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VOLUME:114 No.62, FEBRUARY 20th, 2017

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REPORT

‘We March’ to fight spying bill Activists: This looks like it will be our last march

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net WE March Bahamas is urging residents to protest against the proposed Interception of Communications Bill before Parliament which, critics say, can impede civil liberties if passed and enacted without public consultation.

The civic group has planned a six-hour protest for Wednesday, February 22 beginning at 4pm at the Fish Fry, Arawak Cay in opposition to the Bill that was tabled in the House of Assembly less than two weeks ago as part of the

THE Interception of Communications Bill gives police officers the power to obtain warrants to “secretly” enter into homes and businesses in order to seize communications and install interception devices within them, attorney Fred Smith, QC, said yesterday as he continued to campaign for parliamentarians to indefinitely postpone debate on

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

IN view of recent highprofile motions for nolle prosequi, former Attorney General Sean McWeeney yesterday criticised the constitutional system that gives such prosecutorial powers to the attorney general.

“We’re one of the few remaining countries of the SEE PAGE THREE

RAISING A GLASS TO GREECE

government’s response to tackling ongoing crime.

Opponents of the legislation argue that it will be used as a political tool to spy on Bahamians who may disagree with actions and/ or decisions made by the executive branch of government.

“This looks like it will be the last time we march or protest in the Bahamas,” We March posted on Facebook.

“It took this PLP government almost five years to debate and pass the Freedom of Information Act,” We March added.

SEE PAGE SIX

LAW WOULD GIVE POWER OF SECRET ENTRY TO HOMES AND BUSINESSES

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

CONCERNS AS CASE OF PM AIDE’S KILLING DISCONTINUED

the bill until public consultation takes place.

Although secret interception of communications and installing of such devices by police, a hallmark of spy movies and TV shows, are allowed in countries around the world, Mr Smith said this is new for The Bahamas. He said Bahamians have not been given a chance to digest how much of “a revolutionary change to the landscape of privacy SEE PAGE SIX

THE GREEK Festival was held this weekend at the Greek Orthodox Church in New Providence. Attendees had a variety of Greek food, jewellery, clothing, books, and music on offer - as well as a taste of Zeus Juice and vodka to enjoy! For more photographs, see page 18.

Photos: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

SWIMMING PIGS FOUND DEAD IN EXUMA

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

INVESTIGATIONS are underway to determine what killed a number of swimming pigs in the Exumas, according to officials at the Bahamas Humane Society (BHS) yesterday.

Reports surfaced over the weekend about the deaths of more than half a dozen pigs, which have become known around the world as

one of the Bahamas’ popular tourism attractions.

However officials have said the number of pigs that died remains unclear. The pigs were found floating in the ocean at Big Major Cay, on Friday, according to BHS President Kim Aranha yesterday.

She told The Tribune it is unclear if the deaths were accidental or if the pigs were intentionally poisoned. She said that results from water samples collected from

BHS and other teams may not readily be available.

“I understand there are seven or eight pigs still alive,” she said. “It’s still unclear on the number of animals that are dead. I’d say it’s more than seven but certainly not the 15 as initially reported on social media.

The veterinarians are bringing the samples back but I can’t say how long it will take to get the results.”

She added: “It could just be a horrible accident

where they ate something poisonous. It could be malicious but I don’t really see why someone would go out of their way to hurt those lovely animals. I know there are a lot of silly sailors that go and feed them alcohol to try and get them drunk but that’s not to mistake them with the tour operators based out of Nassau who have treated them with excellent care.”

SEE PAGE 12

HUNT FOR CAR IN FATAL HIT AND RUN THREE IN HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTINGS POLICE are searching for a blue Honda car that was involved in a hit and run accident on Saturday that left a man dead.

According to police, shortly before 7pm a man was riding his motorcycle on Hibiscus Road off Farrington Road when a blue Honda vehicle collided with him, but failed to stop.

Working for

The victim was rushed to hospital where he died on Sunday morning. Officers from the Police Traffic Department are actively investigating this incident.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police at 919, the Crime Stoppers hotline at 328-TIPS in New Providence or 1-242-3008476 in the Family Islands.

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are appealing to the public for assistance in solving a shooting incident in an inner-city community yesterday that left three people in hospital.

Three others, including a woman, were also shot in

separate incidents on Saturday.

According to initial police reports, the latest victims were shot during an argument with a man around 11am yesterday on Windsor Lane East and had to be taken to hospital for treatment where their conditions

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SEE PAGE 12

PAGE 2, Monday, February 20, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

BTC CELEBRATES OUR FUTURE LEADERS

THE BTC Junior Achievement advisory team.

MORE than 100 achievers participated in the BTC Junior Achievement Company’s Future Leaders Seminar.

The students used the theme “Solving Tomorrow’s Problems Today.”

The seminar featured a number of speakers including, CEO Leon Williams and former BTC Junior Achiever, now Director of Finance at Toyota Dennis Deveaux.

Barry Wilmott, executive advisor for BTC’s JA Company, said: “Our

JA students executed this event flawlessly. We were encouraged by the level of participation from the other Junior Achievement companies. The Future Leaders Seminar was designed to get our achievers realistically thinking about how to achieve their goals, and by all accounts we believe we achieved this.”

BTC has been a supporter of the Junior Achievement programme for over 30 years. The group is currently led by Mr Wilmott.

EXCITED junior achievers from Doris Johnson School attend the Future Leaders Seminar.

BTC CEO Leon Williams addresses the BTC Junior Achievement company.

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FROM left, Barry Wilmott, executive advisor BTC JA Company, Dennis Deveaux, director at Toyota, and Alban Smith, BTC chief information officer.

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 3

Rise in voter registration to 112,000 as election nears VOTER registration increased to a little over 112,000 as of Saturday, according to government officials.

The latest numbers also shows that Killarney has the highest number of registered voters thus far with 4,450 people registered in that area. In 2012, there were 5,031 people registered in Killarney.

In New Providence, South Beach has the lowest

number of registered voters - 2,999. In 2012, there were 4,938 people registered.

East Grand Bahama is the constituency with the second highest number of registered voters with 4,185 registered so far. In 2012, there were 5,142 people registered there.

The Parliamentary Registration Department has announced that as of last Friday, all persons registering to vote will receive the

new voter’s card. This is a result of the House of Assembly approving the Constituencies Commission’s report on February 15.

“All persons previously registered will be notified in the next few days on time and locations where you can collect your voter’s card,” the department said.

Overall, 112,622 people registered as of Saturday.

Parliamentary Commissioner Sherlyn Hall told

The Nassau Guardian on Friday that the department has seen an uptick in voter registration since the governing Progressive Liberal Party held its national convention at the end of January.

“Well, let’s put it this way, before the convention, we used to take in round about 350 (per day) thereabouts,” Mr Hall said.

“After that, we’re taking in 700 to 800 per day.

CONCERNS AS CASE OF PM AIDE’S KILLING IS DISCONTINUED from page one

commonwealth where the powers of criminal prosecutions are still vested in the attorney general,” he said. “In nearly every other case in the Caribbean and elsewhere there’s been a constitutional amendment to vest those powers in an independent Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP).”

Last week, the Office of the Attorney General faced scrutiny after it produced a motion for a nolle prosequi in a case involving the murder of Latore Mackey, a press aide to Prime Minister Perry Christie who was shot in 2014.

That came months after a nolle prosequi was issued in connection with the trial of those accused of the gunpoint robbery of Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis at his home in 2013. Several other cases have attracted the issuance of a nolle prosequi in recent months.

In a statement to The Tribune yesterday, Gavin Gaskins, the director of public prosecutions, said when his department recommends a nolle prosequi, “the only reasons for the recommendation are because of circumstances that affect the state of the evidence (such as where a witness has recanted their statements) or where a constitutional issue has arisen regarding trials not being had within a reasonable time.

“In respect of the entering of a nolle prosequi, the

Department of Public Prosecutions makes a recommendation to the attorney general who, under Article 78 of the Constitution of the Bahamas, has full discretion to, among other things, discontinue any criminal matter, at any stage before a judgment is delivered,” Mr Gaskins added.

For his part, Mr McWeeney defended current Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, insisting that no case has risen for which she could justifiably be criticised for the entry of a nolle prosequi.

“As far as the current attorney general is concerned, I’m not aware of any instance where she could be justifiably criticised for seeking (a nolle).

There are lots of safeguards in the system. The attorney general would hardly ever nolle a case on her own. In close to 100 per cent of the cases, it would be on the technical officers, the professional officers who make a recommendation.

“And it’s invariably put in writing. When I was attorney general, that practice was followed in every case I ended up seeking to nolle,” Mr McWeeney said.

Typically, the attorney general does not explain why a nolle is entered even though Mr McWeeney believes there’s no substantial defense for this tendency.

“Historically you don’t give reasons. I don’t know of any country that does but there’s no sophisticated reason not to. The attorney general is executing a power historically reserved for the

MAN’S DROWNING INVESTIGATED POLICE in Inagua are investigating the apparent drowning death of a man on Friday.

According to reports, shortly after noon, a man was on a fishing trip with three other males in waters

off Inagua, when he lost consciousness while diving in the water. The victim was brought to shore and taken to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Investigations are continuing.

Queen who wasn’t in the habit of giving reasons, so the decision not to give an explanation comes out of that arrogant construct. It’s like, ‘how dare you ask me to explain my reasoning?’”

As for why motions for nolle prosequi are sometimes entered, Mr McWeeney said it is almost always based on the conclusion that a conviction cannot be achieved.

“When a case is started, there’s very little involvement by the attorney general,” he said. “Police usually make those cases. They get the evidence and they charge the persons. The attorney general doesn’t get involved until you have a preliminary inquiry or are proceeding to trial under the voluntary bill of indictment and that’s when there’s a more technical evaluation of the evidence. Most times the police are non-professional persons. They’re not lawyers and it’s often the case that the evidence will not result in a conviction LATORE MACKEY and it would be an abuse of power to proceed with the It requires a constitutional case with the liberty of the amendment but not a refsubject at stake when you erendum. The legislation are sure that the jury won’t need only be passed by Parconvict the person. In other liament. It needs to happen, cases, the chief witnesses just like we need an indeare killed or they recant pendent boundaries commission. The director of their evidence.”

A constitutional refer- public prosecutions should endum is not required to not just be an administramake the Department of tively independent position.

Public Prosecutions inde- It needs to have constitupendent from the Office of tional guarantees with sethe Attorney General, Mr curity of tenure. That could help avoid criticism and McWeeney said. suspicion “There are lots of 20th mis- February Monday, 2017when the certain conceptions around this. things are done.”

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“You can make your own judgment on that.”

Voter registration was sluggish last year, prompting officials to open more registration centres and work at night in an attempt to boost numbers.

Prime Minister Perry Christie has suggested that he is watching voter registration numbers before setting the next election date.

The 2012 election register had 172,128 people.

BURGLARY SUSPECT SHOT AS TWO HELD

BY POLICE

POLICE caught two alleged shop breakers, one of whom was shot, during a robbery at a business on Chesapeake Road on Saturday.

According to police reports, shortly after 2pm, officers received a report of a shop breaking in progress.

Mobile division officers responded and on arrival “were confronted by two male suspects who dropped a number of appliances to the ground,” police said.

According to police, one of the suspects was immediately arrested and the other was shot during the confrontation. Police said officers recovered a number of appliances including a flat screen television, laptop computers and cell phones.

The injured suspect is in hospital under heavy police guard.

Police said they had been searching for the two suspects in connection with a number of shop breakings.

TWO HELD OVER DRUGS

DRUG Enforcement Unit (DEU) officers arrested two men for drug possession in separate operations on Saturday.

In the first incident, around 8pm, a team of DEU officers went to a home on Dorchester Street, where they executed a search warrant for dangerous drugs.

During the search the officers uncovered a quantity of marijuana. An adult male resident of the home was taken into custody in connection with the find.

Then shortly after 10pm, a team of DEU officers went to a premises on Lyon Road, where a man was seen acting in a manner that aroused suspicion.

He was accosted, searched and a quantity of marijuana was found in his possession.

The man was subsequently taken into custody in connection with the find.

PAGE 4, Monday, February 20, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

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What is happening in our courts?

WHEN WE read the remarks last week of Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson in defence of the integrity of our courts and the fairness of our judges, we recalled a 2016 report in a St Lucia newspaper about a Bahamian lawyer, accompanied by a Bahamian police officer, snooping around St Lucia ostensibly investigating the background of one of the most respected judges on our Supreme Court Bench today.

“Is CARICOM being used by Bahamas Government and Peter Nygard in Official Investigation by Bahamian Officials into Judge Indra Charles of the Bahamas Supreme Court?” asked the island’s local newspaper, St Lucia Today. The article was published in October last year.

Reported the newspaper (incidentally Keod Smith is not a parliamentarian as stated in the article): “A Bahamas barrister Keod Smith, a parliamentarian, along with a senior officer of the Bahamas Police Force were observed by the St Lucia authorities conducting a series of interviews and interrogations at Government Offices in the capital and around the island on the character of a former Judge of St Lucia, Indra Charles, who is now a Judge in The Bahamas.

“Some very disturbing questions have been put to citizens of St Lucia and Mr Smith is recorded in conversations where he described himself to be a lawyer for Peter Nygard who recently had displayed an interest in a Stem Cell hospice on the islands of St Lucia and St Kitts.

“A formal statement is being made to the St Lucia Government to enquire into the role it may be playing in this investigation. The St Lucia authorities have identified the two Bahamians who visited St Lucia and paid various officials to supply them with information of a private nature on Mrs Charles.

“Mrs Charles, according to news in The Bahamas, is the subject of a Committee in the Parliament which is examining a recent ruling given by her on the privileges of Members and the use of private emails in parliamentary debate.The people of St Lucia do not wish to become a pawn in this exercise of The Bahamas.

“This is an issue in which Prime Minister Allen Chastanet must speak to and avoid the appearance of our island’s participation in this clearly unsavoury and unconstitutional encroachment on the Judiciary of St Lucia and that of The Bahamas.”

At the same time last year there was also an article in the St Lucia Star urging its government “to distance itself from such questionable behaviour”.

Here in Nassau, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade denied any knowledge of reports that a senior police officer was sent to St Lucia to assist in probing the background of Justice Indra Charles. The Commissioner insisted that no police officer could overstep their jurisdiction or operate independently of the Commissioner.

He said that based on the information he had received, he had ordered an investigation. Since then there has been silence.

There is always silence in matters that concern the public. No wonder there has been so much foot-dragging in legislating a Freedom of Information Act. Obviously, there are many serious matters that government would like kept from the public.

However, the matter of the integrity of the judiciary has caught our attention by the number of requests being made recently by certain litigants to have two judges - Justice Indra Charles being one - recuse themselves from hearing their cases. In Justice Rhonda Bain’s case, an extension of her retirement date seems to be the bait. But, to her credit, it does not appear that this strong judge is biting. She intends to hear her cases through, including those involving wealthy

Lyford Cay resident Peter Nygard and his property dispute with which he is engaged with the Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay now known as Save the Bays.

We do not know how far Commissioner Greenslade’s investigation went, but our enquiries confirm that on 8.9.2016 two Bahamians - Keod Smith, and a Nassau Police Officer (name withheld by The Tribune) - arrived in St Lucia from Miami.

They both stayed at the St James Club.

The policeman told Immigration that he was there on vacation, while Mr Smith said he was there in connection with matters to do with his legal profession.

The St Lucia newspapers told the rest of the story expressing anger at the Bahamian lawyer and police officer for snooping into Justice Charles’ private life, one of the newspapers demanding that St Lucia’s government “distance itself from such questionable behaviour”.

However, what has brought this matter centre stage at this time are not only the demands of certain litigants for recusal of certain judges (i.e. removal of judges from hearing their cases), but a report that Justice Charles had reported to the police that she and her family were being threatened by certain persons. We understand that she has been given extra police protection.

However, it is also alleged that Nygard’s lawyer Keod Smith went to the Chief Justice informing him that as Justice Charles had made complaints to the police against him, he wanted her recused from all cases pending against him.

Last year Justice Charles had adjourned for hearing an injunction in the ‘murder for hire’ allegations made against Peter Nygard and Keod Smith by several Save the Bays directors. The directors Joseph Darville, Romauld Ferreira, Fred Smith and Louis Bacon - and independent plaintiff, Rev CB Moss, had alleged that Keod Smith had assisted Mr Nygard in orchestrating a two-and-a half year campaign of fear and violence to “kill or scare off” activities that Nygard saw as opposed to his development plans for his Lyford Cay property. The group is represented by Mr Ferron Bethel. Keod Smith and Nygard have denied the allegations.

However, on Thursday last week, the date Justice Charles had set for herself to hear the injunction, she was nowhere in sight. Instead she had been replaced by Justice Donna Newton, who had been recently appointed to the Bench. On Thursday, there was again an adjournment in what was thought to have been Judge Charles’ case. There was no explanation as to why the change of judges. It would seem that an explanation would have been appropriate - especially in view of the background, starting in St Lucia.

It is indeed a serious day when a citizen can seemingly exert such influence that they can decide who should judge their case. A sensible judge knows when he/she is too close to a litigant and can form their own judgment as to whether a recusal is necessary. A judge should not be pushed out just because he/she is not only strong in the law, but determined not to be influenced by outside issues. Is this perhaps what happened to Justice Charles? The public is certainly entitled to an explanation.

As Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson has observed: “The Supreme Court is charged with protection of our Constitution.” It is now time that the Bahamian people started asking questions about what is happening in their courts and, for the sake of this country and its people, make certain that the court’s integrity is upheld for the protection of future generations.

Fighting the fires EDITOR, The Tribune.

ONCE again I would ask you to bear with me and publish my thoughts, this time on our public services as they relate to fire control.

I would like to make this an open letter to Chief Fireman EVANS. Beginning Friday, February 17th, at about 2.30pm my son, Dana, and I worked really hard trying to suppress a bush fire that threatened our property and the BEC lines near Milo Butler Highway and the dump. Using our tractors, we managed to open a firebreak and create new ones to prevent it from coming our way. We created roadway access and I called 919, BEC and the fire department. The impression I got was none of them could care less. I was on the telephone for over a half hour before I spoke to a fireman.

The process included being given telephone numbers to call that no one answered; one time the man claimed I should not have the number, as it was private, one simply hung up.

Another finally admitted that this was the number and had me wait for about five minutes for someone to come to the phone. The fire

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net guy told me they were monitoring it. I told him they could out it with one truck of water as we had isolated the flames but needed water to douse some hot spots.

I let him know that we even went as far as to truck quarry fill to make their route passable and to quell some of the hot spots.

The primary problem is that because this is a “BUSH FIRE” the fire department does not give it a high priority and they monitor them to ensure they do not damage developed property. This is reasonable enough, but when it is actually threatening property such as the high tension poles belonging to BEC then you would think someone in the fire department would be interested to at least visit the scene in person. I was on the scene for over five hours and was on the telephone on numerous occasions attempting to bring them up to date on the matter. After I concluded that the fire was under control, my son and I used our equipment to clear the bush from around the elec-

tricity poles that were under threat. I have seen them burn down in the past with the resulting electrical outages, as they comprise the main feed between Clifton Pier and Big Pond stations.

The saying “where there’s smoke there’s fire” wasn’t coined to speak to this matter but it brings to mind the fact that smoke is considered by most fire experts to be the real killer most times in fires. This is because it robs us of our ability to breath and smothers people. I add that it also slowly kills us when it is allowed to fester in our atmosphere such as it has been doing from the dump fires and now this rather extensive smoke presence that has resulted from the Fire Department “monitoring it” rather than examining options and putting it out quickly and sparing us a slow painful smoky death.

I have no confidence in our public services and feel I am being robbed when I pay my taxes. My Fire Department certainly isn’t appropriately interested in my safety.

SIMON RODEHN Harold Road, New Providence.

Little comfort EDITOR, The Tribune.

RE: Wayne Munroe. “Interception Bill will fulfil international obligations.”

“There’s Parliamentary Oversight.”

Mr Munroe’s words offer little comfort.

The Bill will be judged within the context of a government that leaks private

emails in Parliament, openly disrespects judges, inserts itself into private disputes and facilitates a national intelligence agency that lacks a legal framework.

So yes, people will jump up and down at the idea of giving this government the power to spy.

Given the PLP government’s history of intimidation

and victimisation, this Bill should be looked at carefully and reviewed by an independent panel of legal minds, civil rights groups and the public rather than ramming it down the public’s throat just before a general election.

ATHENA DAMIANOS Nassau, February 19, 2017.

Spy Bill will cost PLP the election EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE Progressive Liberal Party is about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with this crazy and dangerous Spy Bill that will allow them to eavesdrop on every single Bahamian, read our emails and listen to our phone calls.

First of all, it is unconstitutional and they have no right to invade people’s lives in this way. Every citizen of this country has the right to privacy and any gov-

ernment that would seek to violate that right does not deserve to be in power.

And, as the PLP should know better than anybody, The Bahamas is a place that thrives on secrecy and everybody has at least one skeleton in the closet.

The idea that the authorities would have access to everybody’s intimate discussions and have proof of who is who’s sweetheart, outside child, etc, is terrifying to most citizens of this country and they simply

will not stand for it.

The public will be up in arms when they realize what this Bill really means.

Soon enough, corrupt police officers will be blackmailing us to keep our private business under wraps. Politicians will be using embarrassing personal information to destroy their opponents and the citizenry will be afraid to express themselves honestly to their friends and family, for fear that their words will be used against them in the public square.

Could it be that anyone who doesn’t vote for the PLP will be victimised after the election, if they happened to send an email or WhatsApp indicating who they voted for?

And then there is the Financial Services Industry, which exists to provide privacy to clients. It is the second pillar of our economy and it is already suffering, with banks preferring to set up shop in Switzerland, Cayman, or any other offshore banking haven. How

many jobs will this Spy Bill cost that vital industry?

Why are the PLP poking this wasp nest at all? They are in a good position to contest the next election despite their abysmal performance in office, because for now at least, the opposition remains divided and a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Why did they try and sneak it into Parliament on the quiet and rush it through without public consultation?

How are the public not supposed to come to the conclusion that the whole point of this exercise is to give them a powerful tool for spying on political opponents in the run up to election?

Well, they don’t have to spy on me, because I will tell the whole country: thanks to this Spy Bill, I’m voting FNM!!

MOLLY KING Nassau, February 19, 2017.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 5

Christie rejects Chipman claim of change to report

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Perry Christie on Friday condemned St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman’s claim that the boundaries report he signed off on differed from the one tabled in the House of Assembly earlier this month.

On February 13, Mr Chipman sent a letter to House Speaker Dr Kendal Major which alleged that the report he signed as the Official Opposition’s representative on the Constituencies Commission was different from the one Mr Christie presented to Parliament.

Last week, Mr Chipman was in Guyana for CARICOM meetings alongside Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell and a government delegation.

Mr Christie called the St Anne’s MP’s allegation “distressing,” and revealed that he has instructed Mr Mitchell to tell Mr Chipman that his action was “a terrible thing (to do).”

“The report was not touched,” the prime minister said. “The report that he signed came to Parliament as is. I made a communication indicating that whenever a debate is finished, as prime minister under the constitutional powers that I have, I was going to recommend one change that was agreed to when we did the resolution, and that was a name change from Montagu to Freetown. So it is a distressing sort of intervention that he made because a

judge of the Supreme Court who always says, ‘Listen, I’m not here to play the politics, I’m here to guarantee fairness’ (was on the commission). And that judge signed off on it. Everyone who knows the speaker (of the House) knows the speaker is a man who prides himself on being fair and (he signed off on it), so I think (what Mr Chipman did) was unfortunate.”

Mr Christie said he assumes Mr Chipman wrote the letter because he was “forced” or “coerced” into signing the document “for the purpose of laying the foundation for legal action.”

Supreme Court Justice Ian Winder granted permission on Thursday to two members of the Official Opposition who are challenging the constitutionality of the boundaries report in court to submit Mr Chipman’s letter to the court.

Without that letter, the applicants for judicial review would have to contend with the fact that all five members of the commission – including Mr Chipman – signed the report that was later tabled in the House.

“There was absolutely no change from what Brave Davis, Jerome Fitzgerald, the speaker, the justice of the Supreme Court and Hubert Chipman signed,” Mr Christie said. “Their report came in as is. It went to the governor general as is and it came to Parliament to me as is. I reviewed it and for reasons that I stated, ancestral reasons, since Blair and all of those were no longer in that large grouping in Montagu, since Ingraham

PRIME Minister Perry Christie speaking to the media at the weekend.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff To this Mr Christie said: ple vote. People wherever fact, if it ever goes back to had taken St Thomas More and submerged it into Mon- “They claim that but this they are will determine who 38, I’m in a much stronger tagu, just looking at it and is all part of the politics of forms the next government position, with all those wonthe substantial number of the election season. You of the Bahamas; the rest derful parts of Englerston residents in Kemp Road would’ve heard the PLP of it is just posturing. Now that (former Prime Minister and right around there, a say the same things in the they are before the court. Hubert) Ingraham gave me good and appropriate take past; it’s something that op- I’m told the court reserves and St Cecilia.” would be to name it Free- position parties say and do judgement for Tuesday.

Mr Christie made the reand when Hubert Ingra- We’ll see. I was convinced marks at an awards event town.”

The applicants for leave ham did the boundaries in om the basis of advice I re- for the JCN’s Person of the to commence judicial review the last election, we won. ceived that at the end of the Year. proceedings into the draft When I did the boundaries day we will be justified in Justice Winder is expectorder on the boundaries in 2007, the FNM won. As continuing on the lines of ed to deliver a ruling on the also allege that it represents someone rightly said, lines, 39 constituencies and that’s judical review application those lines don’t vote. Peo- what we’re doing now. In on Tuesday. gross gerrymandering.

PRIVY COUNCIL COMMITTEE TO VISIT AT REQUEST OF GOVT THE Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will be in the country for five days of hearings beginning today.

Five judges - Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Sumption, Lord Reid and Lord Hughes - will sit at as a board to hear five appeals and applications until Februar y 2 4.

The sittings are at the request of The Bahamas government.

According to a press re-

lease, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) occasionally sits outside London when invited by the jurisdictions it serves.

This is the fourth occasion that the JCPC has sat in The Bahamas, the last time being March/April 2009.

Lord Mance, who will lead the delegation, said: “It is a great privilege to serve the people of The Bahamas as the islands’ final court of appeal.

Visiting the country provides a valuable opportunity to witness the Bahamian Constitution and legal system in action, to hear at first-hand about current thinking and developments and to understand how the Privy Council may best contribute.

“We shall also very much look forward to the meetings which are scheduled with judges and other members of the Bahamian legal profession.”

PAGE 6, Monday, February 20, 2017

SOME of those taking part in a previous We March Bahamas protest.

THE TRIBUNE

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

‘We March’ to fight spying bill from page one

The House of Assembly passed a Freedom of Information Bill on February 8, however it has not been passed by the Senate.

“We the people have been asking to see where our VAT money has gone for two years now,” the group added. “We have been asking to see the BEC/BPL business plan for years now. Yet the moment We March emerges and our people start speaking up and standing up, this PLP

government wants to have anyone that stands up or speaks out against them arrested.

“This may actually be our last stand. If they pass this bill, we won’t ever be able to organise another march or protest. Either way, we go out bigger than we started. The march is on! We stand in our streets one last time.”

We March is one of several organisations that have endorsed the “Kill the Bill - The Interception of Communications Bills 2017” petition, created with a target

goal of 5,000 signatories, demanding that the government shelve the legislation until such time as there has been sufficient public consultation.

The petition, circulated by the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA), had fewer than 300 signatures up to press time.

The proposed bill will provide for the “interception of all communications networks regardless of whether they are licensed as public or not.”

The bill says this will in-

clude telecommunications operators, internet providers and postal services.

Intercepting, among other provisions, includes the use of a “monitoring device,” physically viewing/inspecting the contents of any communication and diverting any communication from its intended destination, the bill notes.

The bill also states that in order to obtain an interception warrant, the commissioner of police, or someone acting on his behalf, would have to petition the

attorney general to make an “ex parte” application to a judge in chambers.

This will be done in the interest of “national security,” the bill notes.

The GBHRA has said the bill, if passed, would allow the authorities to secretly access citizens’ emails and listen to their telephone calls on the basis of suspected “subversion,” among other things.

“The proposed bill amounts to an open license to intimidate and silence activists, dissidents, political opponents and anyone who

disagrees with the current administration. With an election just a few months away, the implications for democracy and the rule of law in The Bahamas are frightening,” the GBHRA stressed.

“For those living in the Bahamas who wish to sign, you can remain anonymous,” the group added in its statement on Friday.

Persons interested in signing the petition can do so at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/642/851/036/ kill-the-bill-interceptionof-communications-bill/.

LAW WOULD GIVE POWER OF SECRET ENTRY TO HOMES AND BUSINESSES from page one in The Bahamas” such activity represents.

“Right now,” he said, “when the police execute a search warrant, you have to be present at your home but Section 8 of this bill provides for an entry warrant and with that they can gain access to your possessions, your home to secretly get your postal articles, to install

and to maintain an interception device or to go in and maintain an interception device when you aren’t there.”

Proponents of the bill stress that it provides a modern tool in the fight against crime as well as the kind of oversight from the Supreme Court that is missing under the Listening Devices Act (LDA), which the proposed bill would repeal.

Unsatisfied with this explanation, Mr Smith said:

“It is important for our police to have a modern facility to properly investigate the kind of digital crimes that goes on, but it is wrong of the government to be rushing this through Parliament.

“What’s the rush and why the crisis in bulldozing it through? Of course, we must be good global citizens and join with other countries in fighting transborder crime such as human trafficking, drug traffick-

ing, money laundering, etc, but because this is going to so dramatically impact our lives, just like there was a referendum and consultation on gambling, consultation and referendum on constitutional amendments, five years of consultation on a Freedom of Information Act - we need time for the public to properly consider and engage with the government on this spy bill.”

He continued: “This bill is a dramatic change from the Listening Devices Act because it allows a third party to intercept communications, ie, not the people communicating. Right now under the LDA, at least one person must consent to the recording. This (proposed bill) is also unconstitutionally retroactive because once the police gets into your emails, they can go backwards, decades to see what you’ve done or said and can use past activities for future prosecutions and investigations. Once you’re in to the digital environment of a person, you can go backwards and there’s no protection from past activity and scrutiny. That’s the big mischief here. A smart IT or cyber person,

once they’re in your email, they can leave a virus or some kind of digital hook that allows them to remain in there forever without anyone knowing. The Supreme Court judge won’t have the expertise or ability to supervise the interceptions so once the government or IT expert gets into your emails, they’re in there forever. There’s no guarantee they’ll every get out.

They will know your entire digital history, past and present.”

Under the bill, a person who intentionally intercepts a “communication in the course of its transmission by means of a public postal service or a communications network commits an offence, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars or a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years, or to both.”

Mr Smith said this is unconstitutional.

“The constitution provides that every person is entitled to a jury trial for indictable offences, that is felonies as opposed to summary, misdemeanour offences. In Canada and

the United States, anyone exposed to an offence which carries more than six months imprisonment is constitutionally entitled to a jury trial.

“I have litigated this issue all the way to the Privy Council where the government in the 1980s allowed people to be convicted by a magistrate for drug trafficking but then sent to the Supreme Court to be sentenced as if they were tried by a jury and sentenced for up to life imprisonment.

The Privy Council ruled the amendment to the Drug Act to be unconstitutional.

It set an upper sentencing limit only in drug trafficking cases of five years for a magistrate. In all other cases a magistrate is limited to six months. What’s been happening is that both the FNM and the PLP have been increasing the penalties for summary offences and increasing which is unconstitutional. The reason it is unconstitutional is that magistrates are appointed by the executive and they have no security of tenure whereas Supreme Court judges are there until retirement and the executive has no ability to remove them.”

the stories behind the news

insight@tribunemedia.net

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017

“This election will be unlike any other we have experienced in our lifetimes.”

Sarkis Izmirlian is out, the Chinese are in and Perry Christie is banking that Baha Mar will save his political future.

Get out and vote

T

he Bahamas is at what many believe to be a precipice before we plunge into a dark period of elections.

Successive governments have done much, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and Free National Movement, to the growth of our once, burgeoning nation.

It really depends on whose side you ask when trying to figure who is more at fault. However, the fact remains that where we currently stand is at the worst possible crossroads for the average Bahamian.

The PLP campaigned on bringing a better Bahamas and inspired thousands of Bahamians by promising to make us safer and to believe in us. After the PLP won the election, there was an unmistakable aura that pervaded throughout

Change is what is needed in the Bahamas and Malcom J Strachan urges voters not to miss their chance to effect it nities, recruiting Bahamians from all walks of life to dream and cultivate the leader within them all. At the beginning, Izmirlian and Christie seemed to have a great rapport with one another, but there was always the suspicion of how the ‘triangle’ business affair between Christie, the Chinese and Izmirlian would play out. Long story short - Izmirlian is out, the Chinese are in, much to the disdain of some sections

“The Prime Minister’s current resume is not so easy on the eyes so if Baha Mar has to be open with wet paint and leaky faucets, so be it.” the country that the PLP duped us. Crime continued to rise, as did unemployment, which both eventually setting records in the country.

Government ripened with corruption with millions of dollars going missing from Road Traffic and the Passport Office.

Prime Minister Perry Christie promised that they would open Baha Mar and touted that there would be thousands of jobs for Bahamians; directly impacting our economy. He garnered a lot of excitement, as well as apprehension from those that saw the resort as ‘too big not to fail’.

The mega-resort had a charismatic leader in Sarkis Izmirlian, who had inspired thousands of Bahamians, some that returned from abroad, to work at the resort. The developer even reached into the inner-city commu-

of the Bahamian public, and Christie is banking that Baha Mar will save his political future, while he is presently mired in a pile of political failures.

Today, Bahamians generally don’t feel better off.

They surely don’t feel safer as criminals have taken our country over, despite our police force doing the best that they can do. And Baha Mar remains a giant question mark. Bahamians are sceptical about who legally owns it, if it will open and if it will be successful or just another Chinese ‘ghost city’.

Many are also wondering why so much confidence is being placed in the construction company that did not deliver a completed hotel and caused multiple opening dates to be missed with the previous developer. At any rate, there is widespread belief that

something will be open on April 21. With only a month left before election, the Prime Minister will have to bring a victory to the people. His current resume is not so easy on the eyes so if Baha Mar has to be open with wet paint and leaky faucets, so be it.

Voter apathy As we enter the silly season, we will be bombarded with the fake smiles and

empty promises of multiple candidates, all falling over themselves for our vote.

It’s the one time that Bahamians use the power that we have over our elected officials.

To most of us, we don’t see our lives as being better than they were five years ago. Most of us are struggling to make ends meet.

We see that the major issues that our country faces being ignored by those in power. We see the widespread lack of accountability throughout government.

We hear promises on top of promises from our Prime Minister; just endless streams of empty rhetoric to the sounds of handclaps from his political ‘yes-men’ and hypnotised supporters.

It could be a lot for first-time voters to take in.

To them, the entire affair of lining up to vote could seem like a royal waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They, like all of us, must vote as if our futures hang in the balance - because believe it or not, it does. This election will be unlike any other we have experienced in our lifetimes.

We will get the chance to determine the type of Bahamas that we want, the kind of Bahamas that we will leave to our children, and their children. Do you want a Bahamas for Bahamians, or a Bahamas where only special interest prevails?

Your vote is your individual right of power to affect change in the nation in which one lives. You affect future generations with

that single right. To decide not to vote is also a right, as we live in a democratic society, but it is the wrong choice if you want things to get better.

The issue is that when a person doesn’t vote, there is a disconnect between their understanding of how that impacts their future.

To decide not to vote, but to desire a higher quality of life in whatever capacity that may be is oxymoronic.

To those going on the beach or those going out to spoil the ballot, you’re not doing anything to help the current situation that we’re presented with. In fact, you’re doing more to hurt it. Any argument to the contrary is silly, at best.

• Comments and responses to insight@tribunemedia.net

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THE THE TRIBUNE TRIBUNE

THE DIOCESE OF THE BAHAMAS AND The Bishop’s Charge to the One-Hundred and Fourteenth Session of Synod At the Synod Opening Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral, Nassau on Monday, 6th February, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.

W

e welcome you all into Christ Church Cathedral this evening at this Opening Service of the 114th Session of the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands.

WE WELCOME: Her Excellency, the Governor General, Dame Marguerite Pindling The Rt. Honourable Perry Christie, Prime Minister The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister Cabinet Ministers The Honourable Loretta Butler-Turner, leader of the Opposition and Mr. Turner The Honourable Hubert Minnis and Mrs. Minnis Senators, Members of Parliament Senior Government Officials WE WELCOME: Dr. Ranford Patterson, President of the Bahamas Christian Council, who just brought us greetings, and Mrs. Patterson Various Heads of denominations or their representatives, with their spouses.

Archbishop Drexel Gomez and Bishop Gilbert Thompson, Archdeacons, Canons, Clergy of the Diocese and their spouses The Chancellor, Justice Bernard Turner, the Vice Chancellor, Mrs. Diane Stewart, the Registrar, Mrs. Tonya BastianGalanis, other diocesan officials and their spouses The Director of Education, Mrs. Italia Davies, the new Chief Development Officer for Anglican Schools, Mrs. Jennifer Basden, who joined us in January 2016; Principals, Administrators, and students of our four schools Lay Delegates to the 114th Session of Synod.

We welcome the hardworking Diocesan Office Staff, acknowledging especially Archdeacon James Palacious and Mrs. Sonja Balfour, Financial Comptroller, and Miss Linda Farrington, who leads the Synod preparation process, and all those others who have helped us to be where we are this week.

Catechists, Lay Readers, Servers, My brothers and sisters We welcome those sharing in this service via ZNS TV 13, in The Bahamas, The Turks and Caicos Islands, the Caribbean and South Florida, and those who join us via live stream and on facebook all over the world. Thank you for sharing with us.

We are grateful to the Very Rev’d. the Dean, Father Colin Saunders, Precentor, and Staff of the Cathedral, Mr. Adrian Archer, Mr. Henderson Burrows, Mr. Christopher Smith and all of the ministries that have come together to make this service possible.

It is our privilege to convene this 114th Session of Diocesan Synod and to declare it open in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

To God be the glory.

Micah 6:8, “…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice…”

Micah spoke at a time when Israel and Judah, after a long period of peace, were coming under attack from the expanding Assyrian Empire. Micah challenged his hearers to pursue justice for all because national well-being was not just withstanding the Assyrians, but also how ordinary citizens fare.

Power in the hands of countries, leaders and citizens must be used to enable the well-being of all citizens. This remains the responsibility of the state, the Church and of all citizens, not to further inequality but to empower and to liberate.

Micah was inspired by a basic premise: “God has been so good to you and so the least that you can do is to give back to God through your society. You have been blessed in so many ways. What is it that is required of you, from your position of blessing?” The response is, “Do justice!”

The Hebrew word used here is mispat. Justice is something we do. It is not enough to yearn for justice, to talk about justice, to wish for justice, or to complain about the lack of it. There is a dynamic concept here which calls us to DO JUSTICE: to work for fairness, equality, a level playing field; work for it, strive for it, agitate for it, on behalf of those who cannot get it otherwise or who cannot achieve it for themselves, for the weak the disenfranchised, the powerless.

Doing what is right is the job of all of us in the church and in the state.

The Church is called to preach the gospel and to instruct and encourage members to bring their lives into line with Christ’s expectations.

When this happens, our personal lives, our relationships, our work, our studies all take on their full potential. And we are empowered to do what we need to do in terms of impacting the wider community, changing lives, addressing national issues, speaking out against wrong, speaking the truth to Power and to Influence…But it begins with our faithfulness to the gospel. Then, our faithfulness to the gospel spills over into every other area.

In this regard, I want us to look at a number of issues which face us all: THE NATIONAL BIRTH RATE Mr. Richard Lightbourn, Member of Parliament for Montagu made some remarks at the Free National Movement’s Convention in July 2016.

The Venerable James Palacious, Archdeacon for Administration for the Anglican Diocese,

made some remarks at the 50th Majority Rule Day service. There were varied reactions to these remarks, but one thing is certain: the remarks speak to a national issue that has far-reaching and crippling implications on the current reality and on the future of our beloved Bahamas: While the birthrate per capita has actually declined over the years, as a general rule, too many people are having children that they cannot afford to maintain materially, parentally, emotionally or financially.

We know that the right to have a child is a personal one and that no one can stop anyone from mothering or fathering a child.

We know also that many single parents have done a fine job raising children but, if we are honest, we have to admit that this is becoming less and less the case today as too many young people are having babies.

They are not fully mature themselves.

They are not socially stable in terms of their living circumstances.

They are not financially self-sufficient.

They cannot create a stable, ordered environment for a child to grow up in. Yet they are having babies because “they is man!” or they is woman!”

Some not-so-young persons are mothering and fathering children and do not have all of the resources to care for a child. Too many people are having children and have not asked, “Can I afford a baby or another baby?”

“Do I have the order and stability in my life to sustain a child?”

“Do I have what it takes to provide for this child?”

“Is this child going to have a fighting chance?”

For too many of our children the game is over before it even starts. They are born into “no-win” circumstances.

Dear friends, these are the realities that are affecting this country every day, creating hopelessness, giving no options for success, recycling poverty and underdevelopment and hurting Bahamaland.

We cannot build a sound society on a shaky foundation.

Not every mother or father is doing this. There are many fine parents, single and married, who are doing the skill of parenting proud. But far too many fall into the category that I have outlined.

No one has all of the answers to this dilemma.

We ALL have to work together on this. The government through its efforts and agencies is trying its best but let us all redouble our efforts. I do know that we have to talk more to our young people from the primary school and high school levels.

I am not talking about conversation for the sake of having it, but real, honest, frank, practical discussions on this topic and on related issues.

Yes it has to happen in schools and churches and Sunday Schools and Sab-

bath Schools and youth groups. And it has to happen OUTSIDE of those walls as well. We have to teach the value of life and healthy choices and responsibility for one’s actions. We have to teach that the body is still the Temple of the Lord and, for those with no Christian foundation, just let them know that the body and its functions and its capabilities are precious.

Teach that sex is not a recreation, it is a sacred act; and that a baby is not something you have to prove that “you is man” or that “you is woman”; that it is a bad idea to have a baby to keep a man or as a meal ticket - because the long term responsibility is too big for one moment of satisfaction.

We have to talk aggressively and to teach this: parents, teachers, clergy, youth groups, curriculum people.

And we need a national information/education initiative to reach those who are out of school, to the wider citizenry.

We cannot just have children because we have the biology. We have to consider the long-term implications.

This is a matter of foundational national urgency, never mind how politically sensitive it is or how much furor it generates on the talk shows. There is urgent need for a more Comprehensive National Family Planning Programme.

I wish to say a word to the media which in print and word and image responded to the remarks of Messrs. Lightbourn and Palacious. Instead of generating excitement, I think the media should have led us into a keen discussion on the national reality. Why not interview experts from the field: the Department of Statistics, Social Services, the Healthcare system, the Ministry of Education, the Police? These are the people who can speak to the issue.

As a nation, let us have the discussion. Let us do the right thing.

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MAJORITY RULE The Anglican Church joins with the country in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Majority Rule. The event was a part of a process that began long before January 1967, and continued long afterwards – even up to the present day. The process marked, among other things, the transfer of political power from a minority group to the majority group.

It was not simply a racial event since the majority attained by the Progressive Liberal Party was comprised of white and black men. It was about allowing all Bahamians to have a stake and to feel a sense of ownership.

The era of opportunity for advancement and education ushered The Bahamas into a new chapter of economic growth, national development and diversification. With

more people having more opportunity and access, it meant that they ultimately had more options for self-determination and for power.

This meant that poor, middle class and merchant class and wealthy Bahamians benefitted from Majority Rule from the very beginning.

In my opinion Majority Rule is the single greatest historical event outside of emancipation in 1834-38 – such was its exponential effect upon The Bahamas.

It is unfortunate that Majority Rule, an historical evolution and an event impacting all Bahamians in a way that I have just outlined, has become so politicized and appears at times to belong to one party, over and against the other, and not to the country as a whole – especially since ALL Bahamians ultimately benefitted from it.

Because it has not been set up as a national institution based on historical reality – and because, in my view, neither government has even made an attempt to do this, then what happens: unwise or indiscreet PLP’s get to behave like its theirs to use for political mileage, especially in seasons like this; unwise or indiscreet FNM’s seek to distance themselves from it because someone is behaving like it is all about Pindling and the PLP. This is unfortunate and many of us are guilty because we have not done a good job of presenting it as a national historical event or setting up its celebration like it is a national historic event.

We have to be so careful that the fact and spirit of the Majority Rule Process is not lost in our mishandling of it.

We have to be careful that in all of our efforts we achieve the real empowerment, equality and opportunity that the original process sought to accomplish.

It is not too late to do this. Let’s do the right thing!

INDEPENDENT BOUNDARIES COMMISSION I wish to renew my call for an independent Boundaries Commission.

Successive governments continue to use their majority influence over the boundaries exercise as a way to attain political

advantage, e.g., chop off here and add on there to make sure my person gets in. Boundaries Commission work should be based on numbers, demographics and geography, not political whim.

I was once told by a sitting Prime Minister that he wanted it but that the Members of Parliament on both sides were all vehemently against it.

I cannot say that I am surprised if it can be used to personal and partisan advantage. But we need an independent body, especially in a country where there is so much familiarity, inbreeding, corruption and circumventing of laws and procedures – when it suits our fancy.

We need an independent Boundaries Commission that draws lines objectively and that reports on time.

Let us do the right thing!

CAMPAIGN REFORM I call again for serious campaign finance reform. Parties need to be held accountable for what they collect and what they spend, with appropriate limits put in place for each. The Opposition and the Governing Party need to say where their money has come from.

This is foreign to us and may even seem offensive, but it is standard practice in well-run democracies worldwide. It also keeps everyone honest and encourages campaigns and countries to be run on issues rather than by special interests and selfpreservation.

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS And now, let us turn our attention to the Turks and Caicos Islands for a few moments.

• New Governor We welcome to the Turks and Caicos Islands and to The Diocese the new British Governor, His Excellency Dr. John Freeman and Mrs. Corinna Freeman. We wish them a happy, productive and peaceful time here in our midst.

• Elections 2016 On 15th December, 2016, the Turks and Caicos Islands held general elections, the second since the new Constitution was introduced in 2011.

The Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson is

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Email: insight@tribunemedia.net

GAIN AN EDGE A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

GAIN AN EDGE

A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Affording BTVI: a world of options

By ALICIA THOMPSON

application to the office nearest you.

D

uring these economically challenging times, students pursuing technical education may have questions about affording tuition, fees, books and tools while at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).

BTVI’s goal is to offer ‘Affordable Excellence!’

There are a variety of options for students, ranging from traditional financial aid to scholarships.

Here are responses to frequently asked questions about BTVI’s financial aid process: I want to attend BTVI, but not sure I can afford it.

Who can I contact to apply for a scholarship or financial aid?

Financial assistance is available to students via: • BTVI’s Financial Aid programme – Applications can be obtained from the

Financial Aid Office, complete and return to Tamara Knowles.

• Private scholarships – Applications can be obtained from BTVI’s Office of Fund Development, completed and returned to Alicia Thompson, Associate Vice President of Fund Development.

• Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MOEST) – Applications can be obtained and submitted to their Scholarship and Loans division.

• Department of Social Services and Community Development – Submit an

What’s the process to receive a scholarship or financial aid?

Private scholarships require a completed application and supporting documents, proof of financial need and a statement of goals and aspirations. Donors ultimately decide who is awarded, based on their established criteria.

Financial Aid applicants must meet similar criteria and apply before March 31 for the Fall and October 31 for the Spring. Applicants must be Bahamian citizens enrolled in a two-year programme (AAS degree) and be a current or transfer student with a minimum 2.75 Grade Point Average (GPA). Exceptions exist for Family Island students enrolled in certificate programs. Selection is done by a scholarship panel.

In Fall 2016, 249 MOEST scholarships were awarded to BTVI students (an in-

vestment of $207,560) and 171 Social Services scholarships (an investment of $91,000).

In what areas are financial aid and scholarships granted?

Students may pursue any trade offered at BTVI while on financial aid, MOEST or Department of Social Services scholarship. Some private scholarship donors specify trade areas based on: • Area of interest • An organisation’s needs, mission or goals • Existing skills gaps One example is a company that realised it had been heavily dependent on importing skilled labourers from another country so it has recently sponsored a specialised training programme for their employees.

My GPA is above a 2.0 but less than 2.5. Do criteria mainly focus on GPA? Financial Aid is deter-

Services and MOEST - Yes. Private scholarship awards vary, ranging from full Scholarships (covering all of the above and tuition) to tuition-only.

Alicia Thompson, BTVI’s Associate Vice President, Fund Development mined based on academic performance and a strong demonstration of financial need. Information on MOEST and Department of Social Services scholarship requirements can be obtained from their respective offices.

Regarding private scholarships, GPA is considered along with other factors.

One scholarship may require mandatory community service hours, while for another, a criterion might be one’s island of origin. A list of private scholarships can be obtained from the Office of Fund Development.

What is the range of scholarship funding I can receive?

BTVI private scholarship donors have historically invested from $200 to $1,200 to assist with purchasing books, equipment and uniforms. Tuition covered has also varied from partial ($500 to $1,500) to full coverage.

MOEST and Social Services’ scholarship amounts vary based on the programme.

Do scholarships and/ or financial aid include equipment, books and/or uniforms?

BTVI Financial Aid - No. Department of Social

Are there opportunities to work on campus and get paid?

Yes. This programme is designed for current students who maintain a minimum GPA of 2.75 and are not currently receiving scholarship assistance from another source. Students work for a maximum of 20 hours per week and are given a weekly stipend.

Do recipients have to repay donors by working for their organisations for a period of time?

Recipients are not bonded to donors.

Do you have many requests for financial aid and scholarships?

In Fall 2016, 43 students benefitted from financial aid, representing a $23,000 investment. This however only represented 46 per cent of the applications received during 2016.

We have a modest pool of private scholarship donors, mainly corporate, civic, fraternal and service organisations.

Currently, 66 students are on scholarships ($62,000) with an additional 72 persons on a waiting list.

• Alicia Thompson is Associate Vice President, Fund Development, BTVI “Gain An Edge” is a weekly collaboration of the Lyford Cay Foundations, Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute and University of The Bahamas aimed at promoting a national dialogue on higher education. To share your thoughts, email gainanedge@tribunemedia.net.

680 Cubans returned home since end of ‘wet foot, dry foot’ HAVANA (AP) - About 680 Cubans have been returned to the island from various countries since former President Barack Obama ended a longstanding immigration policy that allowed any Cuban who made it to United States soil to stay and become a legal resident, according to a state television report.

Cuba’s government had long sought the repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which it said encouraged Cubans to risk dangerous voyages and drained the country of professionals. The January 12 decision by Washington to end it followed months of negotiations focused in part on getting Havana to agree to take back people who had arrived in the US. Cuban state television said on Friday night that the returnees came from countries including the United States, Mexico and the Bahamas, and were sent back to the island between January 12 and February 17. It did not break down which countries the 680 were sent back from. The report said the final two

returnees arrived from the United States on Friday “on the first charter flight especially destined for an operation of this type”.

Florida’s El Nuevo Herald newspaper reported that the two women were deemed “inadmissible” for entry to the United States and placed on a morning flight to Havana. Wilfredo Allen, an attorney for one of the women, says they had arrived at Miami International Airport with European passports. The women requested asylum and were detained.

The repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy was Obama’s final move before leaving office in the rapprochement with the communist-run country that he and Cuban President Castro began in December, 2014. The surprise decision left hundreds of Cubans stranded in transit in South and Central America.

Before he assumed the presidency on January 20, Donald Trump criticised the detente between the US and Cuba, tweeting that he might “terminate” it.

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Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 11

China’s debt trap diplomacy

CHINESE-backed infrastructure projects, such as the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium in New Providence, are part of an overall strategy towards spreading influence.

I

F there is one thing at which China’s leaders truly excel, it is the use of economic tools to advance their country’s geostrategic interests.

Through its $1 trillion “one belt, one road” initiative, China is supporting infrastructure projects in strategically located developing countries, often by extending huge loans to their governments. As a result, countries are becoming ensnared in a debt trap that leaves them vulnerable to China’s influence.

Of course, extending loans for infrastructure projects is not inherently bad.

But the projects that China is supporting are often intended not to support the local economy, but to facilitate Chinese access to natural resources, or to open the market for its low-cost and shoddy export goods.

In many cases, China even sends its own construction workers, minimising the number of local jobs that are created.

Several of the projects that have been completed are now bleeding money.

For example, Sri Lanka’s Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, which opened in 2013 near Hambantota, has been dubbed the world’s emptiest. Likewise, Hambantota’s Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port remains largely idle, as does the multibillion-dollar Gwadar port in Pakistan. For China, however, these projects are operating exactly as needed: Chinese attack submarines have twice docked at Sri Lankan ports, and two Chinese warships were recently pressed into service for Gwadar port security.

In a sense, it is even better for China that the projects

Accepting promises of benevolent investment and easy credit from China are coming back to haunt developing countries.

Brahma Chellaney reports from India don’t do well. After all, the heavier the debt burden on smaller countries, the greater China’s own leverage becomes. Already, China has used its clout to push Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand to block a united Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stand against China’s aggressive pursuit of its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Moreover, some countries, overwhelmed by their debts to China, are being forced to sell to it stakes in Chinese-financed projects or hand over their management to Chinese stateowned firms. In financially risky countries, China now demands majority ownership up front. For example, China clinched a deal with Nepal this month to build another largely Chineseowned dam there, with its state-run China Three Gorges Corporation taking a 75 per cent stake.

As if that were not enough, China is taking steps to ensure that countries will not be able to escape their debts. In exchange for rescheduling repayment, China is requiring countries to award it contracts for additional projects, thereby making their debt crises interminable.

Last October, China cancelled $90 million of Cambodia’s debt, only to secure major new contracts.

Some developing economies are regretting their decision to accept Chinese loans. Protests have erupted over widespread jobless-

ness, purportedly caused by Chinese dumping of goods, which is killing off local manufacturing, and exacerbated by China’s import of workers for its own projects.

New governments in several countries, from Nigeria to Sri Lanka, have ordered investigations into alleged Chinese bribery of the previous leadership. Last month, China’s acting ambassador to Pakistan, Zhao Lijian, was involved in a Twitter spat with Pakistani journalists over accusations of project-related corruption and the use of Chinese convicts as labourers in Pakistan (not a new practice for China). Zhao described the accusations as “nonsense”.

In retrospect, China’s designs might seem obvious.

But the decision by many developing countries to accept Chinese loans was, in many ways, understandable. Neglected by institutional investors, they had major unmet infrastructure needs. So when China showed up, promising benevolent investment and easy credit, they were all in.

It became clear only later that China’s real objectives were commercial penetration and strategic leverage; by then, it was too late, and countries were trapped in a vicious cycle.

Sri Lanka is Exhibit A. Though small, the country is strategically located between China’s eastern ports and the Mediterranean.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called it vital to the completion of the maritime

THIS WEEK IN THE TRIBUNE Tuesday Woman and Health weekly advice on taking care of your mind and body and women making waves in The Bahamas Plus comment from Nicole Burrows and sporting mischief and mayhem with Inigo “Naughty” Zenicazelaya Wednesday Tribune Tech - a weekly look at what’s new in the world of technology Thursday

Obituaries and Religion, a weekly review ‘On da Hook’, a weekly look at fishing in The Bahamas Friday Weekend - a 28-page section devoted to the best in arts, music, fashion, food, books, entertainment, gardening, animal matters, fitness, history and interviews Sports - The Finish Line, a look at the local sports scene, by Brent Stubbs Plus A Comic’s View Naughty’s unique take on

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Silk Road. China began inBut it was too late: Sri vesting heavily in Sri Lanka Lanka’s government was during the quasi-autocratic already on the brink of nine-year rule of President default. So, as a Chinese Mahinda Rajapaksa, and state mouthpiece crowed, China shielded Rajapaksa Sri Lanka had no choice at the United Nations from but “to turn around and allegations of war crimes. embrace China again”. SiriChina quickly became Sri sena, in need of more time Lanka’s leading investor to repay old loans, as well as and lender, and its second- fresh credit, acquiesced to a largest trading partner, series of Chinese demands, giving it restarting substantial suspended ‘China is taking diplomatic initiatives, steps to ensure that leverage. like the It was countries will not be $1.4 billion smooth Colombo sailing for able to escape their Port City, China, un- debts. In exchange and awardtil Raja- for rescheduling ing China paksa was new prorepayment, China is unexpectjects. edly de- requiring countries to Sirifeated in award it contracts for sena also the early recently 2015 elec- additional projects, agreed to tion by thereby making sell an 80 Maithriper cent their debt crises pala Siristake in the sena, who interminable.’

Hambanhad camtota port paigned to China on the promise to extricate for about $1.1 billion. AcSri Lanka from the Chinese cording to China’s ambasdebt trap. True to his word, sador to Sri Lanka, Yi Xihe suspended work on ma- anliang, the sale of stakes in jor Chinese projects. other projects is also under

discussion, in order to help Sri Lanka “solve its finance problems”. Now, Rajapaksa is accusing Sirisena of granting China undue concessions.

By integrating its foreign, economic, and security policies, China is advancing its goal of fashioning a hegemonic sphere of trade, communication, transportation and security links. If states are saddled with onerous levels of debt as a result, their financial woes only aid China’s neo-colonial designs. Countries that are not yet ensnared in China’s debt trap should take note - and take whatever steps they can to avoid it.

Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including Asian Juggernaut, Water: Asia’s New Battleground, and Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis. This article was published by Project Syndicate on January 23 (www.project-syndicate.org).

PAGE 12, Monday, February 20, 2017

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Swimming pigs found dead in Exuma from page one Mrs Aranha said this tragedy “is not good for the economy or tourism because if tourists come and see dead pigs on the beach, it’s not good publicity for us”.

“It’s really a mystery as to what killed these beautiful animals. I believe most of the carcasses were in the ocean and we (BHS) did act as quickly as we can. I think everyone who is an animal lover is concerned and if not, for our economy, can you imagine what impact this could have?” she stressed.

Lee McCoy, owner of

Harbour Safaris which runs tours from Nassau to see the swimming pigs, also confirmed that a team had been sent to investigate the cause of death, but said that results may not be ready until today.

When asked if there were likely to be negative ramifications for the economy, he said: “It’s not great for it but it won’t be devastating for the economy.”

NBC’s “Today Show” featured the swimming pigs of Exuma last June, in which “Today” correspondent Kerry Sanders traced the emergence of a colony of pigs on Big Major Cay.

SOME of the swimming pigs in Exuma.

Concerns have been raised after several of the pigs were found dead.

MORE THAN 100 ENTRIES TO ‘BAHAMIAN TING’ CONTEST ENTRIES from 124 talented singers, songwriters and musicians from throughout The Bahamas have been received by the Ministry of Tourism for its ‘Da Bahamian Ting’ song competition.

“The response was over-

whelming,” said Director of Culture and Heritage Tourism, Arlene Nash-Ferguson, after the deadline passed on Friday. “We are so pleased that so many Bahamians are creating Rake n’ Scrape, Junkanoo and Goombay music with such

passion. This proves that our creative community is still committed to preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of The Bahamas.”

The winner of ‘Da Bahamian Ting’ will receive $25,000 with second place

taking $20,000, third place $15,000, fourth place $10,000 and fifth through 10th will receive $1,000 each.

“What is even more encouraging is that artists were only allowed to submit one song. So these are 124 individuals creating music of a traditional Bahamian genre,” Ms Nash-Ferguson

added.

A panel of judges will narrow the field to 20 semifinalists, who will be announced to the public during a special Happy Hour event in Pompey Square on March 3 at 5pm. The selection criteria dictates that the song be in a Bahamian genre (Rake n’ Scrape, Goombay or Junkanoo) and around

three minutes long.

The public will choose the top 10 by voting online, via text messaging and by submitting their favourite online. The winner will be announced on April 21.

The top 20 songs will receive much exposure and airtime, and will be used in Ministry of Tourism campaigns locally and globally.

THREE IN HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTINGS from page one

were listed as stable up to press time.

Police are looking for two men they want to speak with in reference to yesterday’s shooting. Officers believe Rolie Anthony “Babloo” Henfield, 20, and Tony Austin “Fats” Maycock, 44, both of Windsor Lane, can help in their investigation.

On Saturday, police were also called to the scene of three separate shootings throughout the capital.

Shortly after midnight on Saturday, a man was standing in front of a home

on Laird Street, when another man with a handgun approached and shot him before fleeing on foot. The victim was taken to hospital where he is detained with non-life threatening injuries.

In the other incident that occurred shortly after 7pm, a man was walking on Second Street, Coconut Grove, when an armed gunman approached and shot him before fleeing on foot. The victim was taken to hospital where he is detained in stable condition.

Then shortly after 10pm, a woman was leaving a social event in her vehicle on Polhemus Street, when

the occupants of a dark coloured two-door Honda car pulled up and shot her before speeding off. The victim was taken to hospital where she is detained in stable condition.

Police later arrested three adult males, two adult females and a juvenile female in connection with that incident.

Investigations into all four of these shooting incidents are continuing and anyone with information is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 13

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PAGE 14, Monday, February 20, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

TREVOR COOPER, 21, of Prince Charles Drive, who has been charged with murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

Suspect accused of shooting man dead

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was remanded to prison on Friday after he was arraigned on a charge of murder in the Magistrate’s Court.

Trevor Cooper, 21, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt accused of intentionally causing the death of Frederick Ferguson on Monday, February 13, 2017.

At around 2am on the date in question, Ferguson was fatally shot during an argument outside of a business establishment on West Bay Street, according to police reports.

Cooper was also arraigned on charges of possession of an unlicenced firearm and possession of ammunition. It is alleged that Cooper, on the same date, was found with a black Austria .40 pistol and four live rounds of .40 ammunition, without having a licence to possess the items.

He was informed that he would not be allowed to enter a plea to the charges until he is formally arraigned before a judge in the Supreme Court.

Cooper is scheduled to return to Magistrate’s Court on April 25 for the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment which would transfer the case

from the lower court to the Supreme Court.

Cooper was denied bail and remanded to the Department of Correctional Services to await trial.

However, he has the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

Before the arraignment was concluded, Cooper’s lawyer, Ryszard Humes, alleged that his client was assaulted by police and that there was a visible bruise on his nose.

He asked that his client be given medical treatment.

The court placed an order on his remand warrant that he be seen by a physician upon his arrival at the Fox Hill facility.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 15

CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF THE CHILDREN AT RANFURLY

T

he Ranfurly Homes for Children has been a safe haven for thousands of Bahamian children since 1956. The Home provides a safe, structured environment for children who have been orphaned, abused, neglected or abandoned.

YOU can make a difference in the lives of the children at Ranfurly. With your support children can have nutritious food, warm beds and a safe environment where they can discover the joy of being children. For years the children living and learning at Ranfurly have made great social and academic strides.

Their further development requires additional support in the form of a Transitional Home, planned for construction on the Ranfurly property.

This residence will cater to teenagers and young adults who are beyond school age, but need accommodation while they find work and gain independence from the Home.

We look forward to your continued support in this worthwhile endeavour.

MEMBERSHIP PACKAGES Individuals, Families & Corporate Sponsors Children Helping Children - $5 (Individual children from ages 6 - 18) Individuals Helping Children - $50 (Individual adults 18 years and over) Families Helping Children - $100

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Invitations to Ranfurly events Assist with fundraising events Involvement with special activities Adults are eligible to join the Board after three months • Stay in touch with Ranfurly through website and newsletters

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• Personal fulfillment in knowing you are impacting lives • Ranfurly children’s appreciation and positive response • Continued support provides stability and constant care

For more information visit: www.ranfurlyhome.org Please “Like” us on Facebook Ranfurly Home for Children, Mackey Street P.O. Box 1413 Nassau, Bahamas 242-393-3115

PAGE 16, Monday, February 20, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

MOT launches biodegradable campaign against Styrofoam

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net WITH support of local wholesale suppliers and retailers, a yearlong biodegradable campaign to reduce Styrofoam was launched on Grand Bahama on Friday.

This comes at a time when many US cities, and even some Caribbean countries, have banned Styrofoam use in their respective jurisdictions.

The ‘Reduce Styro and use Bio’ campaign is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Tourism’s Sustainable Tourism Unit (STU), and supported by the Keep Grand Bahama Clean Committee.

Major wholesale suppliers such as Bahamas Wholesale Agency (BWA); CostRight and AML Foods; Bahamas Food Services, Control Chemicals, and Express Food Mart, the largest convenience store retailer on the island, have all come onboard.

Jeffrey Pinder, senior executive of the Sustainable

Tourism Unit at the Ministry of Tourism in Freeport, was pleased with the support from local suppliers on the island.

The United Nations has declared 2017 ‘The Year of Sustainable Tourism Development.’ In keeping with the initiative, Mr Pinder said the STU is committed to placing focus on three UN goals: to immediately combat climate change and its impact, conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources, and sustainably manage our land usage and prevent land degradation.

He indicated that Styrofoam causes adverse environmental and health effects in The Bahamas.

“Styrofoam is neither bio-degradable or recyclable here on the island, and places a burden on our health, the economy, and the environment,” he said.

Mr Pinder reported that Styrofoam and plastic bags were the most common items found along coastline and beaches during the annual Coastal Clean-

up initiative held last September.

“These items end up in the ocean where fish and turtle mistakenly consume them as food. And our visitors’ experience is also impacted by this and leaves a negative image of the island,” he said.

Mr Pinder also noted that the National Institute of Health classifies Styrofoam as a major carcinogen (cancer causing agent).

“When hot foods or drinks are put in Styrofoam containers, a chemical called styrene is released.

Styrene is used to make plastic and other resins, and is linked to various respiratory and cancer related illnesses,” he said.

Mr Pinder believes that it is important for Grand Bahama to start to change its behaviour towards Styrofoam use.

“We are not attacking any particular business or company, but we want to make a healthy decisions from a tourism perspective, and also because it impacts all of us,” he said.

Wayne Russell, president

of Bahamas Wholesale Agency, has committed to supplying biodegradable food containers/trays, which should be available on the island in the next two to three weeks.

However, he stressed that the containers cost more compared to Styrofoam trays.

“We import a lot of the foam trays that the food vendors and restaurants sell their products in. Currently, we go by what the market demands and that is what they are asking for. “(But) we have decided… to bring in the bio-degradable trays instead of the regular foam trays. So, we are taking a leap of faith here,” Mr Russell said.

He stressed that the only way to change the mindset towards Styrofoam is for the public to start demanding that restaurants and food vendors serve food in the biodegradable trays.

“Once the public can create the demand we will have the supply here on the island,” he said.

Mr Russell said the government has tried to assist

by allowing BWA to import the biodegradable trays duty free to help to narrow the gap in cost.

“We had looked into getting bio-degradable trays… because the foam stuff is horrible, but we did not have the demand for it,” he explained.

Olthea Gardiner, of the Keep Grand Bahama Clean Committee, said: “We are pleased to be here to support the MOT as well as the island’s distributors in this initiative of going green, and assisting with the removal of Styrofoam…because it is dangerous to our island.

“We hope that this campaign continues not only for 2017, but throughout our life span to create a mindset shift,” she said.

Mr Pinder said the STU has planned a number of events, in partnership with the KGBC and the Bahamas National Trust, to educate the public about the negative implications of Styrofoam on their health and the environment.

“We will also take to social media to get the words

out because it has to be an educational process. It is not a going to change overnight, and that why it is a yearlong campaign. We are hoping it will become a discussion at the government and legislative level to change this behaviour towards Styrofoam, which has been banned in some countries.”

Mr Pinder said the ban has been successful in the US, in cities such as California, San Francisco, and New York, and in some Caribbean countries, such as Guyana, and Haiti.

“If it can be a success in those countries, then we can have the same level of success and greater here in the Bahamas,” he said.

Some of the US cities that have banned Styrofoam are Seattle, Washington; Washington, DC; Miami Beach, FL; Freeport, Maine; Portland, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon (and several other Oregon cities); Los Angeles County and many other cities and counties in California.

SAFETY ASSESSMENT TO BE CARRIED OUT AROUND INDUSTRIAL PLANTS

FROM left, Jacob van der Schaaf, chemical engineer at Antea Group; Matthew Pronk, consultant Antea Group; Minister for Grand Bahama Dr Michael Darville; Undersecretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Harcourt Brown; Tammi Mitchell, deputy co-ordinator of Disaster Committee; and Leslie Dorsett, of the Ministry of Grand Bahama, at a press conference on Friday about the start of a safety assessment of the Pinder’s Point, Lewis Yard, and Hawksbill communities in relation to their proximity to the industrial park.

Photo: Lisa Davis/BIS

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

Memorial Service For MR. PAUL MICHAEL LORD, 69 a resident of Tenwich Street, off Mt Royal Avenue, will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017, 10:00 a.m., at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, West Street. Officiating will be Rev Fr Glen Nixon. Cremation was held.

He is survived by his: Mother: Ms. Dorothy Carey; Stepsons: Steve Monroe Kozlowski and Michael Wade Kozlowski; Brothers: Anthony J. Lord and Mark A. Lord; Sister: Theresa Lord-Long; Nephews: Jason, Terrence, Darrel, Damien, Marco and Bradley Lord, Kevin, Shaun, Justin Rolle and; Nieces: Krystal Lord-Taylor, Dishanna Lord-Green; Cousins: Andrea Shoaten, Dudley Capron, Charles Capron, George Capron; Brother-in-law: David Long; Special friend: Deandreh Mercedes; Close friends; Terrence (Battle) Williams, Rose Ferguson and the Falcons Band, and a host of other relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the Ranfurly Home for Children, c/o P.O. Box N1413, in memory of Mr. Paul Michael Lord.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Cedar Crest Funeral Home and Crematorium, Robinson and Baillou Hill Roads.

A SAFETY assessment of the Pinder’s Point, Lewis Yard, and Hawksbill communities surrounding the nearby industrial plants should be completed in the next ten to 13 weeks, according to Grand Bahama Minister Dr Michael Darville.

Consultants from the Antea Group, Matthew Pronk and Jacob van der Schaaf, were in Grand Bahama for a week conducting their preliminary investigations and meeting with the industrial companies in the Freeport Industrial Park and with residents in the area.

On Friday, Dr Darville said the safety assessment is in keeping with recommendations outlined in a Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO)/ World Health Organisation (WHO) report of an environmental health risk assessment study completed by the group in December 2015.

He said that the Antea Group, an independent private consultant firm in the Netherlands, came highly recommended. The assessment was initially set to commence in November but was postponed following the passage of Hurricane Matthew.

Dr Darville said that

Mr Pronk and Mr van der Schaaf conducted investigations, met with industrial leaders, residents and representatives from the Pinder’s Point Lewis Yard Environmental Committee.

“The second recommendation from the PAHO/ WHO report presented to us sometime last year has clearly indicated that a safety assessment is essential for us to complete studies in the Hawksbill, Pinder’s Point, and Lewis Yard areas,” he said.

The first of two recommendations was for environmental monitoring, which is already in place, with the installation of an E-nose system in the affected communities and the industrial sector.

“I want to thank the residents of PPLY and remind them that this study will conclude recommendations in a PAHO/WHO report,” he said.

“I wish to reassure residents that as an administration of the government we are committed to ensure we do all in our power to conduct the necessary scientific investigations, and to determine the safety and well-being of the people in that area.

“We would like to also thank the consultants. This is their first visit here and there will be other visits by them in mid-March and

a final visit in April, and we expect to have a report that will outline the safety parameters as it relates to residents in PPLY and the surrounding areas,” Dr Darville said.

Mr Pronk said the Antea Group has been in existence for 65 years, with colleagues from Belgium, France, the US, Columbia, and Brazil. Mr van der Schaaf, a chemical engineer, said they have visited Buckeye, PharmaChem, the Grand Bahama Power Generation Plant, Polymers International, Grand Bahama Shipyard, Bahama Rock, and the Freeport Container Port.

“We have collected enough information to make our calculations back in Holland to determine the impact distance, and what is relevant to take into further account. We spoke with residents (on Thursday) and they told us their interests, and we also visited the area last Tuesday to get an impression about the situation because we did not want to rely on written information, we wanted to see for ourselves,” he said.

The Antea Group is an international engineering and environmental consulting firm specialising in full-service solutions in the fields of environment, infrastructure, urban planning, and water.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 17

PAGE 18, Monday, February 20, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

A Greek treat

THE GREEK festival was held on Saturday and Sunday at the Greek Orthodox Church in Nassau. Attendees sampled Greek food, jewellery, clothing, books, and music just to name of few of the activities during the festival.

Photos: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff