Despite all the money that is being spent on education, with a few exceptions, we are not producing top quality students

Enlarged budget can't buy good education

tribune242 editorial


IN a joint statement Tuesday the PLP announced that if elected as the next government its administration would double the $200 million education budget.

Education Minister Desmond Bannister, whose head, unlike some others, is not lost in the clouds, asked them a legitimate question: Please explain where the money is coming from.

Mr Bannister has had to face the reality of a tight budget for the past four years, and no matter who is in the next government, there will be no spare cash to double anything.

Not only would it be nice to know where the PLP has its secret money tree, but we would like to inform the party that money -- no matter how much is spent -- does not necessarily translate into good education. It is now time to stop the big talk about money and concentrate on quality. With the whole world terrified of a recession any political party that promises to double any budget is really out to fool the people. All we warn Bahamians is: Caveat emptor, in other words buyer beware!

And, just in case the PLP have forgotten, the Bahamas is very much a part of the world, almost completely dependent on the United States which is now being torn apart politically as Democrats and Republicans fight over how to reduce their country's debt and what budgets to slash.

During its five years as the government we have been given no reason to have confidence that the PLP knows how to spend the people's money wisely. Imagine planning to build a $3.1 million school for 26 students in Salina Point, Acklins.

The Ingraham government came just in time to save taxpayers' money. It's always easy to splash money around when it's not your own -- the PLP were past masters at the art.

Instead of a $3 million plus school, a contract was signed to build two additional classrooms, a library and an administration block. More than adequate for 26 students and their teachers.

The FNM also cancelled a number of road and school contracts that totalled more than $22 million. We must remember that there are 37 inhabited islands in our archipelago, each one requiring schools, health clinics, roads, communication, electricity, water and local government. A group of islands is far more expensive to finance than one large land mass, which needs only one central government and necessary infrastructure. In an archipelagic situation each island needs its own mini-government. Few of these islands earn enough to support themselves. This puts a terrible financial strain on central government and those more prosperous islands that have to contribute to the central coffer.

Despite all the money that is being spent on education, with a few exceptions, we are not producing top quality students. We are -- like so many other countries -- graduating a troublesome underclass, minus skills, ill equipped for a meaningful job, who eventually drift into a life of crime. Even those with better opportunities get drawn into the gang culture, where knives, guns and bullies rule the streets.

It all goes back to broken homes, illegitimate births and young people who have nothing to gain, and yet nothing to lose.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has just had a taste of the damage that youth "who do not know right from wrong" can do, has vowed to "fix broken Britain" by promoting family values and education.

Le Figaro, one of France's leading newspapers, reported this week that Education Minister Luc Chatel wants to reinstate morality lessons in primary schools. France too has had its share of rioting and burning in Paris by angry youth run amok.

Four areas are emphasized, reports Figaro: "Introduction to notions of morality, self-esteem, social life, respect for others and respect for property. Children will learn to distinguish good from evil. They will ponder loyalty, frankness, or 'individual merit.' Hygiene, self-protection, solidarity, tolerance and rights and duties are part of the programme as well. Finally, they will learn to respect 'others' belongings' and 'public goods.'"

No government needs to double the education budget to get to the bedrock of our troubles.

Social values are the essentials that money cannot buy. Society's broken fences -- our children -- are in urgent need of mending if this country is to produce an educated, courteous citizenry with a moral conscience.

September 08, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International

...how do we regain a positive outlook for the economic future of our country and avoid the actual downgrading of The Bahamas’ rating?

Improving our economic situation

By Alfred Poitier

The fact that the outlook for the Bahamian economy has been downgraded to negative by Moody’s should come as no surprise to the opposition or the governing party of The Bahamas.  As a matter of fact, the downgrading is water under the bridge.  It is now time to avoid the water from rising over the bridge.  The pertinent question is how do we regain a positive outlook for the economic future of our country and avoid the actual downgrading of The Bahamas’ rating?

Moody’s has listed specific reasons for the negative outlook for our economic future which are listed below:

• Debt increased by 150 percent over the past decade

• Debt increased by 40 percent in the last two years

• Debt to gross domestic product is 40 percent above the average

• Economic growth has been a modest six percent over the past 10 years.

Simply put, if your revenue is not increasing proportionately to your increasing debt then at some point your revenue will not be able to pay your debt.  This is the major concern of Moody’s and thus the negative outlook rating that it gave The Bahamas.

Our slow economic growth cannot sustain the continuous high level of borrowing.  The constant budgetary deficits must be addressed and actual payments on our national debts need to begin.  Government needs to work towards a balanced budget and stop spending more than we make.

The blame game needs to be thrown out of the window.  The fact is we have borrowed beyond safety levels and now we must find ways to correct this situation.  The easiest way to correct this challenge is to simply boost our revenue.  Governments usually boost revenue by increasing taxes, which unfortunately increase the cost of living for citizens of the country.

However, creative governments find other ways of increasing revenue such as providing incentives for citizens to do more within the existing tax structure, creating more revenue by increased volume. Creative governments also look at providing incentives for new industries that will not only provide needed services to residents, but also improve the quality of life for them and create new streams of revenue for the government.

Many opportunities have been placed before our governments to diversify our economy by encouraging Bahamian ownership in new industries.  But we have missed the boat, or for whatever reason, failed to embrace them.  There is no doubt that the government needs to find other means to grow our economy.

Foreign investment is good mainly for the short-term but as the foreign investor makes his profits over time he will more than likely send his profits out of the country.  In the long-term his investment may not be as beneficial as if a Bahamian did the same investment, as chances are his profits will remain in The Bahamas and probably even be invested in another venture.

It is time for us to seriously consider the natural resources that we have been blessed with and utilize these resources to the benefit of our citizens.  Serious consideration should be given to drilling and the processing of natural gas, first and foremost, for local consumption.  This could help reduce fuel costs for necessities such as electricity, transportation and so much more.  This would also reduce the level of importation of fuel products and could provide export revenue for the country as well.

The problem is our government relies heavily on gasoline taxes and may be reluctant to promote anything that would reduce the amount of gasoline imported to the country.  However, consideration should be given to the fact that the new industry could very easily provide equal or greater revenue to the government provided proper licensing fees and reasonable taxes are applied.

I used natural gas as an example of the natural resources we do have in The Bahamas.  However, there are many other areas of industry that The Bahamas is poised for based on either location or natural resources.  Simply putting a plan in place to explore, with the intent to execute one of these options, can change our present economic outlook from negative to a minimum of stable.  Yes, I did say just putting a plan in place.

Obviously prudence must play the major part in addressing the financial ills of our country but governments must show faith in the citizens through the provision of opportunities through legislation and/or financial aid to advance new, and to grow existing, industries in The Bahamas.

Sep 07, 2011

thenassauguardian

...had Hubert Ingraham walked on water to deliver emergency supplies in the wake of hurricane Irene, his critics, for political or other reasons, would have lambasted him for not coming by boat or helicopter; except, of course, the MP for MICAL, who would have insisted on an airplane even to communities with no airstrip

Post-Irene politics and mindsets

Front Porch

By Simon

Hurricane Irene laid bare homes, businesses, churches, public buildings, farms and vegetation across the archipelago.  It also laid bare certain mindsets.  Among them, rank political opportunism by the leader of the opposition and the knee jerk complaints of some whose stock-in-trade is the intellectually disingenuous.

One can almost give the former prime minister a pass as he grasps at just about any opportunistic straw to criticize the current prime minister, even when such criticism is transparently silly or even blatantly hypocritical.  In the aftermath of Irene, both were on display.  The knee jerk complainers are in a class of their own.

Most Bahamians see through Christie’s laughably insincere two-step charade of criticizing others for what he typically failed to do or accomplish when in office. These failures range from issues on crime and education, to disaster preparedness and response.  His administration’s failures following Hurricanes Jeanne, Frances and Wilma encapsulated its lethargic response to an array of policy matters.

 

DRAMATIC

As Christie took potshots at the Ingraham administration while simultaneously calling for national unity, and the complainers engaged in their anti-Ingraham tirade, more neutral observers rendered their independent observation of the country’s response to Irene.  In an editorial titled, “Taming one of nature’s most furious beasts”, The Jamaica Observer editorialized:  “If Mr. Ronald Jackson, the director of Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), wanted a dramatic demonstration of the benefits of being prepared for a hurricane, he can safely choose the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) or The Bahamas for that matter.

“Pounded by 27 hours of flood rains and gusting 100 miles-per-hour winds from Hurricane Irene last week Tuesday and Wednesday, the multiple island nations – in particular, TCI which was the worst hit – were a textbook example of staving off the horrors of one of nature's worst beasts.

“Instead, having to confront a trail of disaster, the [Turks and Caicos] islands can take much satisfaction from the fruits of preparedness and effective teamwork which helped to mitigate the effects of the hurricane, proving that any disaster can be made into a triumph when a nation works together in that indomitable spirit of the Caribbean.

“The same could be said of another archipelago, The Bahamas, which also took a severe battering from the category three hurricane.”

The editorial continued:  “Disaster preparedness personnel and businessmen who have heavy investments in the two countries said they reaped the benefits of designing buildings to code specification and to minimize the effects of flooding, while suffering minimal structural damage.

“In some cases, anything that could be moved was tied down or taken indoors.  Equipment that would be necessary for the recovery process after the storm, [was] readied and protected.  As a result, the clean-up exercise began the minute the storm allowed.

“A day after the winds and rains abated it was difficult, but for photographic evidence, to tell that a major hurricane had struck the islands.  It was testimony to the resolve of the government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and The Bahamas, and a model for our disaster-prone Caribbean region.”

 

COMMENDABLE

The editorial further noted:  “Both countries depend heavily on tourism and it was commendable to see staff from the hotels volunteering to ride out the storm with guests who could not or did not want to leave, knowing that their own homes could be flooded out or suffer structural damage.

“That is the spirit that should permeate the entire Caribbean, not only during the hurricane season which runs officially from June to November, but even when there is no disaster threatening.”

 

One of the editorial’s conclusions:  “Had the TCI and The Bahamas not heeded their disaster preparedness offices, they might now be on hands and knees begging for assistance.  Instead, they have set an example of how to tame one of nature's most furious beasts.

“Still, we are aware that many lives have been disrupted even if none was lost.  We are therefore pleased to hear that the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is working with Jamaica's ODPEM and other Caribbean disaster-response agencies to conduct aerial reconnaissance of damage to The Bahama islands.

“The mission will focus on the worst-hit islands, enabling participating agencies to assess damage and plan relief operations.”

The preparedness and response of which the editorial spoke were not perfect.  By example, the Bahamas Information Services could have performed better in supplying a more consistent and comprehensive flow of information to the public and the media during and after Irene.

But in the main, officials met the challenge of responding to significant and diverse emergency needs and services across our far-flung archipelago as quickly as possible.  Understandably, some were frustrated by a lack of electricity and water, especially in various Family Island communities.

Likewise, officials in a number of states in the United States have been similarly challenged by a massive hurricane that affected millions from the Caribbean to New England.

These states had at their disposal the massive resources of the U.S. federal government; assistance from other states which could be transported by road; and help from as close as Quebec and as far away as British Columbia in Canada.  Yet many residents in these states are still without electricity and water.

Hurricane preparedness revolves around a complex set of issues and readiness mechanisms many of which Hubert Ingraham has addressed, though few of which his dogged detractors will admit.   He continues to advance environmental initiatives from wetland protection to land and town-planning that will mitigate the impact of hurricanes.

 

COMICAL

It was the Ingraham administration that created the National Emergency Management Agency in the first place.  And, it is building a permanent state-of-the-art facility for NEMA while continuing to improve the country’s capacity for national emergencies.  Christie would be thought less comical and more credible had he done as much for emergency management as has Ingraham.

The Ingraham administration’s hurricane preparedness efforts include another component of which the opposition and the inveterate complainers have criticized for diverse reasons.  That component is the ambitious and comprehensive New Providence roadwork -- much of which is nearing completion.

Perry Christie doesn’t hate Hubert Ingraham; he simply wants his job.  But the Ingraham-haters do dislike the man.  Yet, both connive, often unwittingly, to deny the prime minister of achievements plain for all to see.  Christie can’t give Ingraham credit because it doesn’t suit his political interests.  The Ingraham haters can’t because hate renders one blind and incapable of reasonableness.

The massive New Providence road corridor project that is helping to transform and modernize New Providence will place more utilities underground, better securing them from future hurricanes.  The project will also help significantly to mitigate flooding because of an extensive new drainage system.  The complainers are incapable of admitting as much.

Before Irene, Prime Minister Ingraham took to the airwaves warning of the potential impact of the hurricane.  Fortuitously, there was no loss of life due to the actions of citizens as well as public officials including the prime minister whose quick action may have helped to save lives and avoid injury.

Ingraham also quickly reported to the nation in the aftermath of Irene after initial assessments and his immediate visits to affected Family Island communities.  In his long-term efforts in disaster preparedness and the rapid response to Irene, the prime minister has demonstrated a comprehensive approach to disaster management.

In a twist on a well-known parable, had Ingraham walked on water to deliver emergency supplies in the wake of Irene, his critics, for political or other reasons, would have lambasted him for not coming by boat or helicopter; except, of course, the MP for MICAL, who would have insisted on an airplane even to communities with no airstrip.

 

frontporchguardian@gmail

www.bahamapundit.com

Sep 06, 2011

Caribbean Blog International

Craig Butler - independent candidate for Kennedy says: Capital punishment will not have any significant impact on crime... resume corporal punishment as a deterrent for violent crime

Capital punishment 'will not impact crime'

tribune242



CAPITAL punishment will not have any significant impact on crime, said independent candidate for Kennedy Craig Butler.

Instead, the former Progressive Liberal Party member has called for the resumption of corporal punishment as a deterrent for violent crime.

"There have been repeated calls for capital punishment to be resumed as it is felt by many that this would have the deterrent effect," said Mr Butler.

"Although the ability to effect such a sentence is on our books, in reality, given the constraints that have been imposed by the Privy Council through its interpretation of our constitution, the likelihood of hanging a convicted person is virtually nil.

"If it is the desire of the Bahamian people to resume this practice, a referendum must be held so that the necessary changes to our constitution can be made, that would allow a convicted person the right to pursue any and all appeals that they may desire and at the end of that process despite the passage of a long period of time for the State to mete out its punishment."

Still he called for a public referendum to get public consensus on the controversial issue.

"In the circumstances, I call upon the Prime Minister to hold the national referendum before the next general election and allow the voices of the people to be heard. To me it seems as though it would be impossible for any political institution to oppose such a move for fear of being branded not serious about dealing with the issue of crime."

Mr Butler said he feels corporal punishment is the way forward.

"Corporal punishment brings real results. The reinstitution of the use of 'the rod' and 'the cat' will be something that will in my estimation cause one to stop and think. Amnesty International and all the other international groups I am sure will be berating us as a barbaric society.

"If the more serious crimes came with these as a mandatory part of the sentence I am convinced that many of those who commit crimes will think long and hard before doing so."

September 05, 2011

tribune242

Caribbean Blog International

Each year the results of the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) reveal the problem with boys in The Bahamas' education system

Education system failing our boys

thenassauguardian editorial

During a speech in March, 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 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.  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 simply sit down and starve to death.

The Bahamas has set three homicide records in four years and it is on pace to shatter the dubious record set last year.  Police have also been battling a surge in recent years in armed robberies and property crimes such as house-breakings.

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 to help 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 of Bahamian males.  We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on education in The Bahamas and we still 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.

Sep 03, 2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Caribbean Blog International

...most influential women in The Bahamas according to Wikileaks - US Embassy in Nassau cable

'Most powerful' Bahamian women



THE five most influential women in the Bahamas were identified by the US Embassy in a cable released by Wikileaks yesterday.

They are: Tribune publisher Eileen Dupuch Carron, Court of Appeal president Joan Sawyer, former Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia "Mother" Pratt, former Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson and domestic violence victims' advocate Sandra Dean-Patterson.

In the 2007 cable Mrs Pratt, current Progressive Liberal Party MP for St Cecilia, was chosen because of her position as deputy prime minister and minister of national security within the Christie administration.

Last night Mrs Pratt said she was grateful to be on the list.

"It was an honour to serve, most of all when you feel that you're making a difference. It's also good to know that outsiders feel that way about you.

"When a woman's presence can be felt in one's country it is considered an achievement because women have come a long way in terms of leadership," she said.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson was an attorney general in the Christie administration and MP for the Pinewood constituency.

She is currently a senator.

When contacted for comment yesterday, she said she was "humbled" by the mention.

"I'm humbled and honoured to be in that category and my object on a day-to-day basis is to leave the Bahamas and the world a better place. (Whether I am influential) is something that history will have to record.

"I feel that they are far more influential than I am," she said of the other women on the list.

Mrs Dean-Patterson, director of the Crisis Centre, was chosen because her long-standing work for victims of sexual and domestic violence.

"Dr Dean-Patterson is a well respected advocate for women in the Bahamas, an influential participant in public discourse about women's issues and a regular representative for the Bahamas on women's issues in the UN," said the cable.

The document, signed by former Chargé d'Affaires Brent Hardt, noted that Mrs Carron heads "the largest distribution daily newspaper in the Bahamas."

The cable also noted that Mrs Carron's "influence on Bahamian politics is significant."

Mrs Carron is the second Bahamian female lawyer to be called to the Bahamas' Bar, the second Bahamian female publisher/editor of a news publication and the first Bahamian woman to pilot a plane.

Who do you think are the country's most influential women? Sound off on www.tribune242.com

September 02, 2011

Caribbean Blog International

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) is sitting on the sidelines taking pot shots at a man call Hubert Ingraham - who is getting the job done to relieve the Bahamian people's suffering in the wake of hurricane Irene's damage in The Islands

Alfred Gray worries about PM's reputation


tribune242 editorial


ACCORDING TO MICAL MP V Alfred Gray, Prime Minister Ingraham has "corrupted" himself by accepting the Aga Khan's helicopter to tour the Bahamas' hurricane damaged islands. According to Mr Gray, the Prime Minister, to protect his reputation, should instead have taken a plane, which Mr Gray claimed was available.

Obviously, Mr Gray is completely unaware of the conditions in the islands, and is oblivious -- either by design or ignorance -- that an aircraft cannot effectively cover the same territory in such conditions.

For example on Monday when four US Army Black Hawks landed at Odyssey Aviation because of bad weather, Prime Minister Ingraham was getting into the Aga Khan's 12-passenger helicopter to fly to Abaco.

According to Met Office reports that day, severe thunder and lightning storms were expected between 3 and 6pm, and persons were advised to stay indoors. The Black Hawks were in, the helicopter was out. By 9.45pm the Prime Minister and the press were back at Odyssey as lightening flashed and thunder rolled. The weather was not good, our son, who was on the trip, informed us.

No aircraft could have covered the territory that the Prime Minister did that day. What aircraft could have hovered near roof tops, landed in settlements and islands to avoid flooded airstrips and fly below the thunderstorms that kept planes out of the air?

On that day, the Prime Minister's party landed at Sandy Point, Moores Island, Coopers Town, Blackwood, Murphy Town, Treasure Cay, Green Turtle Cay and Marsh Harbour. How could he have covered this distance in an aircraft? Where would the plane have landed and how many lost hours would it have taken to travel by car and ferry to these settlements? Not only did the terrain make such a trip impossible, but he could have never made so many stops, seen so many people and got back to Nassau on the same night. In three days travelling by helicopter -- two days courtesy of the Aga Khan -- the Prime Minister has practically covered all of the stricken islands.

Yesterday -- leaving at 8am and returning at 9:30pm - again in the Aga Khan's helicopter, the Prime Minister flew to Crooked Island and Acklins, and touched down in Exuma to refuel. Because of the difficulty of getting fuel, the helicopter could not continue on to Mayaguana and so a Defence Force aircraft picked him up at Acklins, flew him to Mayaguana, then to San Salvador and back to Nassau.

Mr Gray talks of an available aircraft that Mr Ingraham could have taken. We would like to know what aircraft he was talking about, because no one else seems to know about it.

"The PLP are sitting on the sidelines taking pot shots at a man who is getting the job done," a Bahamian sarcastically commented. "They are just jealous because they can't get the Aga Khan's helicopter or any other helicopter to get there. If they say a plane was available why didn't they take it themselves and make a contribution to help the people?"

Is the Aga Khan -- a man noted for his generosity and his philanthropic work -- to be treated like a pariah in this country, because he is digging a canal at his Bell island property - for which he already has a permit, and does not have to depend upon Mr Ingraham to give him anything. The Aga Khan, whose Aga Khan Development Network has the environment in its portfolio, is unlikely to do anything that will damage the environs at Bell Island. The prince is probably more aware and concerned about protecting the environment than any PLP will ever be.

Is this generous man's offer to help the people of the Bahamas in their hour of need to be turned down, because one Alfred Grey, who believes that the Prime Minister should take more time to "walk and talk and touch and look in people's eyes and see their hurt and pain," is now feigning concern for the Prime Minister's reputation? Mr Grey is sitting on the sidelines, playing the cheapest kind of politics and making himself and his party look ridiculous.

In this hour of need we believe Mr Ingraham is more interested in helping his fellow Bahamians than worrying about his reputation -- he'll leave that to Mr Gray.

Mr Ingraham decided to take the most effective way to cover as many settlements as he could in the shortest possible time, so that supplies could be dispatched as quickly as possible.

We are certain that the injured man in Cat Island, wasn't concerned about what helicopter flew him to Nassau for medical attention. Incidentally, it was not the Aga Khan's helicopter, but that of an equally generous friend of the Bahamas -- all of this at no cost to the Bahamian taxpayer.

Instead of saying thanks, Mr Grey wants to talk of corruption.

While Mr Gray has announced that he intends to start an appeal for donations from lumber yards for assistance to rebuild homes, Mr Ingraham -- who is moving too fast for the snail-paced PLP -- has already arranged for supplies to be sent in for the rebuilding to start.

If the PLP cannot do anything, they should at least have the decency to keep their mouths shut. Now is not the time to add politics to a people's suffering.

September 01, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International