIORITIES
MIXED UP PRIORITIES -
By Monte Pratt
"I believe in the old because it shows us where we come from - where our souls have risen from. And I believe in the new because it gives us the opportunity to create who we are becoming." ~ Abigail Washburn
Over the last decade the 'Columbus statue removal' has from time to time 'popped' in relationship to another noted 'historical event', such is the case in Dr. Gilbert Morris' post here. As he noted, it began with his earlier post: the “Decolonisation of the Bahamian Mind”.
I note 'there has never been to any concerted effort for a 'focused movement' for ... as Doc notes "mean nothing if our people’s thoughts were aligned against their own interests'. Based on Doc's pontification on this gnaw away 'subject matter' goes beyond the 'Columbus statue removal'.
Also, "to be considered, the demand to remove monuments, apply to lawyer’s wigs, to knighthoods, to QCs, to The Commonwealth, Anglican Church and the Queen? Or does our voices of defiance trail off to shameful silence when the true implications of what we demand come into view?"
This leads to my point of 'mixed up' priorities. Instead of 'tearing down' should we, Bahamians should be focused on 'building up' by embracing two key historic events that should be embedded in the annals of our 'Black' Bahamian history?
The first historical event, as a key component of the 'Majority Rule' Movement, In 1962, on the eve of a general election, at the request of the Party, it was Dr. H. W. Brown, who invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to serve as the guest speaker at a “mammoth service on the Sunday night before the election”. Coinciding with the historical 1962 general election was the 'first-time women were allowed to vote' in The Bahamas.
The PLP did not win the 1962 election, but this was the 'embryonic stage' of the 'Majority Rule' Movement, in the nation ending over 300 years of white minority rule.
The second historical event, the 'Bahamas Standing By Nelson Mandela'. At The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1985 in Nassau' The Bahamas Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling, as chair, steered the meeting to that end. It was sanctions - started by the Commonwealth and pushed into the United Nations - that eventually crippled the South African apartheid regime, drying up loans from the international market and deterring investment.
The Bahamas is remembered by historians as the 'turning point' of the Commonwealth's struggle with Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in her obdurate opposition to 'sanctions' against apartheid South Africa.
Sir Lynden Pindling, as chair, steered the meeting to that end. It was sanctions - started by the Commonwealth and pushed into the United Nations - that eventually crippled the apartheid regime, drying up loans from the international market and deterring investment.
Led by Prime Minister Pindling, The Caribbean's drive for Mandela's freedom and the end of apartheid came in other forms - like from the region's leading musical icons, for example, 1976 Jamaica's Bob Marley (War) and 1977 Peter Tosh (Apartheid).
The concluding point that I am making here, do you 'rip a book' out of the Bible if you don't like its contents?
Should our focus be on 'Columbus' notorious history' and his statue? But rather on publishing the chronicles our 'direct' historical relevance to two of the most internationally revered 'Global Heros'... Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela?
In most cities of the 'free world', there is an erected Nelson Mandela statue and/or a 'Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard'.
Yet most of these country/cities have no tête-à-tête 'historical connection' as we do in The Bahamas with these 'Global Heros'.
Yet, the focus is on the 'Columbus statue removal'. Indeed we as a 'people' have MIXED UP PRIORITIES.
Source
Monday, June 8, 2020
Decolonisation of the Bahamian Mind
BAHAMIAN APPROACH TO HISTORY: FIRE > READY > AIM...!
How do we Bahamians de-colonise our minds, in a manner and by a method that does not corrupt our history, whilst reprioritising our historical personalities appropriately, by some disciplined measure?
By Professor Gilbert Morris
Nassau, The Bahamas
I began this year with a post-called: “Decolonisation of the Bahamian Mind”. It was the result of conversations with friends and Caribbean colleagues over the holiday....who concluded with me that ideas, concepts, vision and strategies mean nothing if our people’s thoughts were aligned against their own interests.
First amongst these interests is to remove from their minds a thinking inferiority. Second, to remove the feverish orientation toward and prioritisation of what is foreign. Third, to remove markings, signs and monuments on the Bahamian landscape that prioritises enslaver and colonial personages, hovering over our daily lives, infecting our children with their pride-of-place paramountcy.
As is typical, we leapt over the thinking part straight to the monument removal; essentially because the thinking part is hard work and one finds soon enough, we are hideously poor at disciplined conceptualisation, rooted context or discerning relevance. Now so many delight in removing monuments...no doubt inspired by events in America and elsewhere!
Well, its simple...requires no thinking...and one gains an adrenaline rush to have achieved something in a country where Turtle’s achieve more in a day! Unfortunately, that’s a short term “feeling good” neuro-stimulant that does nothing to change our situation or to cultivate a resolve to create or own a Bahamian future.
Had we taken time to think, we’d know that removal of statutes from a place of prominence is not - can’t and shouldn’t be imagined as - elimination from history: Christopher Columbus is part of our history, without whom any discussion of that history would amount to idiot babbling. This is a crucial understanding that demands we locate him - with scholarly discipline - in the structure of a Bahamian historical narrative that is intellectually honest, and not the product of flailing gum-clicking, Jungaliss analysis.
Had we taken time to think, we’d notice that our lazy, reactionary approach to national pride - which is so impotent it hasn’t prevented D Grade national averages, elephantine Debts, Criminal Slaughter of our own, Skullduggery and backward tribal politics - such that we’ve done far more damage to our heritage than Columbus ever could. This admission and a reflective national conversation would have shown us that we never bothered to think how to de-prioritise Christopher Columbus and what he symbolises, yet claim or monetise the motherhood of the Americas for our direct benefit, whilst locating Columbus at a level of our cultural meaning that removes him as the hood ornament of our history driving toward a Bahamian future.
What a thinking deliberative period would have confirm to us additionally, is the historical manner in which we speak of Christopher Columbus as if he knew us. He didn’t. He couldn’t!
When we speak of him we speak of an aboriginal atrocity he initiated, informed by a reform of Dr, Martin Luther King Jr.’s clarion that: ‘Injustice in any period is a threat to justice in any period’. This “period” break in the colonial hegemony in The Bahamas - between the aboriginals of these islands and ourselves - inhabits ‘enigmas of arrivals’, thousands of historical wedges, cultural drips, slippages and anthropological bleeding points, as these islands magnetised then metastasised a myriad of cultural nuances from the surrounding near abroad.
This Bahamas was a way station, a pastoral colony, a private haven (still), and was crucial to the economic establishment of the Carolinas - and was a direct contributor to the American Revolution as a nexus of risks and allegiances, and so a geostrategic default territory...yet also - lest we forget and forget ourselves - a direct beneficiary of the Haitian revolution, and a contributor to the rise of Canada in the salt, Cod and Molasses trades; amongst many other things.
What is the true and proper psychology of a people of this rambunctuous history, and how do they de-colonise their minds, in a manner and by a method that does not corrupt their history, whilst reprioritising their historical personalities appropriately, by some disciplined measure?
Let us note for good measure, that every demand peters out to conundrums, which undermines the demand itself: So, does the demand to remove monuments, apply to lawyer’s wigs, to knighthoods, to QCs, to The Commonwealth, Anglican Church and the Queen?
Or does our voices of defiance trail off to shameful silence when the true implications of what we demand comes into view?
Moreover, how would such a people (Bahamians) - now rightly, if only lately enthused - employ this moment of nascent awareness to plow into a future that corrects the terrors of failure they inflicted on themselves?
That is a question that should be answered before we rush out in our typical unthinking bossiness - being as our grandparents say: “too fast” - and so constrain ourselves to contemplate organically what it means to de-colonise our minds from our over-churchified plantation thinking; to repriortisation of Columbus’ and other egregious monuments; to the plastic culture we sell in our plantation tourism model; to our vapid reprobate politics; our education, economic and strategic failures; to our obsession with what is foreign; to our slavish devotion to other people’s things...which permits foreigners to find one skullduggerer, who freely sells the country out for second hand BMWs, trips to Walmart and grinning selfies!
Source
Source
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Dr Duane Sands’ resignation is unprecedented in The Bahamas parliamentary history - in significance and substance
THE MEANING OF THE DR SANDS’ AFFAIR!
By Gilbert Morris:
This is how one should think about The Hon. Dr Duane Sands MP’s departure:
First, overall - I speak here of the public handwringing and heaving hosannas - it’s really much ado about nothing...as large numbers of Bahamians are about to starve.
Second, As a specific matter, Dr Sands’ resignation is unprecedented in our parliamentary history in significance and substance.
Third, significantly, Dr Sands breached the rules - with the assistance of other ministers - but importantly not to benefit himself or friends. That is a clear significant distinction from previous breaches where a minister would have had his lackey junglisses selling those swabs on the streets!
Dr Sands, it is clear to see was desperately singleminded in getting the swabs for the legitimate purposes. (For those who refuse to think, I hope you can see, I’m not absolving him of breaching the rules, (Aristotle said reasons for errors matter), as such I am merely pointing out that his purposes were legitimate, which has hardly ever been the case so far as I can recall).
What it means is if we are now going to enforce rules against persons with clear good intentions, then every breach of rules must be addressed throughout all of government!
Fourth, in substance, Dr Sands letter is a study in the proper way to apologise in public office. (a.) He took responsibility, (b.) then explained his state of mind, (c.) But didn’t use his state of mind as an excuse, proof of which is offering his resignation after explaining his thinking and objectives.
This constitutes an act of the finest ministerial propriety.
Finally, when a Minister acts in significance and substance as Dr Sands did though it’s hard, it’s still the prerogative of any Prime Minister to accept the resignation. The problem is it forces a “strict adherence rule” (Think of Shylock’s “pound of flesh” in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”): that means any other Minister who aided his - since we are enforcing rules with no mercy for legitimate intent - they should also be disciplined.
Moreover, we must understand how LAW IS REFLEXIVE: that means every act (Dr Sands’) and every decision (Dr Minnis’) establishes a standard that must be maintained. Dr Sands’s act and the Prime Minister’s acceptance establishes a foundation for rule-following and everything and everyone afoul of such rules rendering it frowsy with uncertainty must be dismantled, dismissed, or disciplined respectively.
So that means every police officer or civil servant on duty without a mask or any public official who breaches the rule should be disciplined, because that is the benchmark that Dr Sands’s act of grace and the Prime Minister’s acceptance establishes.
It also means any elected person with a conflict of interest or an undeclared interest or any arrangement that amounts to an untendered advantage must also be squashed!
Source
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Statement by The Bahamas Ministry of Transport on the Braemar cruise ship ...with COVID-19 coronavirus positive persons onboard
The Braemar cruise ship carrying five persons who have tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus will not be permitted to dock in The Bahamas and passengers and crew will not be allowed to disembark.
This decision is based on consideration for the protection of the health and safety of the Bahamian people and residents of The Bahamas.
The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) has been in constant communication with the owners of the Braemer, which is a Bahamas-flagged ship. The BMA has reaffirmed to the Braemar that should it arrive in Bahamian waters, The Bahamas will do all that it can to provide humanitarian assistance.
This may include providing fuel, food, water and other supplies as needed by the vessel. The BMA continues to monitor the well-being of passengers and crew with updates at regular intervals.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people who have contracted the coronavirus and who are at immediate risk.
Source
Friday, February 21, 2020
...anyone who questions or confronts Peter Nygard on any issue is immediately seen as an enemy of the PLP party
We are not the PLP’s enemy
STATEMENT By Save The Bays
Save The Bays is disappointed to find itself yet again the victim of a false, reckless and far-fetched attack by the PLP, as a result of the troubles facing the party's friend and benefactor, Peter Nygard.
While the current allegations against Mr Nygard are indeed serious, they have nothing to do with Save The Bays. We are an environmental conservation and good governance NGO which has only ever clashed with the fashion designer over his illegal dredging and other unauthorised construction activities at Nygard Cay which damaged the environment. We have no comment on these new allegations and our organisation is not involved in the matter in any way.
Sadly, yet again, we find ourselves having to deny the same tedious and ridiculous conspiracy theories of secret collusions and foreign interests trying to destabilise governments. We respectfully remind the PLP chairman that the Cold War is over, and ask him to leave us out of his crackpot political witch-hunts and fever dream paranoias.
Despite Fred Mitchell’s obsessive declarations, Save The Bays has never been an enemy of the PLP. The last thing our group ever wanted was to be drawn into a political fight during their last term in office.
After the election, once the political fever had broken, STB hoped we would be able to work with the opposition PLP to pressure the new government on many issues of common interest – environmental protection, freedom of information, the rule of law.
But for some reason that we cannot fathom, anyone who questions or confronts Peter Nygard on any issue is immediately seen as an enemy of the PLP party. And if Nygard stubs his toe, it must be STB’s fault.
Perhaps if the PLP chose its friends more carefully, the party would not have to be on the defensive so much of the time. Perhaps they should simply condemn Mr Nygard’s past environmental crimes, and call for the chips to fall where they may with regard to these new allegations, and leave it at that. If the party would simply file for divorce from Nygard, many of their troubles would be over.
Finally, we are also shocked by the latest revelations in the press. In the wake of the lawsuit against Mr Nygard, it seems additional alleged victims from all over the world have come forward. Meanwhile, thousands of Facebook posts and Tweets have claimed of similar incidents involving Mr Nygard in various jurisdictions.
To suggest that all of this is also the fault of STB would go beyond even the screwball imaginings of Fred Mitchell.
END
Save The Bays
Monday, February 10, 2020
I am advocating for the full nine yards or whole hog, as it relates to marijuana legalization in The Bahamas
By Dennis Dames:
Dear Honorable Brother Marvin H. Dames, the Most Honorable Hubert A. Minnis, the Honorable Carl W Bethel, Q.C., et al:
I have heard much about the Marijuana Commission’s Preliminary report – that so many among you are so very excited about – when there is nothing much to be thrilled with. It sounds like the typical politically correct proposals which consecutive governments have dealt us – for the past five decades!
The preliminary report seems to wholeheartedly support the medical marijuana business, and the Rasta’s Rights. But the poor recreational user is still screwed – even if all convicted users in prison are released, and the expungement of every marijuana conviction of the past and present.
All of this while the Police still arrest and charge for marijuana possession; no matter how small. Soon we will be fined on the spot if caught with weed – no matter how minute. So, some users might end up in prison, perhaps again - if they can’t pay the fine.
This is madness mixed with pure political correctness. It is a shallow and dangerous cocktail that the politicians seem to love to serve us because we are politically stupid and mediocre.
Look here brothers and sisters, I am advocating for the full nine yards or whole hog, as it relates to marijuana legalization in The Bahamas. How much more research is considered politically correct?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)