Does it matter if you vote?
thenassauguardian editorial
Interesting debates always emerge when the question is posed as to whether or not citizens living in democracies should feel obligated to vote.
Most democracies were fought for. People who campaigned for freedom, self-governance and civil rights were jailed, some were murdered, some were beaten and many others were victimized. Some of these fights were actual wars.
In this context, we all should take the vote seriously. It is not a right, but a gift fought for by those who came before us.
As we all sit and evaluate the political parties and independent candidates who will offer for public office in the run-up to the next general election, we should make every effort to determine if there is someone on the ballot good enough to vote for.
Those who do not think there is anyone good enough to vote for should consider entering the race or the political process.
But if the ballot is filled with poor candidates, what should a voter do? Should voters feel compelled to vote?
No, they should not. Voting is an important part of the democratic process. However, voting should not be confused with democracy. Democracy is about self-governance. As citizens, we have a responsibility to do this everyday – not just every five years.
By working at a charity, providing assistance to the homeless, democracy is at work; by volunteering as a mentor at a school, democracy is at work; by raising an educated, hardworking law-abiding citizen, democracy is at work.
So for those who think there is no reasonable offering to vote for at the next general election, you should rest assured that there are many other ways to participate in the advancement and governance of The Bahamas.
A group of residents in a community can easily come together, approach their public school, and start an after school literacy program for the children falling behind, for example.
Simple initiatives such as these, if done by many individuals or by many groups, can do much to change the lives of the disadvantaged and the soon-to-be lost.
Elections are important; voting is important. But if you think the mainstream political parties are pathetic and the independents are incompetent, do not distress. You can exercise your democratic power everyday by doing something to help build the community.
3/30/2011
thenassauguardian editorial
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.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Renward Wells - National Development Party (NDP) leader: ...now is the time for a third party to really make a difference in the political landscape of The Bahamas
NDP leader: it's time for a third party in Bahamas
By PAUL G. TURNQUEST
Tribune Staff Reporter
pturnquest@tribunemedia.net
HEADING into their discussions last night with Independent MP Branville McCartney, NDP leader Renward Wells said that he feels now is the time for a third party to really make a difference in the political landscape of the Bahamas.
Hoping to either court the Bamboo Town MP into joining the NDP or have their party make some type of alliance with whatever movement Mr McCartney will form, Mr Wells said they hope to be "the alternative" to both the PLP and the FNM at the polls.
"We believe that it is high time for another party, other than the PLP or the FNM. It is absolutely the right time to do it," he said.
At the meeting, which was scheduled to be held at Mr McCartney's home on John F Kennedy Drive, Mr Wells said that the NDP will have 14 persons present, including himself, as representative from the Bahamas Democratic Movement. Other notable young politicians are reported to be attending.
Mr Wells said that his party has decided to send such a large contingent because they represent the heads of a number of their internal committees and must relate what transpired with first hand knowledge.
"Actually I am taking a lot of people who support Mr McCartney so they can hear from him as to what is what, and then they can make up their minds based on what they currently believe and are willing to accept. Because at the end of the day, the others have made their position quite known, this is what it is, he must come to the NDP and they are not changing from that at all.
"And they have said they don't want to go. This is our position and we are not changing that," he said.
Mr Wells said that based on what happens at the meeting last night he may have to "work" on these party members if the NDP intends to move in the direction of aligning itself with Mr McCartney.
If the Bamboo Town MP were to join with the NDP and lead the organization, Mr Wells said that they will hold a convention within 30 days so that this decision can be made by their entire organization.
"There are even people in the NDP already who would want him (Mr McCartney) for leadership; most certainly. I believe that at the end of the day, those persons not only support Bran being the leader of the party, they support it being done the right way.
"I don't want people to believe that Renward Wells is a megalomaniac. I am willing of Bran being the leader in the House of Assembly because he is the only one there. Undoubtedly I can tell you that if I run against him (for the leadership) he will more than likely win. But this isn't about me. This is about the Bahamian people. If they believe that Bran is the best man to make that change, I will grab my shield and follow him into battle," he said.
As a relatively new political organization, Mr Wells said that the NDP has already faced its share of challenges - namely the departure of its former national chairman Dr Andre Rollins. However, he said that because their party is grounded in its message and "principles", they have survived.
"A political party must not be about a man, it must be about the message. It can't be about the person, it must be about the principle. You cannot have an idol, you must have an ideology. Men and women will come and go, but the truth and the message will remain. When you create parties around men, they fail; look at the CDR (Coalition for Democratic Reform). The NDP will and cannot join any institution that is built around a man," he said.
March 30, 2011
tribune242
By PAUL G. TURNQUEST
Tribune Staff Reporter
pturnquest@tribunemedia.net
HEADING into their discussions last night with Independent MP Branville McCartney, NDP leader Renward Wells said that he feels now is the time for a third party to really make a difference in the political landscape of the Bahamas.
Hoping to either court the Bamboo Town MP into joining the NDP or have their party make some type of alliance with whatever movement Mr McCartney will form, Mr Wells said they hope to be "the alternative" to both the PLP and the FNM at the polls.
"We believe that it is high time for another party, other than the PLP or the FNM. It is absolutely the right time to do it," he said.
At the meeting, which was scheduled to be held at Mr McCartney's home on John F Kennedy Drive, Mr Wells said that the NDP will have 14 persons present, including himself, as representative from the Bahamas Democratic Movement. Other notable young politicians are reported to be attending.
Mr Wells said that his party has decided to send such a large contingent because they represent the heads of a number of their internal committees and must relate what transpired with first hand knowledge.
"Actually I am taking a lot of people who support Mr McCartney so they can hear from him as to what is what, and then they can make up their minds based on what they currently believe and are willing to accept. Because at the end of the day, the others have made their position quite known, this is what it is, he must come to the NDP and they are not changing from that at all.
"And they have said they don't want to go. This is our position and we are not changing that," he said.
Mr Wells said that based on what happens at the meeting last night he may have to "work" on these party members if the NDP intends to move in the direction of aligning itself with Mr McCartney.
If the Bamboo Town MP were to join with the NDP and lead the organization, Mr Wells said that they will hold a convention within 30 days so that this decision can be made by their entire organization.
"There are even people in the NDP already who would want him (Mr McCartney) for leadership; most certainly. I believe that at the end of the day, those persons not only support Bran being the leader of the party, they support it being done the right way.
"I don't want people to believe that Renward Wells is a megalomaniac. I am willing of Bran being the leader in the House of Assembly because he is the only one there. Undoubtedly I can tell you that if I run against him (for the leadership) he will more than likely win. But this isn't about me. This is about the Bahamian people. If they believe that Bran is the best man to make that change, I will grab my shield and follow him into battle," he said.
As a relatively new political organization, Mr Wells said that the NDP has already faced its share of challenges - namely the departure of its former national chairman Dr Andre Rollins. However, he said that because their party is grounded in its message and "principles", they have survived.
"A political party must not be about a man, it must be about the message. It can't be about the person, it must be about the principle. You cannot have an idol, you must have an ideology. Men and women will come and go, but the truth and the message will remain. When you create parties around men, they fail; look at the CDR (Coalition for Democratic Reform). The NDP will and cannot join any institution that is built around a man," he said.
March 30, 2011
tribune242
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Our education system is failing... It is particularly failing our boys
Education system failing our boys
thenassauguardian editorial
Last week new College of The Bahamas (COB) President Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze told the Zonta Club that only 14 percent of COB graduates are male.
“It is not a problem that happens once they get to us. They are not graduating at the same rates, they are not applying for college at the same rates and that gap continues to widen,” she said.
The newly-landed foreign head of COB is right. Each year the results of the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) reveal the problem with boys in the education system.
In 2010, girls received 16,233 grades; boys received 10,683 grades. Boys are only receiving 39.7 percent of the grades issued at the senior exams.
The boys receive fewer grades because fewer of them are there at graduation. Our boys are dropping out in large numbers.
What is even sadder is that the boys who stay in school long enough to do their final exams are doing poorly.
For A through C grades at the 2010 BGCSE’s, girls received about double the number of these grades than boys. However, as you move down the grade spectrum, grades D to U, the fewer boys in the system nearly match the girls in poor performance – 554 girls received the U grade and 448 boys did the same.
Our education system is failing. It is particularly failing our boys.
There is without question a correlation between education systems that fail boys and high crime rates. Young men unable to function in a modern economy will not simple sit down and starve to death.
The Bahamas has set three homicide records in four years and it is on pace to shatter last years dubious record. Police have also been battling a surge in recent years in armed robberies and property crimes such as house-breaking.
Our crisis is not just a crime crisis. It is a crisis of integrating young men into the legal economy and into civil society. A national effort is required to help our boys. One part of the strategy to help them may be to separate the genders in the public education system.
Environments need to be created helping young men, collectively, to equate masculinity with honest work, achievement and struggle. As we fail our boys in the current education system they go off into the underworld economy of drugs and violence.
The reformatory schools also need to be expanded. Those who cannot behave should not be allowed to remain in regular schools disrupting the peace. Those parents who cannot, or do not wish to, control their disruptive children should lose custody of those children to the state.
Just as the reformatory schools would exist for the disruptive, a new juvenile prison is needed at Her Majesty’s Prisons. This would be different from the reformatory schools, which would be schools for troubled children. Juvenile jail would be jail for young criminals.
These few suggestions should be a part of a wider national discussion on the failing Bahamian boy and man. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on education in The Bahamas and we have the problems we have. Simply throwing more money at the education system is not necessarily the solution.
There was a time a few decades ago when women were discriminated against in the workplace and by law. We fortunately have evolved beyond those times. Today, however, as women rise and take on leadership positions in the country, men are falling.
The 14 percent figure at COB is dangerous. If we cannot reach our boys and encourage them to embrace education, more and more of them will be before our courts lost, confused and charged with all manner of violent offenses.
3/28/2011
thenassauguardian editorial
thenassauguardian editorial
Last week new College of The Bahamas (COB) President Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze told the Zonta Club that only 14 percent of COB graduates are male.
“It is not a problem that happens once they get to us. They are not graduating at the same rates, they are not applying for college at the same rates and that gap continues to widen,” she said.
The newly-landed foreign head of COB is right. Each year the results of the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) reveal the problem with boys in the education system.
In 2010, girls received 16,233 grades; boys received 10,683 grades. Boys are only receiving 39.7 percent of the grades issued at the senior exams.
The boys receive fewer grades because fewer of them are there at graduation. Our boys are dropping out in large numbers.
What is even sadder is that the boys who stay in school long enough to do their final exams are doing poorly.
For A through C grades at the 2010 BGCSE’s, girls received about double the number of these grades than boys. However, as you move down the grade spectrum, grades D to U, the fewer boys in the system nearly match the girls in poor performance – 554 girls received the U grade and 448 boys did the same.
Our education system is failing. It is particularly failing our boys.
There is without question a correlation between education systems that fail boys and high crime rates. Young men unable to function in a modern economy will not simple sit down and starve to death.
The Bahamas has set three homicide records in four years and it is on pace to shatter last years dubious record. Police have also been battling a surge in recent years in armed robberies and property crimes such as house-breaking.
Our crisis is not just a crime crisis. It is a crisis of integrating young men into the legal economy and into civil society. A national effort is required to help our boys. One part of the strategy to help them may be to separate the genders in the public education system.
Environments need to be created helping young men, collectively, to equate masculinity with honest work, achievement and struggle. As we fail our boys in the current education system they go off into the underworld economy of drugs and violence.
The reformatory schools also need to be expanded. Those who cannot behave should not be allowed to remain in regular schools disrupting the peace. Those parents who cannot, or do not wish to, control their disruptive children should lose custody of those children to the state.
Just as the reformatory schools would exist for the disruptive, a new juvenile prison is needed at Her Majesty’s Prisons. This would be different from the reformatory schools, which would be schools for troubled children. Juvenile jail would be jail for young criminals.
These few suggestions should be a part of a wider national discussion on the failing Bahamian boy and man. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on education in The Bahamas and we have the problems we have. Simply throwing more money at the education system is not necessarily the solution.
There was a time a few decades ago when women were discriminated against in the workplace and by law. We fortunately have evolved beyond those times. Today, however, as women rise and take on leadership positions in the country, men are falling.
The 14 percent figure at COB is dangerous. If we cannot reach our boys and encourage them to embrace education, more and more of them will be before our courts lost, confused and charged with all manner of violent offenses.
3/28/2011
thenassauguardian editorial
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Bahamians are registering to vote in greater numbers for the next general election...
Bahamian Voters Eager
By IANTHIA SMITH
It seemed to be just what the parliamentary registration needed; something to boost the low registration numbers in the country and according to Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Parliamentary Registration Department Sherlyn Hall an announcement by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on Friday did just that.
It was just three days ago the prime minister told reporters at a press conference that the voter register will be closed by July, an announcement that apparently put fire to many Bahamians who are now rushing to the registration booths.
Since that announcement, Mr. Hall said workers in his department have seen a massive increase in the numbers of Bahamians who have registered.
Since it began last year, the voter registration process was moving at a snail’s pace to the point where Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel made several appeals for Bahamians to get the ball rolling in that regard.
Since Friday, it seems Bahamians have gotten on board and Mr. Hall right now some 30,300 people are on the register.
"Since that time we have had tremendous increase from Friday and Saturday’s figures," Mr. Hall said. "They have not been factored in so we are really looking at a tremendous increase on that 30,300.
"For instance on Friday we took over 413 persons alone at the Urban Renewal Centres throughout New Providence. So we’ve seen a tremendous increase all of last week."
On Friday, Prime Minister Ingraham said, "Sometime after June of this year, I propose to cause the current register of voters to [close] and by that I mean that I want that register to come to an end, which would mean that only persons who are registered on the new register will be eligible to vote," he told reporters on Friday.
"I’m going to give 90 days notice of that. I’m now thinking of giving that notice sometime in April so that sometime towards the end of June or July, I intend to bring the current register to an end. The boundaries commission will be appointed after that."
The deputy permanent secretary added that the Family Islands’ representatives are also reporting an upswing with their registration numbers.
He said up to yesterday alone, the department was expecting that some 500 to 700 more people would have registered to vote in the capital.
"I think (the announcement the prime minister made) helped with these figures," Mr. Hall added. "I think that’s where the boost came from. I think the more we can get people excited and let them know that they can come in early, the better it will be for everyone and we are now seeing them doing that. This is the boost we’ve been waiting on for a long time.
"We are very pleased with how things are going and we are pleased with the numbers that have been coming out but we want to urge the public to continue to come out."
The Bahama Journal was able to speak to some of the new registrants yesterday.
They said after hearing what the prime minister had to say last week, they had no choice but to get out and register.
"It’s good to be prepared," Austin Grant said as he waited for his voter’s card photo to be taken. "The way things are going right now they could call the election any minute and I’d like to be ready. It’s always good to be ready and after today I’ll be ready."
Another registrant said, "The reason why I came out is because they said election is coming soon and I’m trying to get in front of the line. What the prime minister said really made me think so I had to come out."
"I’m out here registering to vote so I can have a say in my country and I’m doing it now before it closes," another registrant said.
While he has not indicated any dates as yet, many are speculating that Prime Minister Ingraham will call an election before the end of the year.
March 29th, 2011
jonesbahamas
By IANTHIA SMITH
It seemed to be just what the parliamentary registration needed; something to boost the low registration numbers in the country and according to Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Parliamentary Registration Department Sherlyn Hall an announcement by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on Friday did just that.
It was just three days ago the prime minister told reporters at a press conference that the voter register will be closed by July, an announcement that apparently put fire to many Bahamians who are now rushing to the registration booths.
Since that announcement, Mr. Hall said workers in his department have seen a massive increase in the numbers of Bahamians who have registered.
Since it began last year, the voter registration process was moving at a snail’s pace to the point where Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel made several appeals for Bahamians to get the ball rolling in that regard.
Since Friday, it seems Bahamians have gotten on board and Mr. Hall right now some 30,300 people are on the register.
"Since that time we have had tremendous increase from Friday and Saturday’s figures," Mr. Hall said. "They have not been factored in so we are really looking at a tremendous increase on that 30,300.
"For instance on Friday we took over 413 persons alone at the Urban Renewal Centres throughout New Providence. So we’ve seen a tremendous increase all of last week."
On Friday, Prime Minister Ingraham said, "Sometime after June of this year, I propose to cause the current register of voters to [close] and by that I mean that I want that register to come to an end, which would mean that only persons who are registered on the new register will be eligible to vote," he told reporters on Friday.
"I’m going to give 90 days notice of that. I’m now thinking of giving that notice sometime in April so that sometime towards the end of June or July, I intend to bring the current register to an end. The boundaries commission will be appointed after that."
The deputy permanent secretary added that the Family Islands’ representatives are also reporting an upswing with their registration numbers.
He said up to yesterday alone, the department was expecting that some 500 to 700 more people would have registered to vote in the capital.
"I think (the announcement the prime minister made) helped with these figures," Mr. Hall added. "I think that’s where the boost came from. I think the more we can get people excited and let them know that they can come in early, the better it will be for everyone and we are now seeing them doing that. This is the boost we’ve been waiting on for a long time.
"We are very pleased with how things are going and we are pleased with the numbers that have been coming out but we want to urge the public to continue to come out."
The Bahama Journal was able to speak to some of the new registrants yesterday.
They said after hearing what the prime minister had to say last week, they had no choice but to get out and register.
"It’s good to be prepared," Austin Grant said as he waited for his voter’s card photo to be taken. "The way things are going right now they could call the election any minute and I’d like to be ready. It’s always good to be ready and after today I’ll be ready."
Another registrant said, "The reason why I came out is because they said election is coming soon and I’m trying to get in front of the line. What the prime minister said really made me think so I had to come out."
"I’m out here registering to vote so I can have a say in my country and I’m doing it now before it closes," another registrant said.
While he has not indicated any dates as yet, many are speculating that Prime Minister Ingraham will call an election before the end of the year.
March 29th, 2011
jonesbahamas
Monday, March 28, 2011
To the Ingraham government: ...lay the whole Bluewater Ventures Ltd / BaTelCo transaction on the table of the House of Assembly so that it will be available for public scrutiny
What is the whole truth behind Bluewater?
tribune242 editorial
AFTER a 14-year search for a suitable strategic partner and a lengthy, often acrimonious debate over the past few days, BTC opens its doors today as a privately owned company. Cable & Wireless, with a sound international reputation and solid financing is the new owner. Bluewater Ventures Ltd, the choice of the PLP government, is now history leaving a trail of mystery in its wake.
When one examines details of the bids that were published, it is difficult to understand why Bluewater -- the only company not to produce financials -- was the PLP government's company of choice. Many things have been suggested. Finance Minister Zhivargo Laing considered it a "fronting" operation with Bahamians hidden in the background. Whatever it was, all that has been made public -- and much is still hidden-- suggests that it was a company hastily thrown together especially for this bidding process.
At the end of a heated exchange between Opposition leader Perry Christie, whose government pushed the Bluewater deal to a hasty conclusion, and Prime Minister Ingraham who eliminated Bluewater, Mr Ingraham accepted that Mr Christie's last gesture before he left office "was beneficial to the Bahamas."
As he put out the embers of his dying government, Mr Christie took up his pen and ended the Bluewater deal.
"I would recommend," he wrote, "that the matter not proceed any further at this time."
Mr Christie argued that as his government had been voted out of office, it was only right that the final decision on the future of BTC be left for the new government.
Reading from the records on Monday, April 30, 2007 --two days before the general election -- Mr Ingraham said the PLP Cabinet met with Prime Minister Christie's approval. Mr Christie himself was absent, and so the deputy prime minister was in the chair. Mr Obie Wilchcombe was also absent from that meeting. It was at that meeting that the decision was made to sell BTC to Bluewater.
When asked by a House member what he knew about the Bluewater transaction, Mr Ingraham said he knew of a meeting also held at the Ministry of Finance when then Minister Bradley Roberts, "Brave" Davis, lawyer for Bluewater, and a "man from Bluewater" returned to the room and said "we have a deal."
Mr Ingraham said that before the 2007 election he had announced at an FNM rally that the PLP government had sold what was then BaTelCo to Bluewater. His speculation was that at the end "they ran scared," which caused the last minute change of mind.
As our readers will recall the hand-over in 2007 from one government to the next did not go smoothly. Although the FNM became the government on May 2, it was not until May 4th that it was able to assume office.
In the meantime several ministers of the former PLP government, said Mr Ingraham, went around announcing that the Bluewater deal had been approved and recommended that the persons involved should go to the Cabinet office to get "the letter."
By then the Ingraham government was in charge. Mr Ingraham said that the Secretary to the Cabinet came to him one day to inform him that "some people" were at the office saying that they wanted "the letter" -- obviously the letter approving the sale of BaTelCo to Bluewater.
Mr Ingraham thanked Mr Christie for going to London to testify at the hearing when Bluewater was demanding to be indemnified for the loss of BaTelCo. In Bluewater's agreement with the PLP, the Ingraham government would have had to pay $2.5 million if the exclusivity clause in the agreement had been breached. To get out of the Bluewater deal, the $2.5 million penalty clause was negotiated down to $1.9 million.
Mr Ingraham argued that although Mr Christie did not attend the Cabinet meeting that approved the sale of BaTelCo to Bluewater, the fact that he had given Cabinet members permission to meet, and agreed who should chair the meeting, he could not then unilaterally rescind their decision without another meeting and discussion. Mr Christie argued that he did not change the deal, but decided that his government was at an end and suspended it.
Mr Ingraham knows, said an angered Opposition leader, that "this was a process that I was going to guarantee the integrity of -- if only because Brave Davis was the lawyer -- I was not going to allow this matter to compromise the integrity of my government under no circumstances."
In a heated moment, Mr Christie probably suggested more than he intended. Obviously, he was not happy with the deal. His behaviour at the end shows a great deal of doubt. Already he had started the hand washing process.
Bluewater was a deal made on behalf of the Bahamian people. They are entitled to know the facts -- especially why Bluewater was given so many preferential concessions.
We feel it the duty of the Ingraham government to lay the whole Bluewater transaction on the table of the House so that it will be available for public scrutiny.
March 28, 2011
tribune242 editorial
tribune242 editorial
AFTER a 14-year search for a suitable strategic partner and a lengthy, often acrimonious debate over the past few days, BTC opens its doors today as a privately owned company. Cable & Wireless, with a sound international reputation and solid financing is the new owner. Bluewater Ventures Ltd, the choice of the PLP government, is now history leaving a trail of mystery in its wake.
When one examines details of the bids that were published, it is difficult to understand why Bluewater -- the only company not to produce financials -- was the PLP government's company of choice. Many things have been suggested. Finance Minister Zhivargo Laing considered it a "fronting" operation with Bahamians hidden in the background. Whatever it was, all that has been made public -- and much is still hidden-- suggests that it was a company hastily thrown together especially for this bidding process.
At the end of a heated exchange between Opposition leader Perry Christie, whose government pushed the Bluewater deal to a hasty conclusion, and Prime Minister Ingraham who eliminated Bluewater, Mr Ingraham accepted that Mr Christie's last gesture before he left office "was beneficial to the Bahamas."
As he put out the embers of his dying government, Mr Christie took up his pen and ended the Bluewater deal.
"I would recommend," he wrote, "that the matter not proceed any further at this time."
Mr Christie argued that as his government had been voted out of office, it was only right that the final decision on the future of BTC be left for the new government.
Reading from the records on Monday, April 30, 2007 --two days before the general election -- Mr Ingraham said the PLP Cabinet met with Prime Minister Christie's approval. Mr Christie himself was absent, and so the deputy prime minister was in the chair. Mr Obie Wilchcombe was also absent from that meeting. It was at that meeting that the decision was made to sell BTC to Bluewater.
When asked by a House member what he knew about the Bluewater transaction, Mr Ingraham said he knew of a meeting also held at the Ministry of Finance when then Minister Bradley Roberts, "Brave" Davis, lawyer for Bluewater, and a "man from Bluewater" returned to the room and said "we have a deal."
Mr Ingraham said that before the 2007 election he had announced at an FNM rally that the PLP government had sold what was then BaTelCo to Bluewater. His speculation was that at the end "they ran scared," which caused the last minute change of mind.
As our readers will recall the hand-over in 2007 from one government to the next did not go smoothly. Although the FNM became the government on May 2, it was not until May 4th that it was able to assume office.
In the meantime several ministers of the former PLP government, said Mr Ingraham, went around announcing that the Bluewater deal had been approved and recommended that the persons involved should go to the Cabinet office to get "the letter."
By then the Ingraham government was in charge. Mr Ingraham said that the Secretary to the Cabinet came to him one day to inform him that "some people" were at the office saying that they wanted "the letter" -- obviously the letter approving the sale of BaTelCo to Bluewater.
Mr Ingraham thanked Mr Christie for going to London to testify at the hearing when Bluewater was demanding to be indemnified for the loss of BaTelCo. In Bluewater's agreement with the PLP, the Ingraham government would have had to pay $2.5 million if the exclusivity clause in the agreement had been breached. To get out of the Bluewater deal, the $2.5 million penalty clause was negotiated down to $1.9 million.
Mr Ingraham argued that although Mr Christie did not attend the Cabinet meeting that approved the sale of BaTelCo to Bluewater, the fact that he had given Cabinet members permission to meet, and agreed who should chair the meeting, he could not then unilaterally rescind their decision without another meeting and discussion. Mr Christie argued that he did not change the deal, but decided that his government was at an end and suspended it.
Mr Ingraham knows, said an angered Opposition leader, that "this was a process that I was going to guarantee the integrity of -- if only because Brave Davis was the lawyer -- I was not going to allow this matter to compromise the integrity of my government under no circumstances."
In a heated moment, Mr Christie probably suggested more than he intended. Obviously, he was not happy with the deal. His behaviour at the end shows a great deal of doubt. Already he had started the hand washing process.
Bluewater was a deal made on behalf of the Bahamian people. They are entitled to know the facts -- especially why Bluewater was given so many preferential concessions.
We feel it the duty of the Ingraham government to lay the whole Bluewater transaction on the table of the House so that it will be available for public scrutiny.
March 28, 2011
tribune242 editorial
Exactly what do we know about Mr. Branville McCartney so far?
The enigma known as Branville McCartney
By Rick Lowe
Mr. McCartney recently resigned from the government, (as he should have), remaining in Parliament as an independent MP, and rumour has it he will start a new political party to contest the next general election.
Upon hearing this, one of my nephews e-mailed from Abaco to say how exciting this was and felt this new party would win if they could field some good candidates.
My response, after consulting my political crystal ball, was that he might not even win the Constituency he currently represents, (Bamboo Town) again, much less the government based on what we know about him and his policies and how he proposes to implement them to date.
Exactly what do we know about Mr. McCartney so far?
1. He thinks illegal Haitians should be repatriated.
2. He thinks Bahamians should be able to succeed.
3. He is opposed to Cable & Wireless buying BTC.
Now what do we find when we look at what the FNM and PLP think about these things?
Believe it or not, Mr. McCartney, or "Bran" as he is affectionately known, agrees with both the major political parties on the first two points, and agrees with the PLP on the third, since they changed their position on privatisation that is. So what's he got that the other two parties don't have? Problem is we don't know yet.
Until Mr. McCartney releases a position paper on major issues and how he will "plan or fix" things so Bahamians can get to know him, he stands for nothing original at this point. In fact he just might be so nationalistic that he sets the country back even further than the "devils" we know.
This quote from Nobel Laureate and economist, F.A. Hayek from his masterpiece, The Road to Serfdom, seems appropriate:
weblogbahamas
Mr. McCartney recently resigned from the government, (as he should have), remaining in Parliament as an independent MP, and rumour has it he will start a new political party to contest the next general election.
Upon hearing this, one of my nephews e-mailed from Abaco to say how exciting this was and felt this new party would win if they could field some good candidates.
My response, after consulting my political crystal ball, was that he might not even win the Constituency he currently represents, (Bamboo Town) again, much less the government based on what we know about him and his policies and how he proposes to implement them to date.
Exactly what do we know about Mr. McCartney so far?
1. He thinks illegal Haitians should be repatriated.
2. He thinks Bahamians should be able to succeed.
3. He is opposed to Cable & Wireless buying BTC.
Now what do we find when we look at what the FNM and PLP think about these things?
Believe it or not, Mr. McCartney, or "Bran" as he is affectionately known, agrees with both the major political parties on the first two points, and agrees with the PLP on the third, since they changed their position on privatisation that is. So what's he got that the other two parties don't have? Problem is we don't know yet.
Until Mr. McCartney releases a position paper on major issues and how he will "plan or fix" things so Bahamians can get to know him, he stands for nothing original at this point. In fact he just might be so nationalistic that he sets the country back even further than the "devils" we know.
This quote from Nobel Laureate and economist, F.A. Hayek from his masterpiece, The Road to Serfdom, seems appropriate:
"The effect of the people's agreeing that there must be central planning, without agreeing on the ends, will be rather as if a group of people were to commit themselves to take a journey together without agreeing where they want to go; with the result that they may all have to make a journey which most of them do not want at all."In the mean time it will be fun watching the political posturing until his cards are played for all to see, because at this point Mr. McCartney is little more than an enigma.
weblogbahamas
Sunday, March 27, 2011
PRIME Minister Hubert Ingraham will close the current voters' register sometime after June 2011... only those on the new register will be eligible to vote in the next general election
PM will close voters' register in June or July
By TANEKA THOMPSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
tthompson@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Ingraham will close the current voters' register in June or July of this year - meaning that only those on the new register will be eligible to vote in the next election.
Once the current register is void, members of the Boundaries Commission will be appointed, the Prime Minister said.
"I can tell you this, sometime after June of this year I propose to cause the current register of voters to die - by that I mean to come to an end - which would mean only persons who are registered on the new register will be eligible to vote," said Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
"I've got to give 90 days notice of that. I'm now thinking of giving that notice sometime during the month of April, so sometime towards the end of June or July I intend to bring the current register to an end.
"The Boundaries Commission will be appointed after that."
When asked if elections will be called this year, Mr Ingraham quipped: "No man knows of the hour but one and he ain' talking."
March 26, 2011
tribune242
By TANEKA THOMPSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
tthompson@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Ingraham will close the current voters' register in June or July of this year - meaning that only those on the new register will be eligible to vote in the next election.
This move will give the Parliamentary Registrar more time to peruse the new voters' register. It will also allow the Parliamentary Registrar to give the Boundaries Commission a more accurate representation of the number of eligible voters in each constituency.
Once the current register is void, members of the Boundaries Commission will be appointed, the Prime Minister said.
"I can tell you this, sometime after June of this year I propose to cause the current register of voters to die - by that I mean to come to an end - which would mean only persons who are registered on the new register will be eligible to vote," said Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
"I've got to give 90 days notice of that. I'm now thinking of giving that notice sometime during the month of April, so sometime towards the end of June or July I intend to bring the current register to an end.
"The Boundaries Commission will be appointed after that."
When asked if elections will be called this year, Mr Ingraham quipped: "No man knows of the hour but one and he ain' talking."
March 26, 2011
tribune242
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