ADVICE - 13 OPINION

By Sir Ronald Sanders “Every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa.” Those were the words of the President of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, at the UN General Assembly on September 21.

The Ghanaian President was referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which aggravated an already difficult worldwide economic, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While he spoke as an African, Akufo-Addo could have been speaking for every developing region of the world, including the Caribbean.

Several African countries now have inflation rates, surging three to four times higher than they were just two years ago. The situation is no different in the Caribbean region.

If the world was turned upside down because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is damaging it still further. And, with no end in sight.

No region of the world, or any person within regions, has escaped the consequences of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ill-advised invasion of Ukraine, clearly aimed at seizure of large tracts of Ukrainian land and strategic access to the sea and global commerce.

In July, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said “global growth is projected to slow from an estimated 6.1 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent in 2022 and 2023. This is 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points lower for 2022 and 2023 than projected in January”.

The IMF emphasized that the economic costs of the Russian war against Ukraine “are expected to spread farther afield through commodity markets, trade, and—to a lesser extent— financial interlinkages. Fuel and food price rises are already having a global impact, with vulnerable populations— particularly in low-income countries— most affected”.

Therefore, the troubling economic and financial situation should completely dispel the illusion, held by some in the developing world that the war has nothing to do with us. In fact, the entire world has a vested interested in encouraging its immediate end.

The leaders of the two most important developing countries, Xi Jinping of China and Narendra Modi of India recently indicated their concerns about the war. Significantly Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, has called for an end to the war in Ukraine “as soon as possible through diplomatic channels.”

As in all unpopular wars – and this one certainly is – Russian military forces have been losing ground to the more committed Ukrainian troops. The former are soldiers, carrying out orders; the latter are men and women determined to protect their homeland with their lives. Despite the superior Russian military firepower, especially missiles launched from areas bordering Ukraine, the Ukrainians, armed with improved weaponry - gifted by sym-

opinion: Pres. Putin’s actions are jeopardizing economic peace & growth: the world should say “no more” pathetic nations - and fortified by a patriotic resoluteness, have pushed Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory that they had earlier seized. This has caused President Putin to announce conscription of reservists and other civilians. But his plan has met resistance. More than 800 Russians were arrested in anti-war demonstrations in 37 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, according to the independent Russian human rights group OVD-Info. The number of men fleeing the country has increased as has widespread protests by Russian citizens. The protestors have been assaulted with military force and hundreds have been detained. Journalists in Moscow, with the international news agency, Associated Press, reported that they witnessed at least a dozen arrests in the first 15 minutes of a night-time protest in the capital, with police in heavy body armour tackling demonstrators and , hauling some away as they chanted, “No to war!” Fighting a war, which relies on

reluctant conscripts, is unlikely to bring the success that Putin told the Russian people was imminent. Instead, the Ukrainians have recaptured vast swathes of Russian-occupied territory. In addition to sinking confidence in any achievement, resulting from the war, the Russia economy is also suffering.

Despite all this, and in a departure from reality, President Putin is planning to hold referenda “on joining Russia” in areas of the Ukraine that Russian troops occupy.

Referenda in the middle of a war, and with the populating living under the guns of occupying forces, would hardly be credible to any nation in the global community. However, the decision to hold them clearly shows Putin’s intention to annex the areas to Russia. Consequently, the war will escalate further, as the Ukrainians intensify their resistance.

The referenda are scheduled to start on September 23 and to continue for 5 days, after which Russia will no doubt announce that the people of the areas have voted in favour, and they have opted to join Russia. In his quest to re-establish the Soviet Union, President Putin is doing so by seizing the territory of a neighbouring state and balkanizing it. This is a grave violation of the international legal order, which Russia was party to establishing, and which has been applied by the UN Security Council since 1945.

But, in the way of powerful nations, rules and laws are discarded when it does not suit the ambitions of their governments.

Every government, at the United Nations General Assembly this month, at the General Assembly of the Organization of American States next month, and in every international meeting, should make it very clear to President Putin that the war against Ukraine is not only unpopular, but it is fast becoming a war against global economic peace and growth, which are vital conditions for economic progress in developing countries.

Developing countries, especially, small states, depend on adherence to international law; they also need global peace that facilitates travel for tourism, aid money being spent on development and not on arms, and competitive commerce that reduces high prices for food and other goods.

President Putin has jeopardized all that.

Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com

Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation remembers junior Minister, taliah Cooper

Taliah A. Cooper.

Above: Taliah Cooper with the late Melinda Pratt, as she celebrated her Eleuthera Junior Minister of Tourism win in 2014. (Mrs. Pratt, who was a key organizer of the competition that year, was an Education Officer as well as a Reserve Police Officer. She passed away in a traffic accident in Eleuthera in August of 2020.)

(Cooper as a student of Preston H. Albury High School in Rock Sound, was the

First Family Island Student to Capture National Junior Minister of Tourism Title)

The Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation (MOTIA) was saddened by the passing of 2014 Junior Minister Taliah A. Cooper, the first Family Island student to hold the title of Junior Minister of Tourism for The Bahamas. Cooper passed away on August 18th and was laid to rest in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, on Saturday, September 10th, 2022.

Taliah was born in picturesque Rock Sound, Eleuthera and attended Preston H. Albury High School. In 2014 after becoming the Junior Minister of Tourism, she proudly represented the Islands of The Bahamas at the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Youth Congress for that year held in St. Thomas, USVI.

In her role as Junior Minister of Tourism, Cooper promoted the importance of education and its impact for the development of future generations. Moreover, she collaborated with the Ministry both locally and globally, on various initiatives and projects throughout 2014-2015.

Cooper’s ambassadorship and passion for tourism transcended her stint as Junior Minister, as evidenced by her continued active involvement in the flagship ambassador programme. She assisted with the administration of the Junior Minister of Tourism Programme and selection of new Junior Ministers between 2015 – 2020.

Cooper was described by her close colleagues as a gifted writer and communicator, and one who was always optimistic, charismatic, vivacious, determined and a role model for all. She was also described as the personification of grace in the face of a disabling illness.

“As her mentor, Taliah taught me to persevere no matter what the situation or circumstance was, and to make each moment memorable. Her tenacity, uplifting personality, kind and nurturing spirit were an inspiration to many,” said Samantha Cartwright, Manager of Schools Unit (MOTIA) and Coordinator, Ministry’s Junior Minister of Tourism Programme.

She added “I am comforted by 1 Timothy 4:12 ESV - Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. These words speak to the essence of our fallen 2014 Junior Minister of Tourism.”

The Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation extends heartfelt condolences to Cooper’s family, friends and loved ones. May her soul rest in peace.

Gov’t approves Substantial Rate increases for BPL customers

Customers of Bahamas Power and Light can expect to see multiple phased-in increases in their electricity bills during the course of the next 18 months, beginning in October, with the first increase being reflected in the November billing cycle. Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Philip Davis made the announcement during a press conference on October 4th, 2022 at the Office of the Prime Minister.

He said the decision to proceed with the hikes came after months of deliberation given the current economic situation in the country and globally. Also in attendance at the Press conference were: Minister of Works and Public Utilities, the Hon. Alfred Sears and Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, the Hon. Myles Laroda.

“Today, BPL is announcing an increase in the monthly fuel charge,” said Prime Minister Davis. “For a large majority of BPL customers, who consume less than 800 kWh (kilowatt-hours), the fuel charge is increasing by 2 cents per kWh, which will result in an increase this quarter of less than $20 per month. If your current monthly bill is $182 or less, you fall in this category. For those who consume more than 800 kWh, the increase will be 4.3 cents per kWh.”

He noted, that the government has also raised the VAT ceiling on electricity bills from $300 to $400, therefore, there will be no VAT due on electricity bills under $400.

He said: “The increases in the rate will be phased over a period of time in order to meet the rising and fluctuating costs in fuel. BPL will provide additional details of these changes, which phase in over time. The bottom line is that monthly bills will go up over the next several quarters, before they be-

P23

Riding a wave into an innovative future

According to the latest report from HAP (Harness All Possibilities), released in early October, their work in the blockchain, Web3 and the future of work, space have impacted thousands, since starting six years ago. This small non-profit has a vested interest in The Bahamas where its founder, Rhonda McDeigan-Eldridge hails.

In 2022, the proportion of youth learners in HAP programs increased by 60% with just over 1300 youth who have attended Digital Inclusion and Web3 events and 350 who attended Crypto learning sessions. Conferences and workshops are local and international and cover four key areas of learning. Those areas include the Future of Work, Blockchain Business School (2019), Crypto and Web3, and Policy and Regulation.

The expediential learning continues and one of the attendees will soon attend DevCon in Bogota, Columbia. Some adult and youth learners are finishing their ConsenSys developer’s certificate and others are eagerly awaiting more events that are in the pipeline.

HAP’s celebrated Blockchain Business School (BBS) Conference and Pitchathon in August 2022 had local and international speakers, and corporate, individual and community partners, fostering a community-building mind-set, and approach to accelerate 21st-century learning. More than sixty youths along with Pitchathon Judges 2022 from L-R are: Antoinette Russell, Maran Global, Zoe Gibson-Bowleg, FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Austin (back), Bytes Bahamas, Michael Clare, Liongate Bahamas Ltd., Kelly Banks, Digital and Innovations Professional, and Sandra Unwatege-Hart, Pitchathon facilitator for Blockchain/Web3 Innovations in Humanitarian Action & Emerging Markets. Photo by Azaleta Ishmael-Newry.

Blockchain Business School students with HAP founder, Rhonda McDeigan-Eldridge. From L-R: Rhonda McDeigan-Eldridge (back row), Sara Anderson, Philemon Petite-Frère, Kathryn Corkish, Rodgeno Albury and Phelton Petite-Frère. Photo by Azaleta Ishmael-Newry

hundreds of people online, participated with experts from the technology industry, education, regulators, service providers and social entrepreneurs.

The biggest takeaway at BBS 2022 revealed that meeting the youth where they were and allowing them the opportunity to expand their minds and problemsolve, not only prepares them to conquer issues but reminds everyone to also have an open mind.

The judges were impressed with their solutions which included how to make better use of crown land and vacant land for social good, using solar power, teaching seniors in the Family Islands how to adapt to using the Sand Dollar digital currency, and use of a health dollar – all through adapting and using blockchain technology.

“Technology innovation is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. We’re all grappling with how to keep up, so it’s important for us to start students off earlier and for us to adopt a mindset of always learning - so we call it an exponential mindset,” said Rhonda McDeiganEldridge.

Attendee fifteen-year-old Justin Clarke, shares, “I started thinking about what I want to do with my future in terms of gaming, making games, and making money. The BBS camp really helped me to learn more. So, it’s much easier for me to find all these contacts, and all the people I’ve made friends with, who can help me in the future.”

Clarke and his brother, eight-year-old Jacob, have participated in BBS since its first event in 2019. They participated in the coding workshop that was spearheaded by thirteen-year-old Phelton Petit-Frère and seventeen-year-old Rodgeno Albury who were joined

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BPL APPROVED RATE HIKES

gin to come down, in 12 to 18 months.” (see full schedule of rate increases at the end of this article)

Prime Minister Davis said that he knows that the rate increase announcement is not welcome news for Bahamians.

“I know that these short term increases are very unwelcome news. And I know that these increases are coming at a time when a great many families are already struggling. As you know all too well, our country has for several years, been in a very serious economic and fiscal crisis. We’ve come a long way over the last year. We have started our recovery in a very meaningful way: a lot more Bahamians are working and we are reducing the nation’s debt burden and we have stabilized our finances.”

He said that the country has been challenged especially due to Hurricane Dorian, the pandemic, supply chain issues and the rising costs of fuel and food items due to the war in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Davis said there was discussion in February about increasing the cost of fuel, however, a decision was made to postpone the increase. That is, until now.

“We made the decision to postpone the increase and keep the charge [as] low as possible, given the hardship Bahamian households were facing after so many difficult years in a row, and given other inflationary pressures. Our economy is growing, adding new jobs every month, and I wanted to see more Bahamians working before we asked families to pay a higher light bill. When times are tough, coming up with an extra $20 a month isn’t a small thing.”

The Prime Minister ended his statement by saying: “I wanted to be the one to tell you. And I ask you to hang in there just a little longer -- our country is finally on a path to a very different energy future.”

Chief Executive Officer of Bahamas Power and Light, Shevonn Cambridge, said that BPL will continue to work with its customers. It has created a customer service line to answer inquiries and to make payment arrangements for those accounts in arrears. The new line is: 225-5275.

by seventeen-year-old Kathryn

Corkish of the Cayman Islands.

Hailing from Eleuthera, PetitFrère and Albury were students of the many summer programs offered by Bytes Bahamas. Both young men earned their developers’ certificates from the ConsenSys Academy, through a partnership offered by HAP. Corkish who has been sponsored by PwC Cayman and HAP to attend the August event has completed hers. She stated that the information was “mind-blowing.”

BBS also collaborated with FemSTEM Bahamas and BETACamp to bring an array of learning opportunities to youth. These female-driven organizations are helping to close the gaps that are caused by the fast pace of technology growth.

Speaker, Joe Santos, an impactioneer and a social entrepreneur, spoke from his office in Portugal about the importance of social good. He works with persons on the autism spectrum and has reached 70,000plus over the past seven years. “The secret of social impact is touching one person at a time, but teaching them for change, and how to see the world, and they, in turn, will impact others.”

Anthony Stubbs of Infinox Capital, a FinTech company in The Bahamas, was a first-time donor and judge. “The Pitchathon opened my mind that these youth were pitching and doing it well. They were sharp and I was blown away. They examined their cases and were problemsolving,” he said. “The lingo and technical jargon may take some time to adapt but I am quite sure they are aware of what is going on.”

Stubbs added, “We must own our country’s future and stop thinking that we have to meet the kids where they are.” He also advised, “Those who may not be able to afford a tertiary education might be a first-round pick for a blockchain company that may be able to sponsor them.”

Educator Sharleen Hanson who runs Boost Academy in New Providence was one of seven educators participating in HAP’s Teach-TheTeacher 2021-2022 Program. “We need to see more events like Blockchain Business School. The founder of this conference understands the importance of keeping up with new technologies, and the key role that education plays in this. She has created an opportunity for young people and educators to ride a wave into an innovative future - not only through attendance at the conference but also via training programs, such as ConsenSys Academy’s Blockchain Essentials course, of which I was recently a part. This course provided a sufficient background for me and others in my cohort not only to understand the material but also to put together a framework for training others.” The new fuel charge rates for consumption of less than 800

kWh per month:

• Oct. 1 - Nov, 30, 2022, new charges : 12.5 cents /kWh • Dec. 1 - Feb. 28, 2023, new charges: 14.5 cents /kWh • Mar. 1 - May 31, 2023, new charges: 16.5 cents /kWh • June 1 - Aug. 31, 2023, new charges: 18.5 cents /kWh • Sept. 1 - Nov. 30, 2023 new charges : 18.5 cents /kWh • Dec.1 - Feb. 2024 new charges - 17 cents /kWh The new fuel charge rates for

800 kWh or greater per month:

• Oct.1 - Nov. 30, 2022, new charges : 14.8 cents /kWh • Dec. 1 - Feb. 28, 2023, new charges: 19.1 cents /kWh • Mar. 1 - May 31, 2023, new charges: 23.3 cents /kWh • June 1 - Aug. 31, 2023, new charges: 27.6 cents /kWh • Sept. 1 - Nov. 30, 2023, new charges: 25 cents /kWh • Dec. 1 - Feb. 2024, new charges: 18 cents /kWh

OUR CORALS ARE DYING:

A NEW CORAL DISEASE MADE ITS WAY TO ELEUTHERA

By Natalia Hurtado (CEIS/PIMS), Alice Daeschler (CEIS), Nicholas Nonnenmacher (CEIS) & Lucia Yannuzzi (CEIS)

After experiencing the coronavirus pandemic, we all learned how a disease can spread and completely change our daily life. At the same time, awareness was raised worldwide to prioritize our health and safety. Precautions had to be taken and we have had to adapt our lifestyle to remain safe. However, human beings are not the only ones exposed to diseases, they can also affect animals and plants and in a matter of years can devastate entire populations.

In the ocean it is also possible to encounter diseases. Beginning in the 1980s, the Caribbean experienced a severe disease called White Band Disease, which killed around 97 percent of staghorn and elkhorn corals, making them critically endangered species. Unfortunately, diseases and threats have been increasing in the past years. As coral reefs around the world suffer from the worsening effects of climate change, corals in the Bahamas face yet another threat. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a new disease that is quickly infecting and killing stony corals (corals that build hard skeletons).

Sequence of photos of the same brain coral over the span of two months. Coral infected with the new coral disease SCTLD (left), 70% of the coral died one month after (middle), after two months the coral is completely dead and the coral next to it got infected (above).

Why is the coral disease so threatening?

The new disease SCTLD is one of the biggest threats to coral reefs because it is highly lethal and progresses rapidly (around 100 meters per day in Florida), spreading through basic water circulation. Unlike other coral diseases, this disease is killing these important reef-building corals off way quicker than others have in the past. Capable of killing a coral in a couple of weeks, SCTLD is highly contagious and affects over 20 different coral species throughout the Caribbean, including 4 endangered species.

Where did the coral disease come from?

While the exact cause of the disease is still unknown, researchers believe it to be caused by bacteria that can be easily transmitted through the water column. The disease was first reported in Miami in 2014 and has impacted the entire Florida reef tract. It is presumed that commercial ships coming from Florida introduced SCTLD to the Bahamian waters. Its trail of destruction throughout the Caribbean is clear and the disease has already spread to 20 countries. In late 2019, SCTLD was spotted in Grand Bahama and a couple of months later was seen in New Providence. Since the disease started to spread in The Bahamas, researchers from The Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS) and The Cape Eleuthera Institute - Island School (CEIS) have been checking the presence of the disease in Eleuthera. Unfortunately, in December 2020, the disease was observed and reported in Harbour Island. Early this year, SCTLD was observed in Governors Harbour and most recently, it was observed in South Eleuthera.

how can i identify the coral disease?

SCTLD generally starts with live tissue dying and a band of diseased tissue advancing across the surface. The disease can affect multiple species of stony corals, commonly found on brain corals, pillar corals, encrusting and boulder corals. These lesions leave the coral white and can spread in circular, radial, or irregular patterns. After SCTLD has run its course, the coral will no longer have any color and will just be the bare white skeleton.

What can you do if you see the coral disease?

While this disease cannot harm humans, it is deadly for coral reefs, and it is on us to stop the spread. If you are snorkeling, diving or spear fishing on the reef and you notice sick corals, it is very important to disinfect everything that was in the water with you to stop the spread. This includes: dive mask, fins, snorkel, and wetsuit.

The Cape Eleuthera Island School encourages you to spread awareness about the disease and help us to protect our reefs. More information and educational resources can be found in perryinstitute.org

These two images show different instances of SCTLD and how it spreads. Brain coral (top), Great star coral (bottom)