The Constitutional Commission: The Bahamas should be a Democratic Parliamentary Republic with the Head of State being The President

The Constitutional Commission Recommends that The English Monarch no Longer Be Head of State of The Bahamas and The Office of The Governor General Be Abolished

Abolish Governor General

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

23 March 2006

Saying that the time has come for a Bahamian head of state to be elected by both Houses of Parliament, the Constitutional Commission is recommending that the English monarch no longer be head of state of The Bahamas and the office of the governor general be abolished.

The Commission also says in its preliminary report presented to Prime Minister Perry Christie at his Cable Beach office on Wednesday that The Bahamas should be a democratic parliamentary republic with the head of state being the president.

"Executive powers shall continue to be exercised by the cabinet with the head of government being the prime minister," the report recommends.

It also says the head of state should be a citizen of The Bahamas.

The Commission found it "curious" that there is no requirement for the holder of the office of governor general to be a citizen of The Bahamas.

"Because of the method of appointment of the governor general, it hardly seems logical that the person appointed to this office would be a non-Bahamian," the report says.  "To remove all doubt it should be declared that the governor general or head of state be a Bahamian citizen."

The report says it is apparent that the position of head of state of The Bahamas is not seen in reality to be the Queen of Great Britain, who constitutionally is also the Queen of The Bahamas.

It adds, "People appear not to be troubled by the concept and are apparently satisfied to regard the governor general, although wrongly, to be the head of state of The Bahamas.  The reaction to the proposition that the queen is constitutionally queen of The Bahamas was usually met with silence."

The Commission notes on page 12 of its preliminary report that the abolition of the English monarch as head of state of the Bahamas is part of the evolutionary process toward a truly peoples government, not one of the Queen’s dominions, but part of the Commonwealth.

The report says, "The Commission would wish the Bahamian people to focus on whether the position of a foreign monarch and one that is shared with many other countries, is reconcilable with the founding provisions which state The Bahamas shall be a ‘sovereign’ democratic state.

"We cannot on the one hand assert ourselves as a sovereign country and a free and independent actor in international affairs while relying on the legal fiction of ‘Her Majesty in Parliament’ and ‘Her Majesty’s Government’ in the ‘speech from the throne’ to give legitimacy to our government."

Additionally, the report says it is conceded that in an increasingly interdependent world the concept of sovereignty as it denotes a self-sufficient national territory is waning; sovereignty must denote an independent legal entity, where some supreme body has virtually unlimited capacity to make laws.

It notes that although the existence and validity and rules in the country’s legal system are determined by reference to a written constitution, those laws still require the participation of the ‘Queen in Parliament’ to be properly enacted.

"This is inconsistent with being a completely independent legal entity," the report says.

The report reveals that during its consultations on every inhabited Bahamian island, except three cays in the Exumas, there were mixed feelings about the retention of the Queen of England as Queen of The Bahamas and head of state of The Bahamas.

It notes that there was a significant number of persons who expressed no opinion on the institution of monarchy; there were others who were of the opinion that the status quo should remain, while others were of the view that this link to the British Monarchy was inconsistent with Bahamian independence and sovereignty and should be severed while preserving membership with the Commonwealth of which queen is symbolic head.

The Commission recommends that the provision of the Constitution that permits the chief justice and the president of the senate to serve as acting head of state should be removed to avoid a conflict of interest.

Deputies should be appointed from among eminent citizens to fill any vacancies of that office, the report says.

The Constitution Commission Submits Its Report to Prime Minister Perry Christie

It is The View of the Constitution Commission that there Should Be Greater Opportunity for The Involvement of Civil Society before The Exercise of Executive Power

There is Widespread Support Among The Bahamian People to Limit the Powers of The Prime Minister

Push To Limit PM’s Powers

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

23 March 2006

More than three years after it was appointed to review the Bahamas Constitution and make recommendations for change, the Constitution Commission yesterday presented its report to Prime Minister Perry Christie, which states that there is widespread support among the Bahamian people to limit the powers of the nation’s leader.

"By and large people felt the enormous powers of the prime minister, whether real or perceived, had to be limited without affecting the prime minister’s authority," the highly-anticipated report states.

"It was their view that there should be greater opportunity for the involvement of civil society before the exercise of executive power."

Former Attorney General Paul Adderley, who chairs the Commission with Queen’s Counsel Harvey Tynes, said the initial report will be widely circulated and the Commission will then draft final recommendations, which will be presented to the prime minister.

"We’re only half way through the process now and [we hope] that by the end of the day we have a general agreement in The Bahamas," said Mr. Adderley, who noted that the Commission received strong response from Family Islanders in particular during its consultations.

Prime Minister Christie, meanwhile, foreshadowed that there will have to be a referendum so that Bahamians could decide what changes they want to see to their constitution.

"At some stage we are going to go to the people on a referendum," Mr. Christie said.  "The lesson of this country is that when we do that we must have exhausted every opportunity we have now for consultation; that must never be an issue again, whether or not we have consulted sufficiently."

The prime minister was referring to the failed referendum of February 2002, during which time the Bahamian people overwhelmingly rejected the Ingraham Administration’s move to have changed certain provisions of the constitution, including those to do with citizenship.

Mr. Christie, who appointed the Commission on December 23, 2002, mandated it to carry out a comprehensive review and make recommendations that would strengthen fundamental freedoms and civil and political rights of the individual, and critically examine the structure of the executive authority.

In its preliminary report, the Constitutional Commission wrote that there were many criticisms leveled at the devotion to duty provided by some members of parliament, and many persons expressed the view that there should be some system for penalizing or recalling delinquent representatives.

Generally, the report states, there was not any great dissatisfaction with the basic system of parliamentary democracy and the two-chambered parliament.

However, there was reportedly widespread agreement with the need for reform of the Senate to make it a more mature representative body with membership drawn from broader segments of the community.

"Many persons expressed the view that the Senate should be an elected body," the report states, "but without altering its powers; others felt that some senators should have security of tenure."

It also says that the early town meetings of the commission held in New Providence and the Family Islands were dominated by a discussion on the preamble to the constitution and there was unanimous support for retaining the preamble in its current form.

The preamble, which is the section at the beginning of the constitution explaining the reasons for its enactment and its objectives, points to self-discipline, industry, loyalty, unity and an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law as being vital to guaranteeing the freedom of Bahamians.

Weeks after the appointment of Sir Arthur Hanna as the queen’s representative in The Bahamas, the report reveals that there were mixed feelings about the retention of the Queen of England as Queen of The Bahamas and head of state of The Bahamas.

It notes that there was a significant number of persons who expressed no opinion on the institution of monarchy; there were others who were of the opinion that the status quo should remain, while others were of the view that this link to the British Monarchy was inconsistent with Bahamian independence and sovereignty and should be severed while preserving membership with the Commonwealth of which queen is symbolic head.

The Commission recommends that the English Monarch shall no longer be the head of state of The Bahamas and the office of governor general be abolished.

The report also says that there was a common concern that the government did not have command of the immigration situation, and most people thought to some degree this was linked to the state of the citizenship and immigration laws.

"In particular, there was concern over the status of children born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents," the report adds.

The Commission also reported that a large number of Family Island persons resonated a call for greater autonomy in local government and for the constitution to specify the relationship between the central and local government.

"A realistic study of the governmental needs of the more developed islands and the less developed should be undertaken," the report says.

Suisse Security Bank and Trust Ltd (SSBT) Loses Privy Council Appeal on Its License Revocation By The Central Bank of The Bahamas

Harajchi Loses Appeal 

By Candia Dames

candiadames@hotmail.com

Nassau, The Bahamas

14 March 2006

...the Central Bank governor was well within his legal rights to shut the bank down.

Saying that it would have been "inconceivable" for the Central Bank governor to have allowed Mohamad Harajchi’s Suisse Security Bank to continue operating, the Privy Council yesterday rejected the bank’s bid to have the decision of then governor Julian Francis overturned.

The high court said that SSBT’s audited accounts and its most recent quarterly reports to the Central Bank were "evidently erroneous".

"SSBT did not have cash on hand and in banks in the sums stated," said the ruling, which was written by Lord Mance.

The ruling said "the state of affairs disclosed by the evidence before their Lordships makes it inconceivable that SSBT could be allowed to continue as an operating bank", and the high court said it saw no basis on which to set aside or remit the governor’s decision to revoke SSBT’s licence and dismissed the appeal.

The bank’s licence was granted on July 20, 1993, and on March 5, 2001, Mr. Francis gave notice that he was of the opinion that the licence should be revoked on the ground that SSBT was carrying on its business in a manner detrimental to the public interest and to the interests of its depositors and other creditors.

Also on March 5, 2001, the governor appointed Raymond Winder as receiver of SSBT, but Mr. Winder had been unable to share the bank’s assets among its depositors and creditors because the appeal had been outstanding.

Mr. Harajchi had appealed a June 29, 2004 decision from the Court of Appeal, which dismissed an appeal filed as a result of the April 25, 2003 ruling handed down by Justice Austin Davis.  Justice Davis refused to overturn Mr. Francis’s decision to revoke the licence.

In a press release issued yesterday after the ruling was handed down, the Central Bank said it will take immediate steps to have Mr. Winder (now the provisional liquidator) appointed as liquidator of SSBT so that the company may be wound up and its assets duly distributed.

Attorneys for SSBT had argued before the Privy Council that by suspending, then revoking SSBT’s licence, the governor acted in breach of an interlocutory injunction granted by Justice Hartman Longley on March 2, 2001 in separate judicial review proceedings commenced by SSBT against the governor on February 22, 2001.

They had also argued that the governor, in breach of principals of procedural fairness, failed to give notice to SSBT prior to or on March 5, 2001 that he was minded to suspend its licence on the grounds on which he actually suspended it on that date, together with an opportunity to respond before he took any such step.

The third issue that the Privy Council considered was whether the governor, in breach of principals of procedural fairness revoked SSBT’s licence on April 2, 2001 on grounds different from, or additional to, those of which he had given notice on March 5, 2001, without giving SSBT an opportunity to respond to such new grounds, and in circumstances in which he did not regard the grounds of which he had given notice on March 5, 2001 as justifying such revocation.

In outlining the facts of the case, the ruling said during the second half of 2000 and early 2001 the Central Bank in correspondence and meetings insisted to SSBT that SSBT should as quickly as possible attract a significant institutional shareholder, that it should maintain a ratio of deposits to capital of 5 to 1 and that SSBT should commission a special audit of its debit card activities.

The ruling said it is the requirement to maintain the 5 to 1 ratio that was "particularly relevant" to the appeal before the Privy Council.

In a letter dated May 6, 1993, which preceded the issue of the bank’s licence, the Central Bank said that the ratio was the first "prudential norm" to which SSBT was to adhere.

The ruling said that as at September 30, 1999 SSBT’s audited accounts showed shareholders funds of $5,891,280.

In a note headed "contingency", the ruling said, SSBT had disclosed a United States judgment and stated that SSBT was appealing, but that it had paid $1.6 million into a trust account and that ‘the bank’s principal shareholder has committed to underwrite any potential loss resulting from this matter’.

In July 2000 the Central Bank sought explanations regarding SSBT’s apparently increased profitability shown by its quarterly return as at March 31, 2000 and a Visa debit card operation, about which it had not previously been informed and of which it feared use might be made by criminal elements for money laundering.

The ruling also said that at a meeting between Mr. Francis and Mr. Harajchi on August 21, 2000, the governor also objected to SSBT’s ownership being in the hands of a single family, the extent of 77.5 percent of its share capital, and urged the introduction of a significant institutional shareholder, which Mr. Harajchi refused.

The Central Bank ordered SSBT to find such a shareholder within six months.  It also confirmed its concern about SSBT’s Visa operation.

The Central Bank also ordered SSBT not to exceed the 5:1 ratio pending introduction of a credible institutional shareholder, but the ruling said SSBT soon exceeded the ratio.

On December 7, 2000, the governor expressed his disappointment in the bank’s failure to respect the Central Bank’s directive with regard to a prudential limit of $30 million it had placed on customer deposits and other funding activities, even though Mr. Harajchi had agreed to this limit and cautioned that "it is a very dangerous strategy to violate limits placed on the bank" and that "this clearly indicates as a complete failure to monitor our limit placed on the bank".

The ruling then goes into a lengthy series of correspondence between the parties, determining ultimately that based on the bank’s state of affairs, the Central Bank governor was well within his legal rights to shut the bank down.

The Privy Council said that the parties involved in the appeal have 14 days in which to make submissions in writing on costs in light of its opinion.

No Case of Bird Flu Found in The Bahamas

 Tourism Officials Seek To Calm Bird Flu Fears

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Candia Dames

candiadames@hotmail.com

Nassau, Bahamas

3 March 06

 

 

 

 

 

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism has flown into damage control mode to avoid any fallout from reports that spread internationally this week that health experts were investigating to determine whether dead birds found on Inagua had avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.

 

This came even as Ministry of Agriculture experts said that they had determined that there was no bird flu and the birds ‐ including flamingos ‐ died of other causes like old age.

 

In the House of Assembly on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Perry Christie told parliamentary colleagues that his government would continue investigations to make absolutely certain that the initial findings were accurate and he was certain that they were.

 

But reports of the bird flu fears had already spread rapidly around the world as reflected in scores of stories on the Internet.

 

Director General of Tourism Vernice Walkine admitted on Thursday that those reports had created some jitters.

 

"We are absolutely concerned about the reports and the nature of the reporting because the fact of the matter is it's important for Bahamians to understand that there's no such thing as local news," Ms. Walkine told The Bahama Journal.

 

"It is entirely possible for every Bahamian at some point or the other to cause a crisis to be created."

 

She said last week she had spoken to a group of people in Exuma about the impact that words can have on the tourism industry and she believes that mere reports that officials were investigating to determine whether the dead birds had bird flu could have done serious harm.

 

Ms. Walkine said despite the report experts made that the birds did not have bird flu there are still some people who will remain suspicious about whether tourism and other Bahamian officials were trying to "bury the story".

 

"I think in the fullness of time it will go away," she said of the story, noting that the tourism business is a very sensitive one.

 

"People need to feel safe and secure when they travel abroad for vacation and we've always promoted ourselves as safe and secure and if you have even a hint of bird flu, [that] could be potentially dangerous."

 

Ms. Walkine appeared happy to report on Thursday that there had been no cancellations as a result of the story of the bird flu fears.

 

"It's important for us to pay attention to these kinds of stories that have that potentially negative impact on the tourism business," she said.

 

On Thursday, a release issued on the World Wide Web by PRNewswire said that preliminary field reports on the investigation of unexplained deaths of birds on Inagua were exaggerated.

 

The press release that went out internationally also noted that the senior veterinary officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources indicated that only five birds were involved in the reported incident on Inagua, reducing the likelihood of an outbreak of avian influenza H5N1.

 

"It is to be noted that other countries in the region have had similar scares recently and that mortality of birds [has been] attributed to other causes and not the deadly H5N1, which to date has been confirmed in Europe, Asia and Africa," the release added.

 

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the United States more than tripled its national flu medication stockpiles as The Bahamas tested whether the dead birds had carried the Western Hemisphere's first cases of avian influenza.

 

That same report said that the U.S. government on Wednesday ordered additional courses of flu treatment, raising the country's National Strategic Stockpile to almost 20 million courses of treatment.

 

Meanwhile, veterinary experts said that the presence of the deadly H5N1 would have decimated the large flock of flamingoes and other birds on that island.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources assured that it will continue to investigate all reports of unexplained bird mortality.

 

It said that the birds involved in the incident appear to have been dead for several days, and the senior veterinary officer reported that there had been no new incidents of avian mortality reported on Inagua.

Without Reforms, The Bahamas’ Current Education “Crisis” Would Have a Detrimental Impact on The National Economy by The Year 2020

The Bahamas Ministry of Education reported a national average of D this year among students who took The Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) exams

Education “In Crisis”

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

candiadames@hotmail.com

16 December 2005

A coalition of private-sector organizations on Thursday warned that the country’s present education “crisis” would have a serious and detrimental impact on the national economy by the year 2020 if immediate steps are not taken to put in place reforms.

"A general low level of academic achievement has individual, national and international consequences," the group says in a new report titled, "Bahamian Youth: The Untapped Resource."

Frank Comito, executive vice president of the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA), said the consequences of not addressing the present crisis would be dire.

"Twenty years down the line we could find ourselves in a very uncompetitive situation where our cost of living would be incredibly high and our productivity would be incredibly low and the amount of dollars circulating through the economy because of that would be minimized and it could have severe consequences not only on every individual in The Bahamas, but certainly on government revenues and support services and everything else," Mr. Comito said.

The report says that while the Education Department has a good testing system, the test scores suggest significant deficiencies.

The Ministry of Education reported a national average of D this year among students who took The Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) exams.

In 2004, 5,741 students wrote the exams, but only 718 or 12.5 percent earned a minimum C grade average in five subjects, the report notes.

It says there is a "serious" lack of graduates prepared to enter college.

The coalition says its analysis suggests that the education crisis in The Bahamas has deep roots.

"Education reform will be successful only with a sustained commitment of every element of society, every stakeholder and every political party," the report says.  "Education reform must stand high on the national list of priorities over the long haul."

The release of the coalition’s report came days after the Ministry of Education said in a press statement that it was preparing to announce certain initiatives to address systematic deficiencies.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, President of The Bahamas Hotel Employers Association J. Barrie Farrington said local businesspeople are becoming increasingly concerned about the education level of job candidates, many of whom are barely literate.

"In the first quarter of this year, a group of like-minded Bahamians discussed their common problems and agreed that the state of education in The Bahamas was unacceptable," Mr. Farrington said.

"It was obvious to them that the Bahamian education system was not producing the graduates able to engage in business.  This awareness is grounded in daily experience."

One Bahamian executive reportedly found that job candidates could not write a simple paragraph with clear sentences.  Another reported that applicants were doing poorly on aptitude tests.

The report points to the implementation of policies under Majority Rule that had "adverse" side effects.

One such policy was the end of academic elitism, which the report says is most often associated with the history of the "old" Government High School (GHS), which was founded in 1925 and closed in 1976.

The report notes that the school’s enrollment was limited by its capacity and candidates were selected in part on the basis of entrance exams.  The school sought the best and brightest students and tried to provide a superior academic education, the report says.

It adds that the elimination of this kind of system within the public school system caused education to suffer.

The second policy, the report says, called for a preference for Bahamian teachers in the school system.

But the report says the Bahamianization policy had the effect of precipitously reducing the qualifications of teachers.

"This meant that less than 10 percent of the teachers hired had the minimum high school grade level to enter college," the report says.

"One must note that another unintended consequence of Bahamianization was the social promotion of students…students could now advance in grade without passing the grade."

The report also says, "Perhaps the most disabling factor affecting academic achievement in The Bahamas today is out-of-wedlock children and the single parent, female-headed family."

Mr. Farrington called the comprehensive document a "good news, bad news" report, noting that it points to certain strategies that can help to address the education crisis.

"The responsibilities of teachers, parents and students must be clear; and non-compliance must have real consequences," the report says.  "Penalties for parents similar to those associated with the compulsory school attendance would be an appropriate place to start."

It says a second barrier to improving the education system is governance.

The report notes that the Education Act requires an annual report to parliament on the state of education and for the last decade the government has not used this formal requirement as an opportunity to focus parliamentary and public attention on this critical national issue."

The coalition recommends that the Grade Level Assessment test be redesigned so The Bahamas would be able to measure its progress against other countries.

It also recommends that education authority be decentralized so that principals would have more authority; longer school hours; summer school and an end to social promotion.

But the report says, "Neither social promotion nor holding back without help is a successful strategy."

Additionally, the coalition recommends parent seminars; teacher evaluation and compensation; and an all male laboratory school.

The coalition includes: the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce; the Bahamas Employers Confederation; the National Congress of Trade Unions; the Bahamas Hotel Association; the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union; the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association; and the Nassau Tourism and Development Board.

The Latest Unemployment Numbers Released in The Bahamas

The unemployment rate for women in The Bahamas showed a slight increase, whereas that of men a slight decrease

Unemployment Rate Unchanged

 

 

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

28 October 2005

 

 

 

 

 

Officials of the Department of Statistics released new numbers on Thursday that show that the unemployment rate over the last year has remained unchanged, standing at 10.2 percent.

Officials said the total number of unemployed during the "reference" or "snapshot" week in April, stood at 18,175, an increase of 185 people over 2004.

The unemployment rate in Grand Bahama was actually higher than the national rate, standing at 11 percent, up from 9.3 percent in 2004, according to the report.

The new data shows that there were 3,000 people in Grand Bahama recorded as unemployed, up from 2,465 in 2004, but officials said that was not enough to drive the national rate beyond the 10.2 percent recorded last year.

Cypreanna Winters, a statistician at the department, recognized that the results may come as a surprise to some people, but she added, "We are definition driven.  Of course we know people wouldn’t agree with us."

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines employed persons as, "All persons 15 years of age and over who work for pay anytime during the reference week or who worked without pay for at least one hour in a family operated business or a person who was temporarily absent from their regular job because of vacation, illness etc."

The ILO defines unemployed persons as, "All persons 15 years of age and over who did not work or have a job from which they were temporarily absent during the reference week, but were actively looking for work in the four weeks prior to the survey week and were able and willing to work."

Discouraged workers were defined as "All persons who may or may not have worked before, are able and willing to work, but are not actively seeking work because they believe they would not find it.  They are not considered to be a part of the labour force."

When asked why the hundreds of people who lost their jobs – particularly in Grand Bahama – following hurricanes Frances and Jeanne last year did not push the unemployment rate up, Ms. Winters explained that many of them would either have found jobs or are classified as discouraged workers.

Officials said they do not count discouraged workers as part of the unemployed although they too are jobless.

"There is a thin line between an unemployed person and a discouraged worker," Ms. Winters said.  "We have to be guided by our [internationally-accepted] definitions."

Assistant Director of the Department of Statistics Leona Wilson reported that while the national unemployment figure is 10.2 percent, there is a noted difference when examined by sex.

The unemployment rate for women showed a slight increase, whereas that of men a slight decrease.

Unemployment among women was recorded at 11.2 percent, up from 11 percent in 2004; and the unemployment among men was recorded at 9.2 percent, down from 9.4 percent in 2004.

Ms. Wilson also reported that preliminary results show that 2,375 persons were added to the labour force in 2005, an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous year.  This includes unemployed and employed persons.

Women were the main contributor to this growth (1,485 compared to men who numbered 890).

The data also indicated that 2,190 of the 2,375 persons got jobs and females outnumbered the males at 1,180, compared to 1,010.

Over the last 10 years, the unemployment rate was at its lowest point in 2001, when it stood at 6.9 percent.  It jumped to 9.1 percent in 2002, climbed to 10.8 percent in 2003, and showed a slight drop to 10.2 percent in 2004.

Over the last decade, the unemployment rate was at its highest point in 1996 when it stood at 11.5 percent, up from 10.9 percent the previous year.

In 1992, the unemployment rate was 14.8 percent.  The unemployment rate was highest in an independent Bahamas in 1975 when it stood at 21.2 percent.

The Promised National Health Insurance (NHI) Plan in The Bahamas

No Definite Plan on How National Health Insurance Would Be Financed in The Bahamas

Timing of National Health Insurance Remains Uncertain

By: Candia Dames

candiadames@hotmail.com

Nassau, The Bahamas

21 October 2005

It remains unclear whether the government will establish the promised National Health Insurance Plan before the end of this term, but Prime Minister Perry Christie said on Wednesday that he is still committed to making such a scheme a reality.

The National Health Insurance Plan was a major campaign promise of the Progressive Liberal Party in 2002, with Mr. Christie continuing to tout the importance of it as prime minister.

Early in his term, he appointed a 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission on National Health Insurance, headed by Dr. Perry Gomez, to examine the feasibility of such a scheme.

On Wednesday, Member of Parliament for South Andros Whitney Bastian asked Prime Minister Christie whether national health insurance will be in place before the end of this term.

It was a question that the prime minister failed to answer in any specifics, saying only that Cabinet will make a decision on that.

He did, however, point to the "urgency" of looking into such a plan.

"From a personal point of view I wanted it to happen," he said.  "Cabinet obviously has to make a decision on it.  It is something that I heralded from the platforms during the last campaign.  It is something that I have always believed to be of vital importance to the poor of this country."

Mr. Christie said the recent poverty study tabled in the House of Assembly by Minister of Social Services and Community Development Melanie Griffin is evidence that there is a significant portion of the population desperately in need of national health insurance.

The poverty study found that just under 10 percent of the population is living below the poverty line.

"Poverty obviously creates a real problem in our country, particularly as you go to the islands," the prime minister acknowledged.  "When you reach Andros and go farther south it’s from 12 percent to 20 percent."

The prime minister did not give a timeline, but he said that he will make a communication to parliament as soon as his government makes a decision on national health insurance.

Dr. Gomez told The Bahama Journal several months ago that the government had appointed a planning committee to formulate specifics as it relates to national health insurance after signing off on all of the recommendations of the commission.

But while the committee was working aggressively to come up with the right formula for the scheme, it had not yet come up with a definite plan for how national health insurance would be financed, he said at the time.

Nevertheless, he indicated that the plan is no longer a matter of "if", but "when".

"The social health insurance levels the playing field in health," Dr. Gomez told The Bahama Journal.  "I believe that health is a right of individuals, not a gift; it’s not a privilege.  All people are entitled to the best of health care that their countries can afford, regardless of the individuals’ ability to pay.

"That’s a problem we have in our country to a large extent.  There is a discrepancy between the health care of the haves and those who have not and I think the best way of trying to address this issue is by finding some means of insuring the entire population and the best way to do that from all I have looked at and the Blue Ribbon Commission has studied is through this programme of social health insurance."

At the time, Dr. Gomez indicated that the development of the scheme is "highly technical" and he indicated that one of the more difficult challenges faced by authorities is coming up with a cost structure for the plan.