02202023 NEWS AND SPORT

CRACKDOWN

PM: We cannot have shanty towns on our islands

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis pledged to take “decisive” action on shantytowns, saying prosecutions will be made where seen fit on the issue.

Mr Davis made his remarks during a national address last night during which he spoke about the issue of irregular migrants in the country and introduced “Operation Secure” to aid in tackling the unregulated communities.

The collaborative security operation is between the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal

Bahamas Defence Force and the Department of Immigration.

“The operation is focused on identifying irregular migrants, documented migrants, and Bahamians living in these communities, and addressing their status in a comprehensive and coordinated manner,” Mr Davis explained.

He noted the Supreme Court injunction - which had barred action on the removal of shanty townsthat was recently lifted.

He said for more than a year his administration was working to satisfy legal requirements - put in place by the Supreme Court - so it could take

ANOTHER MAN QUESTIONED AS PM FACES NEW THREAT

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

POLICE have a man in custody after he allegedly threatened on Saturday morning to kill Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis.

This comes nearly two weeks after a 58-year-old man was brought in for questioning for similar death threats against the nation’s leader.

According to police reports, around 8.20am on Saturday a man called Central Police Station and threatened to kill Mr Davis.

After this incident, a man was taken into police custody and had his cell phone confiscated for evidential

BRIDGEWATER FACES AXE OVER MISSING CLOSING FEES

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER PLP MP and Senator faces being disbarred from the Bahamian legal profession over “the most serious and egregious” conduct related to client monies that were to pay $116,300 in due taxes.

A four-person Bahamas Bar Association disciplinary tribunal, in a February 15 ruling, ordered that Pleasant Bridgewater “be struck from the roll” of practicing attorneys after she was unable to account for funds advanced to her by a client to cover closing costs for a real estate transaction.

PRINCE EDWARD AND WIFE TO VISIT BAHAMAS

THE BAHAMAS will pay host to a Royal visit this week.

Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex and Forfar, and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, will visit Nassau on Thursday and Friday.

During their visit, the Royal couple will take part in a Gold Award ceremony for the Governor General’s Youth Award (GGYA), formerly known as the Bahamas Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Prince Edward is also the chair of the Duke of

Edinburgh’s International Awards Foundation, which has funded five projects in The Bahamasand the Earl and Countess will visit three of those projects during their trip.

They will also meet volunteers and young people taking part in the GGYA.

Governor General Sir CA Smith and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis will also meet the couple during their stay.

PRIME Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis last night as he addressed the country focused on the elimination of shanty towns and will hold responsible landowners where these communities exist.

Photo: Captured from broadcast

COMPLETELY’

PRINCE Edward and his wife Sophie, Earl and Countess of Wessex

Iconic restauranteur and hotelier Myers passes at the age of 83

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

BUSINESSMAN, restauranteur, and tourism mogul George Myers died peacefully at his home on Thursday at the age of 83.

Mr Myers, a Jamaican, relocated to The Bahamas in 1963 where he later devoted his life to hospitality for over 40 years.

He began his career at the Nassau Beach Hotel moving through the ranks from bar manager to general manager and vice

president by 1967. He then became the president of Resorts International where he played a major role in the development of Paradise Island. As a major contributor to shaping the nation’s tourism industry, Mr Myers developed and founded the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board; The Paradise Island Tourism Development Association and was a primary force behind the Caribbean Travel marketplace. He also served as

president of The Caribbean Hotel Association and The Bahamas Hotel Association.

On Friday, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis offered condolences to Mr Myers’ family on behalf of the government.

“Mr Myers’ impact on the tourism industry cannot be overstated,” Mr Davis said in a statement.

“He played a major role in developing Paradise Island into one of the premier tourist destinations in our country. His dedication and hard work contributed significantly to the growth of our economy and his legacy will be felt for generations to come.”

Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham also paid tribute to Mr Myers.

He said: “I am saddened by the passing of legendary Jamaican-Bahamian tourism giant George Myers last evening. An adopted son of The Bahamas, we have lost a great Bahamian.

“George’s name is writ large in the annals of Bahamian tourism. There are few major developments in the sector including the redevelopment of the Nassau International Airport (now the Lynden Pindling International Airport) that have not benefitted from his insight and guidance, if not direct management since the early 1960s. In government, we benefitted considerably from his advice.

“He contributed mightily over his lifetime not only to the advancement of Bahamian tourism, but to the development and expansion of local entrepreneurship and the promotion of Bahamians to positions of leadership in the economy.

“It is wonderful that his many talents were recognised in the industry, the broader Bahamian

community and in the wider Caribbean where he has been justifiably lauded.

“George has been in declining health for some time. When I last visited with him in late January I found him still alert and very tuned into his surroundings and to developments in our country. He was also resigned then, that this time, he would not overcome his physical maladies.

“I will miss our friendship, our chats whether in person or by telephone.

“I extend my sincere condolences to George’s widow Linda and to all his family: Sarah, Mark, Michelle and Tina and their families and to his colleagues and friends around The Bahamas, Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. May he rest in peace.”

Mr Myers created the Myers Group of

Companies in 1992 and for over 30 years, he managed some of The Bahamas’ leading hotel properties under his resort management company.

Later, the Myers Group of Companies expanded to operate the world’s leading fast-food franchises in The Bahamas. These include KFC, Dunkin Donuts, Quizno’s, Burger King, and Pizza Hut along with Anthony’s Bar & Grill and Luciano’s restaurant.

In a press release on Friday, the Myers Group of Companies described him as someone who believed in people.

The statement read:

“George Myers believed in people and the power of a team as the key element to success.

“He inspired, taught, trained, guided, and gave opportunity to so many that have had the honour of working with him. He has developed and nurtured the careers of others and has left behind a devoted and loyal team to continue his vision.”

The businessman accomplished “huge success” throughout his life as he was awarded the Caribbean’s “Hotelier of The Year” by the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA); the “Hotelier of The Year” by the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA); the government’s “Silver Jubilee Award” in 1998 and “The Sir Clement Maynard Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2006.

He was most recently awarded the country’s highest honour, the “Order of The Bahamas” in 2022.

He is survived by his wife, Linda, stepdaughter, Sarah, sister-in-law, nephew and nieces, other loved ones, friends, and devoted colleagues.

YOUTH ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE

Lombard Odier Bahamas is pleased launch its inaugural youth environmental initiative geared towards helping students consider how today’s actions impact future generations. The initiative will target junior and high school students living in The Bahamas.

Submission Guidelines: In 250-500 words, applicants are asked to describe a specific program launched by a local, environmentally-focused organization or by the individual applicant and provide details on how the specific program is contributing to an environmentally sustainable future for The Bahamas.

Submission Deadline: Friday March 31st, 2023

Email responses to: NAS-Sustainability@lombardodier.com

Please include your name, age, grade, island and school in your submission.

Selection Process: A green ribbon panel including partners from Lombard Odier and other partner organizations will review submissions and select four (4) successful candidates.

Prizes:

Group 1: Grades 7-9th

1st place winner will receive a tablet or laptop and access to a summer program with a local environmental organization.

2nd place winner will receive a camera and access to a summer program with a local environmental organization.

Group 2: Grades 10-12th

1st place winner will receive a 4-week paid summer internship with a local organization focused on environmental sustainability in The Bahamas.

2nd place winner will receive a 2- week paid summer internship with a local organization focused on environmental sustainability in The Bahamas.

ENTREPRENEUR and hotelier George Myers, who is known for his contributions in the hospitality industry in The Bahamas managng hotel and restaurant franchises, has passed away at 83.

PM: We cannot have shanty towns on our islands

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more “aggressive” action on shantytowns. He said intelligence gathered during this period has shown these communities are expanding.

“We cannot have shanty towns on our islands: they are unsafe, a hazard to public health, they are against the law, and they directly impact our way of life,” Mr Davis added.

This comes after Mr Davis suggested on Friday that the government will not immediately move to demolish shantytowns in the country despite the recent lifting of a shantytown injunction, saying it makes no sense “responding to a crisis to create another crisis.”

However, last night Mr Davis said it is a priority that “decisive action” be taken, which is based on laws of “our land.”

He noted undocumented migrants will continue to be processed and repatriated, as he said this effort will expand in the coming days as well as weeks.

For this year, 1,024 persons have already been repatriated, according to the prime minister.

In terms of undocumented migrants living in unregulated communities, he said they will be required to relocate at their expense or their

employer’s expense, or face repatriation.

“And any Bahamian citizens found to be living in these communities will be required to relocate,” he stressed.

The prime minister also said that those who play a role in aiding the expansion of shanty towns will face prosecution. He added: “Through Operation Secure, we will prevent the exploitation and abuse of migrants by unscrupulous landowners

and businesses, holding accountable those with a reckless disregard for our laws. Operation Secure targets those entering our borders illegally, as well as any Bahamian citizen or legal resident who is breaking our laws.”

Mr Davis said people who are unlawfully leasing land, engaged in human smuggling, or employing migrants illegally will be prosecuted.

“If you are a Crown land holder who is

unlawfully leasing land, you will be prosecuted,” he said.

“If you are engaged in human smuggling, you will be prosecuted. And if you are employing migrants illegally, you will be prosecuted.

“We will have a zerotolerance policy for anyone seeking to break or circumvent the laws of The Bahamas.”

Additionally, consideration is being given for the construction of a

new detention centre in Inagua. Mr Davis added that efforts are being made to strengthen Operation Secure and recruit more immigration officers.

The new centre would allow migrants who are detained anywhere in The Bahamas to be repatriated without the need to travel to New Providence.

Mr Davis also mentioned the Royal Bahamas Defence Force’s ongoing efforts as well.

He said: “The Royal

Bahamas Defence Force is completing the final phase of the Sandy Bottom Project. This multi-administration initiative is the largest capital investment project ever initiated by the government of The Bahamas to expand the Defence Force’s fleet. The additional ships have enhanced the defence force’s capabilities to carry out its mandate to secure our territorial waters.

“As we place the issue of undocumented migrants at the top of our agenda, we have been adding the necessary manpower in agencies like the Department of Immigration and the defence force to support these activities.

“The addition of a second detention centre and the introduction of additional ships demands more officers. Likewise, our recruitment efforts are supported by the provision of new equipment, machinery, vessels, and supplies needed to empower our officers to effectively execute their duties,” he added.

Mr Davis pledged to conduct action “swiftly” and “humanely”, noting there will be accountability to the Bahamian people on this commitment.

He stressed the government does recognise the need for action to be taken on immigration.

PM: NO IMMEDIATE MOVE TO DEMOLISH SHANTY TOWNS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis suggested on Friday that the government will not immediately move to demolish shanty towns despite the recent lifting of a court injunction, saying it makes no sense “responding to a crisis to create another crisis”.

The other potential crisis to which he referred was the likelihood of thousands of people being displaced and left homeless after the tearing down of their homes.

Mr Davis said the government must have a comprehensive plan to deal with the problem of shanty towns before taking action and added that much “thought” was being given by his administration as to the way forward.

“Shanty towns (are) a challenge and a problem in this country, and we do propose to deal with it, but cannot deal with it by addressing one problem to create another problem,” he said during a press conference to mark the end of the CARICOM meetings in The Bahamas on Friday.

“If we move as quickly as some would wish to take down the shanty towns and destroy them —people are living in these buildings and in the shanty towns so taking down the shanty towns could create the problem of leaving

hundreds or thousands of persons homeless and then what we create is another crisis.

“So, it’s no sense responding to a crisis to create another crisis. So, thought has been given as to how best we deal with the shanty towns which is ongoing, and we will, and we are only influenced by the fact that we need to have a response.

“We need to deal with it and that will influence our actions going forward,” he also said.

Mr Davis, who is CARICOM chairman, made the comments when asked how

ANOTHER MAN QUESTIONED AS PM FACES NEW THREAT

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purposes, police said. He is assisting police with their investigation.

This marks the second time this month that the Prime Minister received threats from alarming phone calls. On February 3, the Office of the Prime Minister received two anonymous death threats over the phone in the span of 15 minutes.

Since then a 58-year-old suspect was taken in for questioning about the alleged threats. This resulted in the Prime Minister having extra security measures taken to protect him.

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander did not rule out earlier as to whether the prior incident might have had any

connection to an earlier protest outside Parliament led by Lincoln Bain. There a protester was heard threatening to kill Mr Davis.

At a press conference following that incident, Commissioner Fernander highlighted the serious nature of such offences against the nation’s leader. He also called on Bahamians not to escalate things to that point.

“We, as Bahamians, it shouldn’t happen. When you’re talking about threatening the nation’s leader and we as Bahamians, how we got to this level in threatening individuals and you can go beyond the prime minister and individuals and we take this very seriously,” Commissioner Fernander said.

CARICOM’s plans to assist Haiti as it battles mounting economic and political turmoil there would affect local efforts to deal with shanty towns. An injunction protecting shanty towns in New Providence and parts of Abaco was granted in 2018, but was extended to all of Abaco in 2021 after the Minnis administration began demolishing newly built illegal structures on the island following the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

However, that injunction was lifted this month

after Justice Cheryl GrantThompson ruled that the Minnis administration’s shanty town eradication policy was lawful, and that demolition of those properties and evictions of residents can now resume.

On Friday, Mr Davis told reporters that the injunction’s removal “was to enable the government to have as many options” as it could to deal with this issue, though he did not go into detail as to what those other options can include.

However, when asked over a week ago about the implications of the ruling

Mr Davis said: “What it means is it now allows us to employ the process to correct those issues within the shanty town. There’s a process for removal of any erection of buildings we intend to engage in those and then deal with those issues that impact us in respect to that issue.”

Bahamians have long complained about the issue of shanty towns which have grown in size and numbers over the years due to government’s failure to address it.

The islands of Abaco, North Andros and

Eleuthera in particular have been dealing with an increasing number of unregulated communities springing up.

In New Providence, the issue has sparked several protests by a local activist group that believes the country is dealing with an “immigration crisis.”

However, Prime Minister Davis has repeatedly defended his government’s plan to tackle illegal immigration, arguing that officials were doing the best they can.

PRIME Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis last night addressed the country on a live broadcast in which he advised that the government would take ‘decisive’ action to deal with shanty towns and those responsible for the properties they exist on. Pictured left to right: Police commisioner Calyton Fernander, Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe, Prime Minister Davis, Defence Commodore Raymond King, and Minister of Immigration and Labour Keith Bell.

Photo: Captured from broadcast

PICTURED above, homes located at the Joe Farrington Road shanty town. Prime Minister Phili ‘Brave’ Davis said Friday that the government would not move immediately to demolish shanty towns, saying it makes no sense ‘responding to a crisis to create another crisis.’ He said te government must have a comprehensive plan before taking actions against shanty towns.

Photo: Moise Amisial

CARICOM makes decision to provide support for Haition National Police

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

AFTER days of highlevel meetings mainly centred on the crisis in Haiti, member states of CARICOM have agreed to provide direct support to the Haitian National Police (HNP) to help restore peace to the crisistorn nation, CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister Phillip Davis revealed Friday.

He said during a news conference, which marked the end of the three-day CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting, that the path towards bringing stability to Haiti did not include placing boots on the ground, but rather “building up the security mechanism that is in place”.

“That is the Haitian police,” Prime Minister Davis added. “Working and resourcing them as best we can and for example, ensuring that food is provided to them and that they are paid and at the same time expanding for the force to be able to ensure that they have the capacity to deal with the issues that are there.

“So, we are not there yet with boots on the ground.”

He also expressed optimism that international sanctions levied at some of Haitian elites that have supported gang activity, thus fueling unrest there, will help CARICOM achieve their goal to bring peace to the troubled nation.

The crisis in Haiti was a topic that dominated discussion at the CARICOM meetings that attracted regional and world leaders to The Bahamas, which hosted the event between February 15 -17.

At the meeting’s opening on Wednesday, Mr Davis said The Bahamas was under great strain because of the worsening crisis in Haiti, which he said needs urgent attention.

He also noted that other countries were also being heavily affected and told reporters Friday that within three weeks, Haiti will see “the results of the efforts of CARICOM.” This comes amid increased illegal migration activity from Haiti, with many leaving the troubled nation to flee deepening poverty and increasing violence.

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed Canada to sending navy vessels to conduct surveillance, gather intelligence and maintain a maritime presence off the Haitian coast in the coming weeks.

However, there have been no promises made by international parties to deploy troops to Haiti, despite requests made by Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry in October.

This follows reports of mass exits of Haitian officers from the police force there.

Many of them have reportedly been left angered by the killings of their colleagues by armed gang members and even took to the streets last month to protest the government that they blamed for not taking action.

When asked how CARICOM planned to strengthen the HNP in view of recent issues and the fact that many were seeking to move abroad for better opportunities, Prime Minister Davis said the body was hopeful that once officers were supported, they would remain in Haiti to enforce security.

“It is counterproductive to be encouraging police officers to abandon their station as it were, for the bright lights of Miami,” he said.

“This is a matter that was brought to our attention during the course of these discussions and in fact, we were told at least 600 or more have already left.

“Again, we cannot just allow what is going on to stop us from inaction and there’s still a belief that there are a number of Haitians who are prepared to put themselves to work towards having a peaceful country to return it to normalcy.

“And we are encouraged that there are a number of Haitians, once they know that they will be properly supported, properly resourced, they will come to the fore to assist.”

As it relates to humanitarian assistance in Haiti, Mr Davis said it was a matter that was being addressed by CARICOM and should be dealt with in a matter of weeks.

A major challenge, he added, was the hijacking of food and other essential supplies by Haitian gang

members.

“We are advised that the gangs control the points of entry to be able to get food and other supplies and medicine to the population,” he also said.”There is an urgency to the matter and that’s why I would’ve said within weeks, I don’t want to give the time stamp, but within weeks I daresay that within the next three weeks, you would see the results of the efforts of CARICOM.”

Mr Davis said talks surrounding Haiti were also held with US counterparts, but he refused to disclose the outcome of those discussions.

“I will say no more about it , but again we have been talking about it. CARICOM believes this is the time for action and not just talk, but I’ll leave it at that for the moment, but they have committed themselves to support the efforts that we have and at the moment, we are now crafting a plan,” he continued.

“We will indicate to them what that plan is and we will look to them for the support that they have promised and committed to.”

ZELENSKYY: ‘RUSSIA’S DOMINATION MEANS NO HUMAN RIGHTS BUT THE RULE OF MILITARISED GANGS’

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister and Chairman of CARICOM

Phillip “Brave” Davis on Friday condemned Russia’s violent attacks against Ukraine as he applauded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his “dignity” and steely determination throughout the war.

President Zelenskyy addressed CARICOM delegates on Friday by video when he explained the ongoing battle with Russia, which has left a trail of devastation in Ukraine.

Russia is not just burning down cities, killing people, and stealing property. It is also destroying the environment, Mr Zelenskyy said.

The president added: “Its aggression brings about destruction and flooding of coal mines. Mines and hostilities in the Black Sea resulted in the death of tens of thousands of living creatures.”

His comments came during the last day of CARICOM meetings in The Bahamas.

On February 24, 2022 the Russian attacks on Ukraine started in such major cities as Berdyansk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, and the capital, Kyiv.

Mr Zelenskyy noted that currently 18 percent of Ukraine territory was reportedly occupied by Russia, adding no normal life is possible when human life has become worthless due to the violence.

Russia’s domination means no human rights but the rule of militarised gangs. When Russia comes, it means that repressions and murder come. If the Russian flag appears, it means

that torture chambers and total looting will appear,” he said.

During his remarks, Mr Zelenskyy stressed that if Russia is successful in any way the balance in the world will change in the favour of violence.

“I know that Russian propaganda – and in your region in particular – draws a completely different picture of what is happening on our land and in Europe. But

I warn you that if Russia, God forbid, is successful in any way, the balance in the world will change. Not in favour of law, but in favour of violence,” the president said.

He added that the law must always prevail, adding every state in the world should have the right to its independence and the respect of all others for this independence. For his part, Mr Davis

commended Mr Zelenskyy for his “dignity” and efforts despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Mr Davis on behalf of the Caribbean Community pledged his solidarity with the Ukraine people in their ongoing fight for liberation.

“We have watched in admiration as you and your people have defended yourselves against formidable odds, and with

unimaginable bravery. And even as we have watched in horror, the bombs and missiles attacking your towns and villages, we have marvelled at your dignity and steely determination.

“We condemn the actions taken by Russia in violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And we stand firmly with you and the international community in seeking a just and secure diplomatic solution to this terrible crisis,” Mr Davis said.

Mr Davis also acknowledged the historical challenges the Caribbean region has also shouldered.

Mr Davis continued:

“Most of us in the Caribbean region are descended from peoples who were once brutally enslaved. And many of our nations are born out of the ashes of social colonial struggles, fully committed to realising the vision of Independence and the right to self-determination.

“We wish for you now, what we wish for ourselves the right to live freely and peaceably. Alongside neighbours with whom we may or may not agree amongst family and friends, and all those whom we love. Protected by the rule of law and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.”

PRIME Minister Phili ‘Brave’ Davis said during a news conference that member states of CARICOm have agreed to assist the Haitian National Police.

Photo: Austin Fernander

PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed CARICOM delegates on Friday by video when he explained the ongoing battle with Russia, which has left a trail of devastation in Ukraine. Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis on behalf of the Caribbean Community pledged his solidarity with the Ukraine people in their ongoing fight for liberation.

Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP

Marion Bethel elected vicechairperson of UN’s CEDAW

BAHAMIAN human rights expert and attorney Marion Bethel was elected to the position of vice-chairperson and rapporteur of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee).

In June 2016, she became the first Bahamian to be elected to a UN human rights treaty body.

The current election, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland on February 6, marks another milestone for the global leadership of Bahamian women and further exemplifies Ms Bethel’s lifelong commitment to advancing the rights of women in The Bahamas, the Caribbean and around the world.

Now a senior member of the influential committee, Ms Bethel’s election demonstrates her colleagues’ confidence in her exceptional service, a press release noted. Her term ends in December 2024.

“I am absolutely privileged to serve on the Bureau of the CEDAW Committee as vice-chairperson and rapporteur with my other colleagues. I intend to do everything

within my power to protect, advance and fulfil the human rights of women and girls, paying particular attention to vulnerable and marginalised women and girls who live at the intersections of social class, race, ethnic and sexual orientation,” Ms Bethel said in a press release. “These include women

with disabilities, ethnic minority women, elderly women, women living in poverty, sex workers, lesbian, bisexual, transgender women and refugee women who all face discrimination.”

Her election is timely for another reason, being the first Bahamian and the 11th recipient of the prestigious

CARICOM Triennial Award for Women in 2014.

Last week, another distinguished Bahamian woman, Dame Janet Bostwick, was formally presented with the same award during the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in The Bahamas. Dame Janet was the 2021 recipient of the CARICOM Triennial Award for Women. She was also the minister of foreign affairs and attorney general when The Bahamas ratified the CEDAW Convention in October 1993. Dame Janet’s leadership in championing The Bahamas’ ratification of CEDAW paved the way for Ms Bethel’s participation as an elected member of the Committee.

As rapporteur, Ms Bethel is responsible for reviewing minutes of the bureau meetings at every session and reporting on the proceedings of the CEDAW sessions at its public closing ceremonies. The committee has 23 members elected by CEDAW state parties.

“My colleagues are all talented and accomplished persons (22 women and one man) who are absolutely committed to the advancement of women’s human rights. Our chairperson, in particular, is a fierce

advocate and inspiring

leader who demonstrates empathy and positivity in all areas of our work and we are fortunate to have her at the helm. She is a sight impaired woman whose appointment is historic for the inclusion of women with disabilities. I am excited about the next two years serving as vicechairperson and rapporteur and look forward to giving it my all,” said Ms Bethel.

Over the past six years on the CEDAW Committee, Ms Bethel has served as chair of the working group on inquiries in the committee (2019-20). The inquiry procedure empowers the committee to make a site visit to a country and investigate grave or systematic violations by a state party of any of the rights contained in the convention. She also served as a member of the working group on communications (2021-2022) under the CEDAW optional protocol. This committee sits as a quasi-judicial body to consider the complaints of individual women whose rights may have been violated by the state party and the committee may even recommend payment of compensation. Ms Bethel has had carriage of

two of these cases. She is also actively engaged on the committee in working on the issues of women’s economic empowerment, gender-based violence against women, gender stereotyping, women in leadership and decisionmaking positions and women, peace and security.

CEDAW is the only international human rights treaty that focuses explicitly on the rights of women. In countries that have ratified the treaty, CEDAW has proved invaluable in challenging and transforming the effects of discrimination, which include gender-based violence against women and girls, the feminisation of poverty, the lack of nationality rights to transfer citizenship to children and lack of constitutional and legal protections, child marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking in women and girls, the gender wage gap along with the low representation of women in governance and decision-making positions, denial of inheritance, property rights, access to credit and land and sexual and reproductive health rights.

TCI PRESIDENT LAUDS OPPORTUNITIES AS HE INVITES CITIZENS TO RETURN

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter Dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

TURKS and Caicos

Island Premier Charles Washington Misick spoke about job opportunities and over $1bn worth of investments in the pipeline in the nation during an official visit to Grand Bahama on Saturday.

Many people with links to Turks and Caicos packed the Grand Lucayan’s convention centre to meet and hear from Premier Misick who encouraged and welcomed them to return home to help develop the British overseas territory and to increase the voting franchise there.

He also announced that Grand Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey has been selected to lead the Turks & Caicos diaspora in Grand Bahama.

Canon Curtis Robinson, who has been involved in the Anglican diocese for 40 years and resides in Grand Bahama, has been appointed to assist with governmental services. He noted that similar efforts are also being done in New Providence, where they have already appointed Andrea Renea Mills to lead the Turks and Caicos diaspora in New Providence.

Premier Misick said plans are also underway for the establishment of a diaspora registry, as well as the opening of offices both in Grand Bahama and New Providence to establish a physical presence in The Bahamas.

“Right now, TCI is a country that is growing, probably the fastest small

economy in the region,” he said.

Mr Misick also revealed that there are over 400 vacancies in TCI’s public service.

“TCI is growing, however TCI islanders are outnumbered by people from all over the world, the Caribbean, and by our neighbours south of us. And so, we are facing an existential marginalisation of our franchise.

“It is critical that... I want to call it ‘the decade of the return’. I know some of you have deep roots here (in The Bahamas), but I also know there are a lot of bright, young people in The Bahamas of TCI offspring.

“We are starting up an office in Nassau, and we are doing the same thing in GB. We are developing a diaspora register that will be online so the diaspora from anywhere in the world will be able to register themselves, say what their skills are, what their interest is. We have 400 job vacancies and over a billion dollars of work in the private sector, and our main industry is tourism. And for every new hotel, one room requires three employees,” he said.

Premier Misick also admitted that it is not all rosy, explaining that there are “serious” challenges on the island in terms of housing.

“One of the biggest challenges we have is housing, which is extremely expensive in TC, particularly in Providenciales,” he stated.

He indicated that they are going to need to build 600 houses a year for the next 10 years at least.

“So, those of you who are in the development,

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construction, and financing areas, we are not only asking you to come and look for jobs, but we also have investment opportunities, and the government has incentive programmes to make it easy for you to engage in business in TCI,” he said.

Mr Misick added: “We want, whether you decide to stay here or move to TCI, to know we are family, and it is important that you know that we have your interest at heart, and you are welcome back home if you want to make that journey back home.”

The diaspora offices in Grand Bahama and Nassau will be able to assist with several things.

“Some of you left a long time ago. You left bank accounts, property, and lost birth certificates. So, what this office will do is put you in touch with the government to liaise with the government of TCI to help you process records, including your status,” he explained.

According to Mr Misick, TCI’s immigration laws allow for the grandchildren of citizens to also qualify for status.

Premier Misick said there are some who are not keen on his idea of welcoming the return of the diaspora to TCI.

“Even as we speak, not everyone in TCI shares my idea of extending a hand of welcome to the diaspora. There are those who feel you are coming to take their jobs rather than seeing you as family to assist in building the TCI, and ensuring we continue to control the voting franchise,” he said.

MARION BETHEL, human rights expert and attorney, was elected as vice-chair person of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on February 6 in Geneva, Switzerland.

ABOVE: Turks and Caicos Premier Charles Missick speaks to guests at a reception where he spoke of upcoming opportunites available and exhorted citizens to return home. BELOW: Misick is seen arriving with Minister for Grand Bahama, Giger Moxey and his wife Delthia Misick (right).

Photos: Vandyke Hepburn

The Tribune Limited

Don’t avenge our self-harm on Haitians

A hard line on migration from govt

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave”

Davis set a hard line in his national address on the issue of migration.

After the recent lifting of an injunction by the Supreme Court preventing the demolition of shanty towns, his national address laid out what he is calling “Operation Secure”.

This is an operation involving the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Department of Immigration.

First of all, let’s look at a few of the major points.

The security operation will seek to identify the status of people living in communities described as “unlawful”.

That will include migrants whether they have documentation or not, as well as Bahamians living there.

We know from previous surveys conducted by the government in shanty towns that around 80 percent of people living there had a right to be in The Bahamas – whether because they are Bahamian or through some form of documentation, be it work permit, spousal permit, and so on.

Those leasing or occupying government-owned Crown land and providing unlawful accommodation will be held criminally liable under the plan – and face having government permission to occupy revoked.

Anyone detained during this operation will be held at a detention centre that will be constructed in Inagua. Note the future tense there, will be – which either suggests a rapid construction or perhaps the timeline for this operation.

There will also be extra recruitment for both Immigration and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, as well as new ships for the RBDF fleet. For migrants without documentation, they will be charged at court and, if found guilty, deported.

Migrants with documentation living in “unlawful” communities who are found to be in breach of their work permits will be required to relocate “at their employer’s expense” or face having their permit revoked and be deported. Bahamians in such communities will be “required to relocate”.

There are obviously many questions to be asked about this new plan. For example, what access to legal representation will there be for detainees in Inagua. We have seen in the past cases where people with a right to be in this

country have been detained unlawfully – and a repetition of any such miscarriages of justice should be unwelcome for us all. Access to legal advice to avoid such a situation should be crucial.

The liability for employers to pay for the relocation of work permit holders is also an area likely to cause some debate – including to what extent employers can or cannot dictate where their staff members reside.

Some of this policy will take effect in the short-term, some in the longterm. Ships don’t get built overnight. A detention centre doesn’t get built overnight. Recruits for Immigration and the Defence Force need time to be trained.

There is a price tag to go with this too – although Financial Secretary Simon Wilson is sounding a warning bell that migration could “throw our Budget off completely” because of the costs involved.

Mr Wilson said every 100 migrants has a cost of an extra $500,000 in costs. However, even on those figures, the 4,748 migrants repatriated last year to both Haiti and Cuba would have cost $23.5m. We would, of course, rather have that money to invest elsewhere, but it is hard to see that throwing the Budget off completely unless zero cost was expected with regard to migration. Some cost was always going to be incurred, as is the case around the world.

The government has also said it is resisting calls by the United Nations to stop repatriation flights, so the cost of the flights seems something of a distraction.

Then there are other questions – such as for those who have a legal right to be in this country whether there is enough accommodation for them to be housed.

The address marks a significant shift overall in the stance of the government – but there are parts of the bigger picture that remain to be filled in.

If we sweep away every shanty town building, where do those people live? If 80 percent of those people have a right to be in The Bahamas, is there adequate housing for them?

When we talk of there being no easy solution to migration issues, it is because these questions are wrapped up in the heart of it – and that’s before we even get to preventing further arrivals.

Do we want unsafe shanty towns?

Not at all. Do we have an alternative in place? There lies the challenge.

EDITOR, The Tribune, BEFORE I was ten, I was all heated up about the Haitian migration issue.

I recall idolising Loftus Roker like the political equivalent of a marvel superhero. For this I partly blame Eddie Minnis, whose brilliant “Pot Luck” political cartoon humorously depicted the then-Minister of Immigration as a caped crusader against the alien waves from the south.

Clearly the ability to appreciate political satire sets in at some point after age ten.

Flash forward to today, and a ten-year-old me would probably have joined Lincoln Bain and crew hounding poor Haitians in their humble dwellings and being a general nuisance to those charged with public order. But I grew up instead.

And while I continue to regard Loftus Roker as one of the most impressive politicians of his impressive generation, the country has changed and grown up, too - to the point that the issue of immigration is now far too complex to treat with the nationalist reflexes of a newborn country.

In the 1970s, the immigration issue was (though emotive) easy for many to ignore, since so many other things in the country were headed in the right direction for the majority of Bahamians.

‘Bahamianisation’ initiatives (like the phased replacement of once-dominant foreign professionals by their Bahamian understudies), expanded educational opportunities and the advent of National Insurance all helped to grow the middle class and to lift even the poorest to a standard of social protection theretofore unknown.

Today, the conditions for uncontrolled immigration remain. But unlike in the 1970’s, we have now had 30-plus years of backward economic policies that have stalled the growth of the Bahamian middle class and widened the once-narrowing income gap.

These days, politicians create new taxes (like VAT) on the poor and middle while giving foreign millionaires deep cuts on property taxes and granting them permanent residency for the privilege of having them hog up our best real estate; they stubbornly maintain a tax system that makes the poor and middle pay most of the tax burden, then spend poor people’s money resisting attempts by international “bullies” to make rich people and corporations share the burden; and they grovel before every

Tom, Dick and Sam who comes here promising the world – all while spending a smaller portion of GDP on the local population than any other country in the Caribbean region.

So although we actually need migrants as much as ever, today it is easier to stir resentment against them, precisely because they are now literally bucking heads with an increasingly marginalized Bahamian majority, disserved for years by regressive and idiotic policies presented as ‘responsible’ governance by politicians who simply don’t know any better.

None of this is to say we should accept shantytowns, illegal sloop arrivals or other law-breaking from Haitian migrants. We should not. Instead we should rationally control and regulate migration in a manner that benefits us all. These, too, are simple political choices.

But if we are serious and have any sense of balance and priority about us, then the blatantly harmful economic policies of our recent history (freely implemented by leaders who were freely elected by us) need to be faced down and reversed before we go hunting for imaginary villains on sloops and in shantytowns.

ANDREW ALLEN Nassau, February 19, 2023.

Let us pray

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A FORMER Barbados and International fast bowler (Cricketer) Pastor Courtney Selman, now radio Evangelist, believes that he was Divinely called to “make this clarion call globally in order to make our world a better one.” He thinks, “this can be achieved by calling the 2.2 billion Christians and 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide to regular corporate daily prayer. He believes, with the appalling moral state of the world presently, prayer is needed now more than ever. Pastor Selman opined “that during the Old and New Testament times prayers were a daily diet.” He said, “recorded in the book of Daniel, chapter 9 verse 21 and 2nd Kings chapter 16 verse 15 respectively, in the Old Testament era, the hours of prayer were known as the hours of “Oblation or Sacrifice.” The scripture records that Daniel prayed three times a day and I wish to respectfully suggest that his prayers were divinely instructed and were also mentioned and adhered to in the New Testament.

Pastor Selman thinks that prayer is an essential exercise to an experiential relationship, between mankind and God. At one point God said, “His church, meaning the people, or the Ecclesia, “shall be called a House of Prayer.”

Biblical scholars believe that there are specific hours of the day, divinely ordained by God for prayer,

which this writer believes, are very beneficial to the Christian Spiritual way of living. The three biblical powerful hours for prayer are the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour – 9:00 AM, 12 Noon and 3 PM. Selman suggests that these hours were extremely necessary prayer disciplines. They were faithfully observed by the Old Testament patriarchs and matriarchs of God, the New Testament church, and by Jesus Christ himself.

Pastor Selman said, “the book of Acts, chapter 3 verse 1, records that the New Testament church attended church or the Temple at the hour of prayer. It says, “now Peter and John, went up together into the Temple at the HOUR OF PRAYER, BEING THE 9TH HOUR” it was not a random time, but they did so, at the time for prayer.

The story of Peter and Cornelius also mentions Cornelius praying at the ninth hour, and Peter praying on the housetop at the ninth hour.

He said, “other religions, such as the Mohammedans or Muslims, pray faithfully five times a day, whether they are in a plane, an office building, the subway, the bus, a restaurant, or even on the street. Similarly, the Jews, also pray three times a day in given circumstances. Sadly, the Christian community are not that committed or diligent and have not immersed ourselves in this life changing act of daily

prayer practice. We as Christians have no standardized prayer system. To really say the truth, Christians have been given a divine prayer system by God, but we have woefully neglected the divine call, and are now paying the price. I wish to say, Pastor said, “that praying is productive, praying at any time, but when it is done at a divinely given time, we achieve more, and get more rewards.”

Pastor Selman said, “praying regularly enables a person to build their relationship with God, and can exponentially change the landscape of our homes, our schools, our communities, the church and indeed make the world better.”

He is therefore, prayerfully calling church leaders, heads of religious churches, preachers, Gospel TV and radio stations around the globe and especially the Christian population to corporately give their blessings and support to prayer at 9:00AM, 12:00 NOON, and 3:00 PM and of course other times of your choosing during the day. I appeal to Christians globally to set their cell phone to alarm on March 4th, the day that this initiative will officially start, as a reminder to pray. If we heed to this Clarion and Divine call, we will, together make this world a better place to live.

CHILDREN taking part in the Grand Bahama Junior Junkanoo last week. Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

LATEST SHOOTING TAKES LIFE OF A FATHER

A 51-YEAR-OLD father was shot dead at Kenilworth Avenue, South Beach on Sunday.

While the victim was not identified by police, a close relative named him as Uckel Bain.

According to police, sometime around 1.30am, a family member was alerted to the sounds of gunshots. Upon making checks outside of the residence, the victim was found lying on the front porch suffering from gunshot injuries.

It was reported that occupants of a white van were seen speeding away from the scene after the victim was discovered. The victim was taken to hospital in a private vehicle, but he later died.

A relative lamented that the deceased’s children now have to grow up without a father. This incident follows a series of murders.

On February 10, a man believed to be a Dominican

national, was shot dead as he got into his vehicle.

Police press liaison officer Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings said that shortly after 8am police were notified of a shooting at West Bay Street and Eton Avenue. The victim is believed to live in the area and is in his mid-20s.

In a second incident on February 10, a 27-year-old man known to police was killed following a shooting incident in the Pinewood Gardens area.

Shortly before 9pm, police were alerted to gunshots being discharged via police ShotSpotter technology, according to

initial police reports. A man known to police was “sitting outside a residence on Wild Guava Street when a dark coloured Nissan March pulled up in the front of the home,” said police. “It is reported that a male exited the vehicle, fired gunshots in the direction of the victim, which resulted in the victim being shot multiple times.”

The Wild Guava Street resident died of his injuries while being taken to hospital in a private vehicle.

On February 12, police also reported that a man died after having been attacked and stabbed on Monday, February 6.

ARMED ROBBERIES REPORTED AT ATM LOCATIONS

POLICE are investigating three armed robberies that occurred in New Providence on Wednesday - two of them taking place near ATMs. In the first incident, a man robbed another man of his dark coloured Toyota Corolla, licence plate #AS8974. Preliminary reports revealed that sometime around 8pm the victim left his daughter in the vehicle while using the ATM machine in the area of John F Kennedy Drive. Police were told that the suspect, dressed in dark clothing and wearing a mask, got into the car, pulled out a gun and ordered the female in the car to be quiet.

She then got out of the car, and ran for safety as the suspect fled in the vehicle travelling in an easterly direction on JFK Drive. Quick action by police resulted in the vehicle being recovered a short time later in the area of Rock Crusher. Then sometime around 8.55pm, a woman who was using the ATM machine in the area of Poinciana Avenue was robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash by two gunmen. The suspects fled the scene. In the third incident, shortly after 9pm a man was robbed by an unknown male who he had met on Facebook after arranging to sell his cell phone.

Police said the victim met the thief in the area of Baillou Hill Road north and while conducting the transaction, the suspect produced a firearm and robbed the man of the cell phone before fleeing the area. Police have asked members of the public to use the services of the Royal Bahamas Police Force when conducting business transactions with people they don’t know. Anyone with information regarding these or any other matters is urged to contact the Criminal Investigations Department at 502-9991/2/3.

Lincoln Bain charged with unlawful assembly

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

POLITICAL hopeful Lincoln Bain was once again charged in court with unlawful assembly on Friday after protesting outside Baha Mar ahead of a CARICOM meeting on Wednesday.

This comes as Bain faces separate charges in the Magistrate’s Court for unlawful assembly in connection with his protest outside Parliament Square last October. That demonstration was held in response to the country’s “immigration crisis”.

Bain, 44, leader of the Coalition of Independents (COI) party, along with 17 other defendants appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans.

assembly and idle assembly. All, except for Bain, faced a further charge of disorderly behaviour.

Smith, Green, Knowles, Cartwright and Russell all faced further charges of resisting arrest from W/ ASP Cooper. Knowles, Cartwright and Russell were also charged with assaulting the same police officer. Griffin also faced a charge of assaulting Sgt 3417 Neely.

These charges all stem from the defendants’ arrest after an attempted demonstration outside the Baha Mar convention centre on February 15 as officials gathered ahead of the 44th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting. There it is alleged the accused disturbed the peace and acted in a tumultuous manner.

on the number of charges faced by the individual.

Under the conditions of this bail most defendants are expected to sign in at their respective local station every Saturday by 7pm.

However, due to Smith’s health issues, the completion of her bail hearing was delayed to February 20 as she was released into the custody of a family member.

During his bail consideration Bain, who is unvaccinated, and his lawyer Mr Johnson explained to the magistrate that Bain has to travel to the US frequently by boat for his sick child’s hospital treatment. It was said that the COI leader typically travels over the weekend and asked for an alternative sign-in condition.

The 18 defendants, in view of their respective lawyers Alex Dorsett, Elsworth Johnson and Maria Daxon, all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

One defendant, Smith, appeared visibly unwell in court and was allowed to sit down as her charges were read. Her lawyer Mr Johnson then told the magistrate that she had received injuries during her arrest.

On condition he bring proof of his dependent’s medical condition to court, Magistrate Vogt-Evans gave Bain a temporary bail order to only sign in at South Beach Station the last Tuesday of every month.

Knowles, Bethell, Cartwright, Griffin, Davis, Roache, Mitchell and Forbes have their trial set to start on May 4.

POLICE said a woman attempted suicide on Thursday following a domestic dispute at her home in New Providence.

Shortly after 1pm, police responded to reports that a woman had ingested a large

A “major failure” at a Water and Sewerage Corporation desalination plant on Eleuthera on Friday left residents in Rock Sound and Tarpum Bay without water.

In a press release, WSC said it had mobilised a

volume of over-the-counter medication in an attempt to commit suicide.

Emergency medical services were called and the woman is presently being monitored. An active police investigation is ongoing.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AFTER DOMESTIC DISPUTE ROCK SOUND WITHOUT WATER AFTER ‘MAJOR FAILURE’

team to distribute bottled water and water via tank to those who need it.

“Customers should further note that AquaDesign, the plant operators, have confirmed that they have senior technical personnel on site

Police also encouraged people who are depressed to speak with family members, friends, religious leaders, counsellors or contact the Crisis Centre at 328-0922.

assessing the fault and parts to correct the fault are on their way to the site,” the corporation said yesterday.

WSC was aiming to have normal water supply restored by last night.

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Bain, who entered the court to the sound of cheers echoing in the cellblock, was charged with Richard Armbrister, 34, Richard Cartwright, 61, Stephen Basden, 47, Lester Roache, 50, Sammy Davis, 59, Alten Duhaney, 56, Conroy Ingraham, 47, Devon Emmanuel, 26, George Griffin, 47, Travis Brodie, 33, Daniel Mitchell, 45, Christopher Forbes, 39, Crystal Smith, 30, Charlotte Green, 41, Symphony Knowles, 39, Rokia Russell, 28, and Veronica Bethell, 58.

All of the 18 defendants faced charges of unlawful

As there were no objections to bail from prosecutor ASP Lewis for any of the defendants it was granted to them at ranges of $2,000 to $4,000 depending

Then Duhaney, Armbrister, Smith, Green, Russell, Bodie, Emmanuel, Ingraham and Basden’s trial will begin on May 8. Bain alone faces trial on May 10.

THE SCENE of the shooting in Kenilworth Avenue.

Photo: Moise Amisial

Wait and see if CARICOM was a success

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

SO CARICOM came, and CARICOM went – and while there may have been some bumps at the outset, now that it’s all done, what was achieved?

First of all, those bumps – starting with the protest led by Lincoln Bain and his band of supporters. Mr Bain announced ahead of time there would be a protest, and I suspect he got the outcome he wanted.

Police seemed to play into his hands with the manner in which it was dealt with. He was arrested and promptly made claims that he was abducted – even though he has been charged already in court with unlawful assembly. He was not the only one charged – 17 others also faced court on Friday.

The incident also apparently saw a police officer snatch a phone from a Tribune reporter and threaten to arrest one of the newspaper’s photographer.

If the government was keen to ensure the spotlight remained on the Prime Minister’s opening speech, then this was not the way they would have hoped for the event to start.

But once under way, how significant was the conference for The Bahamas?

Such events are often underestimated by the public. Gatherings such as this are an opportunity to make progress face-to-face on projects that have long been in the works.

An example that might not make too many headlines are the efforts to reduce food import costs, with Agriculture Minister

Clay Sweeting able to meet the assistant director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Mario Lubetkin, to improve efforts in that regard.

Will that push us toward that goal? We shall see the outcome in the months ahead – but these events can be stepping stones toward

such targets. Already, the FAO is helping the ministry to qualify for $10m in funding. That might not go far, but it can certainly help.

The biggest changes though seemed to revolve around Haiti, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the forefront.

Extra sanctions were announced, and Mr Trudeau committed Canadian naval ships to assist the Haitian police.

Already, Canada has been flying surveillance planes over Haiti to get a better idea of gang presence in the nation, and the navy vessels will reportedly assist with surveillance.

He stressed, however, that those vessels will not be there to intercept migrants, but simply to assist with controlling gang activity.

There is a double edge to that, of course. Many migrants are on board boats being operated by gangs, taking money from migrants which then gets used to fund gang activity.

Canada has also provided extra equipment to the police, and increased its presence at its embassy in Haiti.

What Mr Trudeau did not commit to – or rule out –was troops on the ground.

That is the major point that has been asked for by Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry for months now, and the support offered so far falls short of that.

Perhaps that is still to come. Perhaps this meeting will have had discussions on that point that need to be resolved before an announcement – or perhaps not.

Last night, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis was to give a national address on the outcome of the meeting – but with regard to Haiti, he said that within weeks, “dare I say three weeks, we will see the results of the efforts of CARICOM”.

Also useful from the meeting was the opportunity for other voices to be

heard on the issue of migration – such as Amy Pope, the current deputy director general at the International Organisation for Migration.

There is often a political advantage to be gained from talking about migration – it’s no surprise that Lincoln Bain has been using the issue of migrants to bolster his support.

In all of that, it is sometimes useful to listen to more level-headed voices, those not seeking to gain from the issue. Mrs Pope pointed out the need for addressing migration on a broader basis.

After the recent ruling on shanty town demolitions, her comments are timely – pointing out the need to look at the big picture. Knock the houses down, where do the people go?

As she said, “what will keep them from living on the streets? What will keep them from becoming burdens to society or otherwise ensure that we’re respecting their human dignity?”

People don’t build shanty town properties because that’s what they want, they do so because that’s the only option available to them.

A significant number of shanty town residents are Bahamian or have legal status too – a survey in 2018 discovered that around 80 percent of residents have legal status. Where shanty towns are on private property, many of them are paying rent too.

In terms of power, the people living at such locations have next to none yet are the ones who have fingers pointed at them rather than those they pay money to who enable such situations.

So Mrs Pope will win few supporters for her comments, but she is entirely right when she says this needs to be an issue with multiple countries working together. Which brings us back to Haiti.

People flee Haiti for a better life. A job. A home. A future for their families. They come here because we offer those jobs, even if we don’t as a nation want to offer a home.

The situation in Haiti is a mess – and more people are continuing to flee from that mess. Some coming here, some heading for the US, some heading for Mexico before heading north.

I am under no illusions that even if we were to fix that mess, then migration would suddenly halt. Haiti was already experiencing problems with poverty – let alone the effects of earthquakes in the nation. Bringing stability back to the country will help, though – and should just be the first step in helping to build that nation. Mrs Pope essentially says we need to work with our neighbours – and what we should want is Haiti to be a strong neighbour, not the weak one it has been for too long now. Will CARICOM have done enough to start that process? Well, as Mr Davis says, let’s see in three weeks time.

PRIME Minister Phliip “Brave” Davis, above, in discussions during the CARICOM meeting and, left, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the event.

Photos: Austin Fernander

A WOMAN who did not want to give her name for fear of retaliation poses for a photo at a clinic near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, last month. The 36-year-old sent her two children to live with family in another part of the city after her husband was kidnapped and killed. Later, the men gang-raped her and forced her to flee her home.

End sexual violence against women for the sake of all mankind

RAPE, and other forms of sexual violence against women in war and conflict, represent one of the great silences and suppressed issues in modern-day history.

Yet, women remain the greatest victims of war and other forms of conflict in many parts of the world.

Recently, in Haiti, rape has become a weapon for members of the 200 gangs which now control 60 per cent of the Capital, Port-au-Prince. Women and girls are deliberately targeted for rapes, torture, kidnappings and killings. Tragic stories have emerged of schoolgirls being captured, gang raped and becoming pregnant; their lives stripped of dignity or choice.

In the war in Ukraine, rape is also used as a deliberate weapon of terror, or by soldiers taking advantage of their position to rape women in the absence of any deterrent. UN findings suggest thar the incidents of rape are underreported in Ukraine. Similarly, the number of rapes, reported in Haiti, are far less than accounts given by victims, who either have no means of making an official report or are too frightened to do so. Women have been a target of war wherever it has occurred. UN statistics show that, in Rwanda, up to 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 genocide, in acts known as ‘genocidal rape’; in Sierra Leone 60,000 women were raped during the civil war (1991-2002); in Liberia, 40,000 women were raped and mutilated (19892003); in Bosnia in Europe, 60,000 women were raped

World View

(1992-1995); in Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than 200,000 women were raped in a decade of conflict. None of this takes account of rapes that certainly occurred during conflicts in Central and South America.

Rape is prohibited, under the Rules of War, particularly the “Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949)”, and its 1977 protocol. However, this prohibition is not a deterrent, since the governments, that send their soldiers into war, have not made rape, committed during conflicts, a criminal offence. Indeed, as has happened in the war against Ukraine, Russia has described reports of rape as lies.

Wars and conflicts create refugees who are forced into camps with little protection from predators – in some cases, officials who manage the camps. In such vulnerable situations, women again become victims.

Unacceptable and wrongful as is rape of women in wars and their aftermath, it is in daily life that violence against women, including rape, is most despicable and inexcusable. The situation cries out for action to end it. UN figures paint a grim picture.

Globally, an estimated

736 million women — almost one in three — have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, or both at least once in their life. More than 640 million women aged 15 and older have been subjected to intimate partner violence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against women increased dramatically.

It is significant that, globally, violence against women disproportionately affects low- and lower-middle-income countries and regions. Thirty-seven per cent of women aged 15 to 49, living in “least developed” countries, have been subject to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lives. Globally 81,000 women and girls were killed in 2020, around 47,000 of them (58 per cent) died at the hands of an intimate partner or a family member. This latter figure equates to a woman or girl

being killed every 11 minutes in their home. In 58 per cent of all killings, perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members, the victim was a woman or girl. While these figures are deeply disturbing, the silent acceptance of the situation is worse, condemning all societies in which such tolerance prevails.

Against this background, an international coalition of 2,100 women’s rights advocates in 128 nations called “Every Woman”, is proposing the adoption of a global treaty to eradicate violence against women and girls. It is a treaty whose creation and adoption should be fully supported. The treaty will not cause violence against women to end overnight, but it will be a potent international instrument that would bind governments to take the necessary legislative, preventative and protective measures to save millions of women from the killings and violence that now exist. The urgency for a global treaty is driven by the fact that, although several conventions have been adopted globally, and legal frameworks have been established nationally,

violence against women has persisted. The existing frameworks have failed to deliver the strong measures that are clearly required.

In truth, many of the existing Conventions have serious gaps that have allowed governments to sidestep their responsibilities. And, even where Conventions have not been strong, some governments have not agreed to them.

The global treaty seeks to remedy the obvious weaknesses and gaps in existing Conventions.

The government of Costa Rica, which has an outstanding record in advocating for human rights, has already endorsed the concept of a Global Treaty, recognizing that much more has to be done to protect women from violence. Caribbean governments and civil society should not hesitate to join in the treaty’s promotion.

Even with the best will in the world, a global treaty cannot be negotiated, agreed and ratified with the swiftness it deserves. It could take years, by which time many more millions of women – mothers, daughters, sisters – will die or be seriously injured as victim of violence.

As the advocates of the treaty argue, “It’s time to come together to outpace the violence with a concrete, clear and actionable solution. Women and girls are waiting. They are asking that we do better”.

Women are restricted to contributing only 37 percent of global production even though they are 50 per cent of the world’s population. Yet, a McKinsey Global Institute report finds that, by advancing women’s equality, US$12 trillion could be added to global output by 2025. The global circulation of that money would make a huge difference to the economic wellbeing of all countries. Ending violence against women is in the interest of all mankind. • Responses and previous commentaries: www. sirroaldsanders.com

(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own)

Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP

Childhood amnesia; life moments forgotten but never truly gone

MOST human beings suffer from childhood amnesia. We don’t remember being born or learning to walk or speak.

The milestones that matter to our mothers –our first word, our first tooth, our first step, are parts of our early lives that we are completely oblivious to except through conversations of others and the occasional photo.

It’s easy to understand why. Without vocabu lary to describe or define what’s happening to us, how do we create a memory? That’s why it’s challenging to recol lect what our life was like before the age of seven and virtually impossible to remember anything before ages three or four. We easily recall how to walk but can’t remember learning to walk.

My earliest memories are of me play ing with my cousins but I struggle to think of what age I was at the time. My patient, who’s chosen the alias Bruce, was just four years old when he faced a life-threatening injury but he only knows about it because his parents shared the story with him in his teens. Today, I share his story with you. Bruce is the eldest of two children and when his younger brother was born, he loved to help his mother take care of him. While she was at home on maternity leave with her two boys, Bruce was instructed by his father to be a good boy and not cause any trouble for his mom.

Bruce’s father had good reason to be con cerned. Just a few weeks earlier, his wife, the mother of his new son, nearly died during child birth. Bruce’s father was concerned about leaving them alone while she was still recovering but he had to return to work.

The following day started off as just another Tuesday. Bruce’s mother, Martha, got up and made breakfast. She recalls the early part of the morning and afternoon being very quiet.

So, after she put her boys down for a nap, she also tried to sleep but with no one else at home, and despite her complete exhaustion, she couldn’t sleep soundly in case one

of her kids awoke. She jolted with every turn her baby

he later learned; Bruce watched as his mother struggled to make a bottle for his brother while

towels around his leg and called her husband before placing her two sons in the car and racing to the hospital.

During the car ride, Martha kept talking to Bruce, quietly crying and looking back to check his leg. She began to pray when she saw blood saturating the towel that now functioned as his makeshift life support. Her husband met her at the hospital and took Bruce while she took care of their youngest son. Doctors were immediately concerned. For reasons still unknown to his parents, they also opted not to give Bruce any anesthesia, preferring instead to suture him immediately.

Martha left her husband with Bruce because it literally broke her to watch her son be held down, screaming in pain, as a needle was used to tear through his skin and pull it back together. It was one of the most grueling hours of her life and she felt more fear then than she did when her blood pressure became critically low and she flat-lined during labour.

Bruce’s entire leg was bandaged and his parents were told to monitor him over the next few days for a fever. He was prescribed a children’s pain killer and antibiotics. He was brought back to the outpatient clinic every two days for a dressing change. By the end of the second week, his fevers had subsided and his sutures were removed. Fortunately, he recovered entirely without any lingering deficits in his limb function or gait.

While Bruce was blessed by youthful amnesia, his mother was not so fortunate. She recalls returning home the evening of the accident to what looked like a murder scene. This happened over fifteen years ago and to this day she refuses to have a glass table in her home.

Martha takes nothing for granted because what starts off as just another Tuesday, can quickly descend into a rip in the heart that’s harder to heal than the injury itself because it reminds us how fragile life is. The bandages may be off but the scar of knowing that no day and no hour is promised, remains.

made. She got up frequently to check on Bruce. Within two hours, they were all up again.

According to what

pumping faster than she could clear it. He had painfully deep lacerations from his thigh to his ankle. She wrapped two large

They say we are fortunate because we can remember that we had pain, but we can never re-live it exactly as it was. A woman remembers the

WHILE childhood amnesia seemingly leaves us without memories of our earliest moments, like learning to walk or talk, it is clear that the impacts of events and experiences of our early lives leave a their mark on our lives, development and character.

hours of labour. She can say it was the worst pain ever, but she cannot recreate the feeling of that pain.

It is the same with a scrape in the eyeball, intense, almost unbearable pain, but once it’s over, you have only the memory of the experience.

Youthful amnesia is a blessing in disguise. The multiple scars along Bruce’s thigh and leg are echoes of his past trauma and serve as a daily reminder of his mortality but he counters that by living with purpose.

He’s a straight-A student in college, is incredibly funny and he still loves to help others. Maybe that’s why he chose the name Bruce for his alias in this column. His personal hero is Bruce Wayne, The Batman. A billionaire with

absolutely no powers who could have lived a luxurious life anywhere in the world. But, because of his own personal tragedy, turning his pain into purpose he pushed himself through an unbelievably tortuous training regimen as a child and then risked his life everyday so that he could fight injustice and corruption for strangers.

Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child is something Batman wished he could have forgotten but instead it was the catalyst for who he’d eventually become. That one moment in time cemented his moral compass and altered the trajectory of his life. Never wanting to be like the criminals he fought against, he refused to kill.

The prevailing lesson therein is that you don’t have to be perfect to be great. You just have to be honourable, disciplined and brave, all traits within the grasp of every one of us.

The most paradoxical component of childhood amnesia is that although we can’t recall our early childhood, events from that time significantly impact our behaviour, thoughts and habits forging many of the characteristics that we express as adults.

Psychologists all over the world differ on why this occurs, but one thing they do agree upon is that children watch better than they listen and, no matter the age, the one thing they won’t forget is feeling appreciated and being loved.

This is The KDK Report.

‘...Although we can’t recall our early childhood, events from that time significantly impact our behaviour, thoughts and habits...’

Delight in Grand Bahama at Junior Junkanoo return

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE 2023 Grand Bahama Junior Junkanoo Parade returned to downtown Freeport after a three-year absence, delighting many junkanoo fans.

A total of 24 schools participated this year. There were five divisions: Preschool, Primary, Junior, Secondary, and All-Age. Participants in the Preschool Division were Growing Years Preschool; Rising Stars Christian Academy; Letty’s Play yard Preschool; National Academy, Wilbur S Outten Christian Academy; and Freeport Primary.

Growing Years Preschool captured first place in all the categories, including the banner, dance, music and group performance, receiving total points of 1,558.

In the Primary Division, Freeport Primary received a total of 1,746 points, winning the banner, music and dance categories, and Hugh Campbell Primary was next with 1,637 points, capturing top spot in the group performance category.

The other schools participating were Wilbur S Outten Christian Academy, Martin Town Primary, Maurice Moore Primary, Lewis Yard Primary, Walter Parker Primary and Bartlett Hill Primary Schools.

In the Junior Division, Jack Hayward Junior High was the only participant, and placed first in all five categories, with total points of 2,902 points.

In the Senior Division, St Georges High received a total of 3,650 points,

winning first place in music, dance, and group performance categories. Jack Hayward High received a total of 3,549 point. They captured first place in the banner.

In the All-Age Division, Bishop Michael Eldon received a total of 3,250 points, winning the banner and music categories. The Sunland Baptist Academy was second with a total of 3,215 points. They captured first place in the dance and group performance.

The Beacon School was third, receiving 1,642 points; St Paul’s Methodist College received 1,452 points; and Hampton Academy received 1,016 points.

Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Mario Bowleg attended the parade in Freeport and was very impressed with all the performances.

RECOVERY CONTINUING FOR CB MOSS AFTER HOSPITAL RELEASE

AFTER being released from hospital exactly a month after his collapse at the Majority Rule Service on January 10, the Rev Dr CB Moss has been continuing his recovery.

As part of his therapy, he has been taken to familiar sights, including Bain Town. On Valentine’s Day last week, he visited Mount Olive Baptist Church,

where a feeding programme event was being held. His family said that he is making steady progress and is convalescing at home.

In a statement, the family said: “The family extends heartfelt gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and support staff of Doctors Hospital, the government of The Bahamas, including the Prime

Minister, Hon Phillip “Brave” Davis, Hon Dr Michael Darville, Hon Michael Pintard, Hon Pia Glover-Rolle, Dave Beckford, the Mount Olive Baptist Church family, everyone who called, visited, and delivered meals. Our sincere thanks are also extended to the hundreds of well-wishers, near and far, who lifted us up

TOURIST DEAD AFTER FOUR-WHEELER

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

AN American tourist is dead after he was thrown from a four-wheeler in the Arawak Cay area on Saturday.

Police said the accident took place around 3pm on February 18 near the Arawak Cay Police Station.

A 42-year-old woman lost control of a green 2019 CAM-Outlander fourwheeler in an open area where it overturned. This resulted in the male passenger being ejected from the four-wheeler causing him to suffer serious injuries.

The victim, who is believed to be in mid-twenties and is from Miami, was

ACCIDENT

taken to hospital where he later died.

The driver in this accident, who is also from Miami, is currently assisting authorities with their investigation.

Police are also investigating two armed robberies that took place over the weekend.

The first incident took place at a business on Charles W Saunders Highway around 8.30pm on Saturday. Police were told that two masked male suspects wearing white t-shirts held up the business with firearms and demanded cash.

The suspects left with an undetermined amount of cash as well as a patron’s cellphone. It is further

reported that while fleeing the scene in a light-coloured Nissan Note, the gunmen opened fire on the occupants of a small Japanese vehicle parked in the front of the buildings.

The suspects reportedly fled in the direction of Nassau Village; no injuries were reported in this incident.

Around 1am on Sunday a woman was mugged outside her residence in eastern New Providence.

A gunman robbed her of her blue 2018 Honda Civic, licence plate number AX1251.

Anyone with information tat can help police is asked to contact the Criminal Investigations Department at 502-9991/2/3.”

TWO YEAR SENTENCE FOR LOADED GUN

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday after he admitted to having a loaded gun in his car as he took his niece to the airport.

Andre Lewis, 41, and two others, all represented by attorney Tamara Taylor-Storr stood before Magistrate Kendra Kelly. There they faced a shared charge of possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.

On February 14 while Mr Lewis was driving his Blue Subura G4 to take his niece to the airport, officers stopped him near Gibbs Corner. A search of his vehicle then uncovered a black Austria Glock pistol

with the serial number erased. This confiscated weapon is said to have had 11 unfired rounds of 9mm ammunition in its magazine.

In a subsequent police interview Mr Lewis admitted to sole ownership of the gun and that his cousin and niece were only in the car with him.

In court Mr Lewis pleaded guilty to the offence while his two codefendants pleaded not guilty. The charges against the other defendants were officially withdrawn.

Prosecutor Sergeant Vernon Pyfrom then revealed that the remaining defendant had prior convictions but none of a similar nature. Ms Taylor-Storr stated that her client is gainfully employed as a diver and carpenter. In addition

to stating that Lewis is a father of two and that he is remorseful for his actions, the attorney said that “all is not lost” for him and implored the court for leniency.

Magistrate Kelly went on to admonish Lewis for driving around Nassau with a gun in the company of his younger relatives. She said that every day young men and women are being “slaughtered” by gun violence.

The magistrate sentenced Lewis to two years at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for both charges to be served concurrently.

Before being taken into custody the accused was informed of his right to appeal sentencing within seven days.

in prayer, or attended the three nights of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving that were organised by Rev Philip McPhee, Bishop Simeon Hall, and Rev Robert Colebrook at Mount Olive Baptist Church on January 17-19.”

REV Dr CB Moss with Worthy Matron Inez Cox in Bain Town on Valentine’s Day.

SCENES from Junior Junkanoo in Grand Bahama.

Photos: Vandyke Hepburn

North Korea makes fresh threats, US bombers fly after ICBM test

SOUTH KOREA

Associated Press

NORTH Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity and threatened additional powerful steps over upcoming military drills between the United States and South Korea.

The United States responded by flying longrange supersonic bombers in a show of force later Sunday for separate joint exercises with South Korean and Japanese warplanes.

Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first missile test since January 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals’ drills as a chance to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal to get the upper hand in future dealings with the United States. An expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises involving its ICBMs. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM was organized “suddenly” without prior notice at Kim’s direct order.

KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the

weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 3,585 miles, flying a distance of about 615 miles for 67 minutes before accurately

hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The steep-angle launch was apparently to avoid neighbouring countries. The flight details reported by North Korea, which roughly matched the launch

information previously assessed by its neighbours, show the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the mainland US if fired at a standard trajectory.

The Hwasong-15 launch demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered, KCNA said.

Whether North Korea has a functioning nucleartipped ICBM is still a source of outside debate, as some experts say the North hasn’t mastered a way to protect warheads from the severe conditions of atmospheric reentry. The North says it has acquired such a technology.

The Hwasong-15 is one of North Korea’s three existing ICBMs, all of which use liquid propellants that require prelaunch injections and cannot remain fuelled for extended periods. The North is pushing to build a solid-fueled ICBM, which would be more mobile and harder to detect before its launch.

“Kim Jong Un has likely determined that the technical reliability of the country’s liquid propellant ICBM force has been sufficiently tested and evaluated to now allow for regular

operational exercises of this kind,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea, said that North Korea appeared to have launched an upgraded version of the Hwasong-15 ICBM. Chang said the information provided by North Korea showed the missile will likely have a longer potential range than the standard Hwasong-15.

Later Sunday, US B-1B bombers and other aircraft separately trained with South Korean and Japanese fighter jets over and near the Korean Peninsula. A South Korean military statement said Sunday’s training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitment to South Korea.

North Korea is sensitive to the deployment of US B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a huge payload of conventional weapons. The North’s launch came a day after it vowed an “unprecedentedly” strong response over a series of military drills that Seoul and Washington plan in coming weeks.

In a statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea and

the US of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula.”

“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said.

North Korea has steadfastly slammed regular South Korea-US military drills as an invasion rehearsal though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature.

“By now, we know that any action taken by the US and South Korea — however justified from the vantage point of defence and deterrence against (North Korea’s) reckless behaviour — will be construed and protested as an act of hostility by North Korea,” said Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation. “There will always be fodder for (Kim Jong Un’s) weapons provocations.”

“With nuclear weapons in tow and having mastered the art of coercion and bullying, Kim does not need ‘self-defence.’ But pitting the US and South Korea as the aggressors allows Kim to justify his weapons development,” Soo Kim said.

PRESIDENT CARTER ENTERS HOSPICE CARE AT HOME

DOGS IN COSTUMES TAKE OVER AT RIO CARNIVAL STREET PARTY

RIO DE JANEIRO Associated Press

As Rio de Janeiro kicked off its Carnival on Saturday, about 100 dogs barked and wagged their tails to the tune of samba music as they paraded in front of pet lovers in a canine costume competition.

The “Blocao” — a mixture of “bloco” which refers to Carnival street parties and “cao,” or dog in Portuguese — brought about 300 people to Rio’s Barra da Tijuca. Dog costumes ranged from fairies, and superheroes to clowns and cartoon characters.

Edson Chianca, 36, brought his 12-year-old Saori to the parade in a Minnie Mouse costume. He dressed the same way so the pair matched.

“It is a great initiative, this is a good moment for pets to socialize,” said Chianca.

Mari Jordão, 52, has attended the Blocao since 2014. Dog “mothers need to be careful, bring water, carry their dog if the pavement is too hot,” she said.

Blocao is one of the few events that challenged a city ban on street parties last year due to the COVID19 pandemic. It has taken

place for about 20 years.

Marco Antonio Vieira, the organizer of Blocao, said he has no intention of humanizing pets with the pet parade and the contest that picks the top five best dressed dogs.

“Thirty years ago they lived in our backyard, now they live on our beds. It is good for them to be with the owner. When the dog sees the owner happy, he is happy too,” Vieira said.

“Some people have worked on their dog costumes for three months,” Vieira said. “There’s nothing but happy people here.”

THIS photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says is a test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea Saturday. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.

Photo: Korean Central News Agency/via AP

WOMEN pose for a photo with their dog during the “Blocao” dog carnival parade, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday.

Photo: Silvia Izquierd/AP

THE CARTER Center says former president Jimmy Carter has entered home hospice care Saturday. The foundation created by the 98-year-old former president says that after a series of short hospital stays, Carter “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”

Photo: John Amis/AP

A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE & DUE PROCESS BY FNM!

At the bequest of the honourable member of St. Anne’s that we “run an article so Brave should sign it”; The People’s Paper, instead, intends on show how the former FNM Administration paid ‘lip service’ to the foundational cornerstone of our British Westminister system of Government, “Collective Responsibility”. In doing so, the very persons who were elected to serve and protect our nation, not only perpetuated a ‘de jure’ system of invidous discrmination against its own citizens in favour of foreign entities, like RCCL, before arriving at an outcome which the Manual of Cabinet & Ministerial Procedures expressly prohibits!

Under The Bahamas Westminister system of Government, the leader of the Party which has secured a majority of seats in Parliament becomes the Prime Minister. As such, he or she has command of the powers vested in the Executive & Legislative branches of our constitutional Monarchy. Simply put, the Cabinet, consisting of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Government, are the ultimate executive decision-making body in the country -- with general direction and absolute control over the functions of the Government by virtue of a Minister’s ostensible responsibility over the policies, activities and coordination of any matters under the purview of

their Ministry

As such, it is es sential that the ‘Cabinet’ has all the facts and other information; prior to, a Decision being made on a ‘Memorandum’ from a Minister. Once, a ‘Conclusion’ or in lay terms ‘Approval’ has been reached, each and every Minister, Ministry, Permanent Secretary and/ or Civil Servant is required to take action to execute such policy and/or directive without comment, opposition or delay

So Here’s the summary of Mr. Toby Smith’s

Conclusion from Office of Prime Minister alongside instructions from P.S. David Davis & an Affidavit!

THE CABINET OF HIS MAJESTY’S GOVERMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS 1st 2nd

3rd

Cabinet

Hold on! Isn’t that the former Chairman of Town Planning and current Member of Parliament witnessing the signing of the ‘Crown Land’ lease between the Govt and Paradise Island Lighthouse & Beach Club?

“ .........The Doctrine of Collective Responsibility is the basis on which our system of Ministerial Government rests..If any Minister [or Civil Servant] feels conscientiously unable to support a decision taken by Cabinet, he [or she] has one course open, and that is to resign.. Without such unity, the system cannot survive, ”

TEAM EFFORT: The Bahamas Scholastic Athletic Association (BSAA) AllStar Select Team celebrate their 54-44 win over the CI Gibson Rattlers senior boys in Friday’s All-Star Game. At far right is coach Wilton Johnson.

BSAA All-Stars victorious

ALL-STAR SELECT TEAM TOP RATTLERS 54-44, EARN BRAGGING RIGHTS IN 2023 CLASSIC

THE BAHAMAS Scholastic Athletic Association hosted its very own All-Star Weekend on Friday at CI Gibson Gymnasium. The BSAA All-Star Select Team defeated the CI Gibson Rattlers senior boys’ B team 54-44 in the All-Star Game.

HUGH CAMPBELL

FROM PAGE 20

the pandemic. Spence, however, watched as Young suffered a high left ankle injury early in the first quarter in their loss to the Timberwolves.

“The guys got back on the court already and we are doing our normal stuff that we do in preparation for all of our games, so we are looking good,” Spence said. “We are hoping for the best for him in terms of health, but in terms of our team, this will give the other guys the opportunity to step up and to fill that big gap. “We just want them to go out there and show that they can play basketball.

Our goal is to win each game and to see how far it will take us. The sky is the limit for our team. We just have to refocus and go out there and play.”

POOLS

TEAMS have been stacked into the following pools:

Pool 1 – Sunland Baptist, CV Bethel, Queen’s College, Study Hall, SC Bootle and CR Walker.

Pool 2 – Charles W Saunders, RM Bailey, Temple Christian, St

After a four-year absence from the sidelines as a coach, Trevor Grant made his return with the CR Walker Nights. They got knocked out in the sudden death playoffs by the Rattlers, but Grant said it’s due to a lack of not playing sufficient games.

But he’s eager to see how well his Knights respond and play in Hugh Campbell, a tournament they won in 2008.

“I expect for us to go out there and do well. We have

George’s, Patrick Bethel and Anatol Rodgers.

Pool 3 – Jordan Prince Williams, Louise McDonald, Kingsway Academy, Jack Hayward, Agape and CI Gibson.

Pool 4 – Tabernacle Baptist, Government High, CC Sweeting, Bishop Michael Eldon, Gateway and Doris Johnson.

a pretty good team, very energetic team. We are nursing some injuries from the last game we played, but we will be ready,” he said.

“I’m happy that they brought the Hugh Campbell Tournament, although they came to us very late.”

As the granddaddy of tournaments in the country, Grant said he hopes that it will continue because for the past 10 years, the senior boys have only been playing a seven-game regular

THE SCHEDULE

• Here’s a look at the schedule for the first three days of competition:

Monday

5pm - RM Bailey vs Temple Christian

6pm - CV Bethel vs Queen’s College

7pm - Jordan Prince Williams vs Kingsway Academy

8pm - Government High vs CC Sweeting

Tuesday

6pm - Charles W. Saunders vs Anatol

7pm - CR Walker vs Winner of game one

8pm - Doris Johnson vs Winner of game seven

Wednesday Noon - Study Hall vs SC Bootle 1pm - Louise McDonald vs Agape 2pm - Gateway vs Bishop Michael Eldon 3pm - St George’s vs Winner of game one

season and it’s disheartening when they have a long off-season to get ready. Grant said there’s no reason why they can’t stretch the season over the various gyms and allow

the league to be extended because he can’t justify how the Ministry of Education could be paying coaches $1,500 for a seven-game series when they got $500 in the past for a 14-game

series. In Grand Bahama, the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons won the title between the two Baptist schools, winning 54-46 to complete a 2-1 decision over the Sunland Lutheran Stingers in Saturday’s finale.

The Falcons, coached by Kevin Clarke, won the previous two titles in 2017 and 2018.

It was their third backto-back triumph for their eighth title, the first six under Norris Bain, the winningest coach in the tournament.

Note: Mario Bowleg won a pair of back-to-back games in 2012 and 2013 and again in 2015 and 2016 with the CC Sweeting Cobras before he ventured into politics and became the new Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture last year. The tournament will officially open today at 10am and Bowleg is expected to be among the list of dignitaries in attendance.

‘Buddy’ Hield misses out on his second 3-point title

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter btubbs@tribujnemedia.net

CHAVANO ‘Buddy’

Hield has hit some big three-pointers during his eight years in the National Basketball Association.

In fact, the Grand Bahamian now owns the Indiana Pacers’ single-season franchise record, surpassing legendary Reggie Miller.

But coming off his historic feat on Wednesday night in the Pacers 117-113 win over the Chicago Bulls just before he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, to participate in his third appearance in the National Basketball Association’s Starry threepoint shooting, which was held as a part of the AllStar weekend.

After finishing third in the first round of the contest on Saturday night with 23 shots, including 13 of his last 16 shots and five of his money balls, Hield hit four of the five shots in the money-ball rack to push his total to 25.

But the 30-year-old Hield watched as Portland Trail Blazers sharpshooting guard Damian Lillard followed his performance, canning one shot more to finish with 26. Hield’s 22-year-old team-mate Tyrese Haliburton wrapped

it up with 17 in his debut in the competition. While Hield fell short of adding to his title he won in 2020 with the Sacramento Kings, who traded him to Indiana this year, Lillard proved that the third time was the charm for ‘Dame Time’ as he finally got the coveted trophy for the first time for the Trail Blazers.

“The best shooters in the history of our game, most of them have one of these,” said Lillard, a seventime NBA All-Star and a member of the US Tokyo Olympic gold medal team. To be in this competition a few times and not have one I just wanted to get it done at least one time.”

After finally getting to hoist the trophy in the air for the first time, the 32-year-old Lillard, who wore his jersey from Weber State where he played college basketball in nearby Ogden, Utah, said he was so happy that he got it, than now “I can retire from it.”

For Hield, he got the runner-up spot, beating out Haliburton.

The three-point contest consisted of five racks containing five balls apiece spaced around the 3-point line. Each rack contained four regular orange balls worth one point apiece, and one multi-coloured money

ball, which is worth two points. There was also an all-money-ball rack, which was introduced in 2018. The rack could be placed anywhere and consisted of five money balls, each worth two points. This year, for the first time, the league added two “Starry”

balls, which are placed deep behind the 3-point line on each side of the middle rack past the top of the key. The two balls are placed roughly 30 feet away from the basket and worth three points apiece. While he fell short of winning his second title, Hield has already

established himself as one of the greatest three-point shooters in the NBA.

In December, in a 135126 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Hield went into the record books for having hit the fastest three-pointer scored in a game. In one fluid three-second motion

Mac McClung soars to slam dunk title at All-Star Saturday

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

SALT LAKE CITY

(AP) — Mac McClung might have single-handedly restored the shine on a dunk contest that has been widely panned in recent years.

McClung, the 6-foot-2 Philadelphia guard on a two-way contract, defeated New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III in the finals of the dunk contest, culminating an NBA All-Star Saturday that may have finally answered the question as to whether what used to be the league’s signature event can be glitzy again.

McClung had the answer: Absolutely.

“I’m truly blessed and grateful for the NBA giving me this opportunity,” McClung said.

A 540-degree dunk — not a 360, but a 540, him doing one-and-a-half rotations in the air, a move more reserved for figure skaters and skateboarders than basketball players — was his third perfect score of the night out of four dunks.

By the time the judges’ scores came up it was already decided. Everyone in the building knew he’d already won.

“It’s over,” McClung said.

LILLARD FROM PAGE 20

Lillard played his college games in Ogden, Utah, about a half-hour outside of Salt Lake City. And the historic ramification of finally getting a 3-point title wasn’t lost on him.

“The best shooters in the history of our game, most of them have one of these,” Lillard said as he held the trophy. “I just wanted to get it done at least one time. And now I have it, so I can retire from it.”

Haliburton won the first round with 31 points. Lillard had 26, and Hield had 23.

Eliminated in the first round were Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Utah’s Lauri Markkanen, Miami’s Tyler Herro, New York’s Julius Randle and Sacramento’s Kevin Huerter.

It was. And he immediately committed to defending his title at Indianapolis at All-Star Saturday next year.

“If you guys will have me, I’ll be back,” McClung said.

The final score, not that it mattered, was McClung 100.0, Murphy 98.0.

His is an unbelievable story: McClung has played mostly in the G League, where he ranks 36th in scoring this season at 19 points per game. He was undrafted in 2021 after spending three college seasons at Georgetown and Texas Tech. He was signed by Golden State last year but never played in a regular-season game for the Warriors, and spent a little time on USA Basketball’s World Cup qualifying team last year as well.

“Ever since the beginning, I was the underdog,” said McClung, who put on a Gate City jersey — his high school and hometown in Virginia, population 1,600 — for the final dunk. “Proving others right instead of others wrong brings a little more satisfaction.” Philadelphia would become his third NBA team, and he hasn’t even

played for the 76ers yet. He played in one game last season for the Chicago Bulls, one other game for the Los Angeles Lakers.

He has three NBA baskets.

He had four dunks on Saturday night. A guy with more dunks than actual NBA field goals might have saved the dunk contest.

“Give this man his flowers, man,” TNT commentator Kenny Smith said. McClung set the tone for the night with a dunk that had NBA superstars in disbelief — he leaped over two people, took the ball out of the hands of one of them, tapped it on the backboard and then threw down a reverse slam.

And that was just for starters.

Riding the momentum of that perfect dunk, he wound up hoisting the trophy that was newly renamed for dunking legend — and former 76ers star — Julius “Dr. J” Erving.

“I’m super happy,” McClung said.

McClung was nearly perfect on his second dunk as well; four judges gave him a perfect 50, Lisa Leslie gave him a 49 as the only

dissenter, but it didn’t matter — he was already assured a spot in the final round against Murphy.

New York’s Jericho Sims gave himself a 50 on his second dunk, where he attached an envelope to the net, pulled it down after the dunk and displayed “50” to the world. No judge agreed, and his two-dunk score of 95.4 wasn’t good enough to make the final round. Also eliminated after Round 1: Houston’s Kenyon Martin Jr, with a score of 93.2.

SKILLS CHALLENGE

Utah got a win to open All-Star Saturday night.

The Jazz — a roster composed of Utah players Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton — won the Skills Challenge on Saturday night, prevailing in two of the three competitions. “It feels good, especially to do it in front of the home team,” Sexton said.

The Rooks were second, with Orlando’s Paolo Banchero, Detroit’s Jaden Ivey and Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr. getting 100 points.

“I had a lot of fun just doing that even though we took the L,” said Banchero, who was part of the winning squad in Friday’s

on a tip from Cavalier’s centre Jarrett Allen, Hield caught the ball and drilled the shot. It was another record that belonged to Miller that Hield broke. Miller, a 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer turned TNT colour commentator, had set the initial record in 2000.

Hield, who canned his 230th 3-pointer for the season, is now one of two players to hold the 3-point record for two teams as his 282 in 2020-21 are the most by any player for Sacramento. The only other player to achieve such a feat is JJ Redick, who did it for Philadelphia (240, 201819) and the Clippers (201, 2016-17).

Miller’s record broken by Hield came in the 1996-97 season when he played 81 games. Hield has played in all 60 of the Pacers games this season and still has 22 remaining to add to the record. He has made 42.6 percent of his attempts this season.

With All-Star weekend over, Hield and the Pacers will resume their regular season on February 24 when they host the Eastern Conference front running Boston Celtics, who are 42-17. Indiana is currently in 12th place with 26-34.

AP SOURCE: GRINER RE-SIGNS WITH PHOENIX

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer

BRITTNEY Griner is headed back to the Phoenix Mercury.

Griner, who was a free agent, re-signed with the Mercury on a one-year contract according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday because no announcement has been made.

The 32-year-old Griner had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December, after she returned home from her 10-month ordeal in Russia that included time in a Russian jail. Griner had been arrested at an airport just outside of Moscow on drug possession charges a year ago and was brought home in a dramatic highlevel prisoner exchange in December.

Rising Stars games. “It was really fun getting out there in front of the fans. Skills Challenge, watched that all the time growing up during All-Star Weekend. So being a part of it was great.”

The Antetokounmpos were third, with Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday — a fill-in for injured Milwaukee Bucks teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo — getting shut out.

The Rooks won the team relay for 100 points, after having the best time on a course where teams had to complete a 35-foot outlet pass, do downcourt dribbling, a short jumper, a left corner 3-pointer and then a dunk at the other end.

Next up was the team passing event, won by the Jazz — giving them 100 points — after they were the most accurate in a series of 35-foot outlet passes, 20-foot bounce passes and 25-foot chest passes.

It ended with the Team Shooting event — worth 200 points — with the Jazz prevailing there to clinch the win.

“We did it for Utah, man,” Clarkson said.

The 6-foot-9 centre last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.

The website “Her Hoops Stats” was the first to report Griner’s signing.

Griner, who was drafted No. 1 in 2013 by the Mercury, was listed Saturday on Phoenix’s roster on the WNBA website.

Since returning home from Russia, Griner has been out of the public spotlight, with the exception of appearances at the Super Bowl, the Phoenix Open and an MLK Day event in Phoenix, where she lives.

She skipped a USA Basketball training camp earlier this month, but the organisation made it clear she could take all the time she needed to decide if she wanted to play for the US again.

The WNBA has said it will address getting Griner special travel accommodations, such as charter flights, after she signed.

Earlier Saturday, the Mercury signed Diana Taurasi to a multiyear contract.

The WNBA’s all-time leading scorer has only played with the Mercury since being drafted No. 1 by the team in 2004.

MAC MCCLUNG, of the Philadelphia 76ers, shoots during the slam dunk competition of the NBA basketball All-Star weekend on Saturday, February 18, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)

BUDDY HIELD, of the Indiana Pacers, shoots during during the three-point contest of the NBA basketball All-Star weekend on Saturday in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

MEDVEDEV EDGES SINNER IN ROTTERDAM FOR 16TH TITLE

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Sixth-seeded Daniil Medvedev rallied past Jannik Sinner at the Rotterdam Open yesterday to win his 16th title.

Medvedev prevailed

5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the indoor hard-court final against the Italian, who was looking for back-to-back titles following his victory at Montpellier, France.

Medvedev converted five of 12 break points and limited his unforced errors to 17, compared to Sinner’s 30.

The 27-year-old Russian improved his record against Sinner to 6-0.

Medvedev will return to the top 10 next week, moving up to the No. 9 spot in the ATP rankings.

TABERNACLE BAPTIST FALCONS WIN TITLE

THE Tabernacle Baptist Falcons captured the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s senior boys basketball title on Saturday at the St George’ High School Gymnasium.

In a match-up between two Baptist schools, the Falcons pulled off a 54-46 triumph over the Sunland Lutheran Stingers to complete the best-of-three series with a 2-1 edge.

Ayden Miller scored a game high 16 points in the win, while Jordan Saunders had 11 in the loss.

Miller was named the most valuable player, while Bradleon McDonald was the defensive player. Kevin Clarke was selected as the coach of the tournament.

Clarke and the Falcons are heading to the 39th edition of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic this weekend at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. They won in 2017 and 2018.

The Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins, coached then by Denycho Bowles, are the defending champions, having won the last tournament in 2019. Organisers didn’t stage the tournament over the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tatum scores All-Star record 55, Team Giannis wins 184-175

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)

— Jayson Tatum put on a record-setting show, and made Giannis Antetokounmpo look like a genius.

Tatum scored an All-Star Game-record 55 points on his way to winning MVP honours, and Team Giannis ended LeBron James’ hold on All-Star captain supremacy by beating Team LeBron 184-175 in the NBA’s annual showcase exhibition last night.

Tatum had 27 points in the third quarter, another All-Star Game record for any period. He was the first pick by Antetokounmpo in the starters’ portion of the All-Star draft, and in the end, that pick proved to be the right one.

And the MVP award Tatum was given is named for Kobe Bryant, one of his heroes.

“It means the world,” Tatum said. “You think of all the legends and great players that have played this game, and in all honesty, records are made to be broken. I’ll hold it for as long as I can, but I’m certain someone will come along in a couple years and try to break it.”

Tatum broke Anthony Davis’ All-Star record of 52 points. He was 22 of 31 from the floor, plus had 10 rebounds and six assists. It was James’ first loss in six times as captain. Antetokounmpo improved to 1-2

in his All-Star captaincies, and became the first captain to hoist a new trophy presented to the winners of the All-Star Game. “Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” Antetokounmpo said.

Later, with a more serious tone, Antetokounmpo said he had a reason for choosing Tatum.

“I knew he would take it serious. It was a nobrainer,” he said.

Donovan Mitchell added 40 for Team Giannis, which got 26 points from Damian Lillard — including the game-winner to push his team past the target score.

Jaylen Brown scored 35 points and had 14 rebounds for Team LeBron, while Kyrie Irving had 32 points and 15 assists and Joel Embiid finished with 32 points.

Brown and Tatum — Boston teammates — were revelling in a back-andforth duel during a stretch of the second half.

“It was a normal day for us,” Tatum said. “Just millions of people watching.”

Lillard, the winner of the 3-point contest on All-Star Saturday Night, made eight 3s — including a halfcourt pullup in the third quarter.

“That was the worst basketball game I’ve ever seen,” Team LeBron coach Michael Malone said, clearly poking fun at the defence-optional event.

Winning coach Joe Mazzulla of Team Giannis said he had a very simple strategy.

“Stay out of the way, enjoy it, have fun, allow the guys to just be themselves,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s important, especially in this league, that guys are just able to be themselves.”

The league had a ceremony before the second half to pay tribute to the three leading scorers in NBA history: No. 3 Karl Malone, No. 2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James, now the game’s career leader after he passed Abdul-Jabbar earlier this month.

Malone and Abdul-Jabbar were brought to the

stage, and then Dwyane Wade — James’ former teammate in Miami and now a part-owner of the Jazz — introduced James to bring him onto the platform. “We’ve all been witnesses,” Wade said. “No matter the challenge, no matter the noise, he was relentless.”

With the number 38,388 displayed behind him, James then raised his hand to thank the fans for their ovation, hugged AbdulJabbar and Malone. He didn’t return to the game, his night ending with a right

hand contusion. He finished with 13 points, and said a chasedown block in the first half led to him getting a finger caught in the rim.

“Precautionary reasons,” James said.

James played a half. The game’s other captain didn’t play a half-minute.

Antetokoumpo drafted his team before the game, went through warmups (such as they were) and started the game as planned.

But his right wrist was wrapped, and that was an ominous sign. The injury kept him out of All-Star

Saturday’s skills event, limited him to 20 seconds in this one. He got an uncontested dunk to open the game, then took a foul and headed to the bench.

“Whatever I have, I’m going to give,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s who I am. That’s never going to change.”

As in past years, the teams played for charity, with Team LeBron raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah and Team Giannis for Raise the Future, which connects youth waiting in foster care with stable adults. Each team started with $150,000, with the first three quarters worth another $100,000 apiece and the All-Star Game winner getting another $150,000.

The teams were tied at 46-46 in the first quarter, and Team Giannis took the second quarter 53-46. Team Giannis also won the third quarter 59-49, and the cumulative score to that point — 158-141, Team Giannis — meant 182 would be the score to reach in the untimed fourth quarter with a target-score ending.

Team Giannis won $550,000 for its charity, and Team LeBron won $200,000. And Tatum, just as he vowed he would at his first All-Star Game in 2020 — when the award was named for Bryant — won the trophy that he’s wanted for a while. “Icing on the cake,” Tatum said.

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY-OSAKA WINS 4TH MAJOR TENNIS TITLE, KOBE BRYANT WINS RECORD-TYING 4TH ALL-STAR GAME MVP AWARD

FEBRUARY 20

1887 — The International Association, the first minor league baseball association, is organized in Pittsburgh.

1951 — The college point-shaving scandal prompts Long Island University to drop basketball and all other intercollegiate sports. LIU revives basketball in 1957.

1971 — En route to a record 76-goal season, Boston’s Phil Esposito becomes the first player to score his 50th goal in February, but the Bruins lose to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4.

1972 — Larry Brown of the Denver Rockets sets ABA records for assists in a game (23), half (18) and quarter (10) during a 146-123 home win over the Pittsburgh Condors.

1974 — Gordie Howe, the NHL’s career scoring leader, comes out of retirement and signs a $1 million, four-year contract to play with the Houston Aeros of the WHA and sons Mark and Marty.

1976 — Muhammad Ali beats Jean-Pierre Coopman with a fifth-round knockout at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico

ON February 20, 2011, Kobe

Bryant won his record-tying fourth All-Star game MVP award, scoring 37 points before his hometown fans.

to defend his world heavyweight title.

1988 — In Calgary, Alberta, Brian Boitano of the U.S. wins the Olympic figure skating gold medal on a technical merit tiebreaker and nearly flawless free skate.

1993 — Julio Cesar Chavez records a fifthround TKO over Greg Haugen in a WBC super lightweight title bout before a record crowd of 130,000 at Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium.

1998 — Tara Lipinski, 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating champion, beating fellow teen and U.S. teammate Michelle Kwan to take the gold. Lipinski is two months younger than Sonja Henie was in her 1928 victory.

2006 — Tanith Belbin and partner Ben Agosto end the U.S. medals drought

in Olympic ice dance competition with a silver. The last to do so were Colleen O’Connor and James Millns, who won bronze in 1976.

2009 — Lindsey Van of the U.S. becomes the first female ski jumping world champion. Women’s ski jumping makes its debut at this year’s Nordic world

championships in the Czech Republic. Todd Lodwick wins the opening Nordic combined event to give the U.S. two golds in one day.

Before Van’s victory, the U.S. had not won a gold at a Nordic worlds since 2003 when Johnny Spillane took a Nordic combined sprint.

2010 — Switzerland’s Simon Ammann wins the

large hill at the Vancouver Games to become the first ski jumper with four individual Olympic titles.

2011 — Trevor Bayne, 20, wins the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race, in only his second Sprint Cup start.

2011 — Kobe Bryant wins his record-tying fourth All-Star game MVP award, scoring 37 points before his hometown fans and leading the West past the East 148-143.

2016 — Lindsey Vonn clinches a record 20th World Cup crystal globe title and surpasses Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark. It’s Vonn’s record eighth downhill title.

Stenmark won 19 globes between the years 1975 and 1984.

2021 - Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Naomi Osaka of Japan wins her 4th major and second Australian title; beats American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3.

2022 - Hannah Green of Australia becomes first woman to win a mix-gender golf tournament over 72 holes; closes with 5-under 66 for a 4-stroke win in TPS Murray River on the PGA Tour of Australasia

TABERNACLE Baptist Falcons are the Grand Bahama senior boys basketball champions.

ON February 20, 2021, Naomi Osaka of Japan won her 4th major and second Australian title, beating American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3.

TEAM Giannis forward Jayson Tatum (0) dunks past Team LeBron forward LeBron James (6) during the first half of the NBA basketball All-Star game last night in Salt Lake City.

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

RAHM HOLDS ON TO WIN AT RIVIERA AND RETURN TO NO. 1 IN WORLD

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jon Rahm returned to No. 1 in the world yesterday by winning the Genesis Invitational with a performance that left no doubt who’s playing the best golf.

Caught in a battle with hometown favourite Max Homa at Riviera, Rahm delivered two big moments with a 45-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-3 14th and then a tee shot to 2 feet for birdie on the par-3 16th. He closed with a 2-under 69 for a two-shot win over Homa.

“Pretty incredible,” Rahm said. “(To win) at a golf course with this legacy, this history and hosted by Tiger Woods, is such an honour.”

Patrick Cantlay got within one shot on the back nine until two bogeys. He had a 67 to finish alone in third, moving him to No. 4 in the world. Woods had four bogeys in an eight-hole stretch and shot 73 to tie for 45th.

“Unfortunately, my streak continues,” Woods said with a smile, alluding to his 12 appearances at Riviera as a pro without ever winning. His success was measured in progress. It was his first time playing 72 holes since the Masters last April — Woods only played twice more since then as he tries to cope with leg and back injuries that will make PGA Tour appearances rare. He did not know if he would play again before the Masters.

Woods still had the largest gallery all the way to the end, thousands of fans packed on the hill over the 18th green to watch him close out with a par in that familiar red shirt under a black vest. And then the spectators turned their attention to a terrific duel between Rahm and Homa, each with two victories on the PGA Tour this season.

Rahm now has five wins in his last nine starts worldwide, dating to his win in the Spanish Open. He has not finished out of the top

JON Rahm celebrates on the 18th green yesterday after winning the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

10 in his last 10 tournaments. It was his third win in five starts on the PGA Tour this year, and he already has earned more than $9 million the last two months.

This wasn’t as easy as it looked at the end.

“That was a tough week and a tough Sunday,” Rahm said.

Homa, who won at Riviera two years ago, began the final round three shots back. He quickly closed to within one shot, only for the Spaniard to come within inches of holing out from the fairway at No. 8 for a tap-in birdie, while Homa made bogey from behind the green to slip three shot behind again.

And then it changed quickly.

After Homa birdied the ninth from 15 feet, he drove to the far edge of the 10th green and got down in two for a birdie. Rahm went well left. His pitch was short and rolled down the back of the green, behind a bunker. He pitched onto — and then over — the green into another bunker, and he had to make a 6-footer for bogey.

Two holes later, Homa took the lead for the first time when Rahm three-putted for bogey, only for

Homa to give it back with a bogey from a bad tee shot.

The par 3s won it for Rahm, with his putter and a full swing. He finished at 17-under 267 and earned $3.6 million from the $20 million purse, the second straight elevated event on the PGA Tour.

Rahm now has won just over $9.4 million in the last two months on the PGA Tour — wins at Kapalua and the California desert and on the classic course of Riviera off fabled Sunset Boulevard. He finished third in Phoenix and tied for seventh at Torrey Pines in his other two starts this year. This is the fifth time Rahm has been No. 1 in the world, and the way he’s playing, it looks as if he might stay there for some time.

Rory McIlroy, who began the year at No. 1 and won his first event of the year in Dubai on the European tour, was not a factor for the second straight week. McIlroy had a 73-71 weekend and tied for 29th.

TIGER Woods waits to hit on the 11th hole during the third round of the

on Saturday in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

Tiger Woods gets some momentum with weekend 67 at Riviera

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP)

— Jon Rahm could hear the cheers from all over Riviera, the sound typically associated with someone making a charge. Except they came from the opposite side of the course that featured players too far away from the lead.

What they meant was not nearly as mysterious as to whom they belonged.

“You’re fully aware where Tiger is anywhere,” Rahm said after his own masterpiece Saturday in the Genesis Invitational, a 6-under 65 for a three-shot lead.

Woods is cheered wildly just walking to the tee, though this time his golf was the source. He had a 67 that didn’t allow him to pick up any ground — in fact, he fell a further shot behind and was 12 back going into Sunday.

“Today was better,” Woods said. “I felt like I made some nice adjustments with my putting and that was the thing that held me back yesterday. I’ve driven it well the last three days, my iron play was been good. And the firm conditions I like, that’s kind of right up my alley with iron play. Just wish I could have putted a little bit better yesterday.”

What stood out was the day. It was his best score on a Saturday in an official event since the fall of 2019.

It’s a small sample size to be sure — 12 tournaments since he won the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2019 — but his legs are a bigger issue than how he swings the club.

Woods shattered bones in his right leg and ankle from a car crash in Los Angeles two years ago. He returned 14 months later to play in the Masters and made the cut, a remarkable feat. And then on the weekend, he limped his way to a pair of 78s.

A month later at Southern Hills for the PGA Championship, he again made the cut with some dazzling play down the stretch on Friday. But the wind shifted, a cold front arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he shot 79 and withdrew.

Woods made the cut on the number at Riviera and started on the back nine. He opened with a 15-foot birdie putt, missed a good chance on the par-5 11th and then raised the putter in his left hand as his 25-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-3 14th dropped for another birdie.

The biggest moment was on the par-5 opening hole after he made the turn.

Caught between clubs and feeling a little wind in his face, he hit a cut with a

5-iron that landed toward the front of the green and rolled inches by the cup before settling 3 feet away for what amounted to a tap-in eagle. He finally dropped a shot on the seventh when his approached rolled off the steep ledge, leaving a tough pitch. But he finished better than Friday, when he bogeyed three of his last four holes. “I thought I could make a run where I could reach out and touch the leaders,” Woods said

before conceding that he was too far back.

Rahm is playing at another level right now, a level with which Woods is familiar. The Spaniard has not finished out of the top 10 since August, and he is going for his fifth win over his last nine starts. Woods said he was sore after his fourth straight day walking — starting with the pro-am on Wednesday when he stopped playing after 16 holes — and he speaks of the recovery

after a round and the preparation before it. That part isn’t fun. Saturday was. And while the chill in the morning air hasn’t been great, the fast conditions at Riviera are right up his alley. “I’ve been pretty one dimensional on how to hit my tee shots,” he said.

“I’ve kind of gone to my little stock shot because I just haven’t played enough where I feel like I can hit different shots. ... The way the golf course is playing, as fast as it is, a flat cut can

go a very long way here, so I’ve been able to hit that shot. Then with the firm greens, I thoroughly enjoy that for my iron game, and finally made some putts.”

Sunday was his first 72-hole event since Masters, and only his 2nd since his car crash that happened not far from Riviera. Woods already is looking ahead to his return to Augusta National, but he wants to wait until after this week to see about adding any tournaments before then.

Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club

(AP Photos/Ryan Kang)

(AP Photo/Ryan Kang)

TIGER Woods hits his second shot from the rough on the 13th hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Saturday, February 18 in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photos/Ryan Kang)

TIGER Woods walks to the 14th tee box during the third round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament.

TWO MORE GSSSA CHAMPIONS CROWNED

By BRENT STUBBS

COACH Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson and his CI Gibson Rattlers celebrated another Government Secondary Schools Sports Association championship feat, this time in the senior girls’ division.

On Friday at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, the Rattlers polished off the CR Walker Knights 45-41 in the third and deciding game as they joined in the celebrations of their senior boys, who swept the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves in two straight games on Thursday night.

Just before CI Gibson enjoyed their double dose of victory, the DW Davis Royals also got a chance to celebrate.

Minister of Education, Science and Technoloy Glenys Hanna-Martin was on hand to view the games and made the presentation of trophies and was quite impressed with what she saw.

“I was just asking the president of the GSSSA (Varel Davis) when last were they in competition. It was pre-pandemic. But the level of competition that I saw in here was just incredible,” Hanna-Martin said. “The hard drive, the professionalism and the skills that I saw, it was just wonderful.

“If this is what we got after two years of being laid up, Lord have mercy, I can’t wait to see what will happen in the days, months and years ahead of us with our young athletes. This was a beautiful evening. I’m glad I was here to witness it.”

Senior girls

Rattlers 45, Knights 41: Most valuable player Jada Francis saved her best game for the finale as she canned a game high 24 points and was followed by Philippa Ferguson with 13. Trinity Cartwright had three, while Traineia Green was held to just two, along with Alencia Brice.

The Rattlers picked up where they left off, repeating as champions albeit with a two-year break in between.

But it’s the first time that Johnson won both senior boys and girls titles at the same time.

“CR Walker is a very good team. They fought hard, but we stuck to our game plan,” Johnson said. “Some of the girls were a little selfish, not passing the ball as they should. But we went into the locker room and we talked to them about playing the game the right way and defensively we forced some turnovers that allowed us to control the game.”

With his commitment to his senior boys for the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic that starts today at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, Johnson is still contemplating whether or not his Rattlers senior girls will travel to Grand Bahama for the Geneva Rutherford Tournament that starts on Thursday.

CR Walker has already purchased their tickets and coach Tia Rolle said they are hoping to redeem

themselves in Grand Bahama with or without CI Gibson.

“We started off good, but in the last quarter, we just didn’t have it. We missed too many free throws,” said Knights coach Tia Rolle. “But CI Gibson played a very good game. They deserved to win. We will go to Freeport on Wednesday and hopefully we can win the tournament there.”

Shenell Stewart had 19, both Shamanja Cummings and Raynia Russell added seven, Brianna Hanna had five and Alexi Appoleon chipped in with three, but it wasn’t enough.

After Stewart and Cummings scored six and four respectively to help CR Walker to open a 12-8 lead in the first quarter, Francis stepped it up, connecting on 10 in the second as CI Gibson cut the deficit to 25-21 at the half. But Stewart had five, Russell four

and Cummings three as they stayed ahead.

CR Walker stayed ahead at the end of the third as Stewart came up with four and Hanna had three. But Francis and Ferguson helped the Rattlers to hold off the late surge by the Knights down the stretch in the fourth. While France had six, Ferguson helped out with five.

Junior boys Royals 47, Sharks 43: MVP Darius Hanna finally got to win a championship title for his father, coach Mark Hanna, as he led DW Davis’ scoring attack with 17 points. Kamal Miler had 11, Khamani Davis six, and Windishy Paul and Charles Delva both finished with five. “This one feels good. I did more praying than coaching,” coach Hanna said. “This one was a miracle. This one was an answered prayer. It feels good

because I have eight players who are in grade eight, four in grade seven and three in grade nine.

“After the pandemic, my programme was restructured and so to win this one, we were counted out. They say DW Davis was too small. But through prayers, hard work and perseverance, God brought us through. It’s going to be a long celebrations for us.”

Kami Davis scored 18 points, Malachi Cadeam had eight and both Emmit Smith and Shawn Rolle had six in a losing effort.

SC McPherson got a balanced ace in the first quarter with Cadeam leading with four, Davis and LaQuare Collins both had three and Aljah Pierre added two. They stayed ahead 24-23 as Davis had eight in the second period.

DW Davis stormed back in the third behind four apiece from Hanna and Miller, along with three from Davis. And in the fourth, the Royals used an 11-10 surge to stay ahead of the Sharks as Hanna and Miller ended up with five and three respectively.

Despite the loss, a highly spirited coach La’Cricia Swain said they gave it their best shot.

“There’s a group of players that I will be bringing back next year, so it’s always next year,” she summed up. “We will be back.”

Davis, who had double duties as the GSSSA president and coach of the CH Reeves Raptors’ victorious junior girls, said it was good to get the season back on track after missing the past two years.

“After not playing since 2020 due to the pandemic, I was very impressed with what I saw,” Davis said.

“We had a very competitive season across the board from our junior girls to senior boys division. It was a very exciting season, very exciting playoffs and very exciting championships. We’re just happy to be back and thank God for another successful year.”

The GSSSA, adding basketball to the softball and baseball season which have already been played, will now gear up for its track and field championships, volleyball and soccer before they complete the 2022/23 calendar year.

Arsenal back on top as Man City held to draw in English Premier League

By MATTIAS KAREN Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — In a title race that keeps producing twists, the pendulum swung back Arsenal’s way again after a frustrating day for Manchester City in the English Premier League.

Arsenal came from behind twice before scoring two goals in injury time to beat Aston Villa 4-2 in the early kickoff on Saturday and halt a three-game winless streak in the league.

City then conceded a secondhalf equaliser and was held at Nottingham Forest to a surprising 1-1 after wasting chances to put the game away. The normally prolific Erling Haaland was guilty of a glaring double miss when he first hit the crossbar and then fired the rebound over the net from close range in the second half.

That all put Arsenal back atop the league standings, two points above City and with a game in hand after Pep Guardiola’s side went ahead on goal difference on Wednesday following a 3-1 win over the Gunners.

“We had amazing chances but it’s football. We have to score,” Guardiola said. “It is one of the best games we have played but we drop two points.”

Also, Chelsea’s struggles reached a new low after losing at home against last-placed Southampton 1-0, which should ramp up the pressure on manager Graham Potter.

The match also had some worrying scenes as Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta sustained a head injury after taking a kick in the face. He was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Liverpool boosted its push for a top-four finish with a 2-0 win at

10-man Newcastle that ended the host’s 17-game unbeaten streak in the league.

GUNNERS REBOUND

Having seen an eight-point lead slip away, Arsenal badly needed to beat Villa and bounce back from the defeat to City midweek.

It came thanks to a lucky late bounce.

At 2-2, Jorginho’s shot from outside the area in the third minute of injury time struck the crossbar and bounced in off the head of Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to put Mikel Arteta’s team in front. Gabriel Martinelli added the fourth into an empty net after Martinez went up into the Arsenal box in search of an equalizer.

“We needed a magic moment and Jorginho produced it,” Arteta said of his new signing, who joined from Chelsea in January.

None of Chelsea’s expensive January signings seem able to produce much of anything at the moment. Instead, set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse scored the only goal at Stamford Bridge with a free kick just before the halftime break.

The result comes on the heels of three straight league draws and a 1-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League for Potter’s side. To make matters worse was Azpilicueta lengthy treatment after being hit in the face by an attempted overhead kick by Sékou Mara in the 74th minute.

Azpilicueta was taken off on a stretcher wearing a neck brace and breathing from an oxygen mask after a 10-minute stoppage of play.

“Thankfully he’s conscious,” Potter said. “He’s in hospital. He

spoke to his wife, I believe. So we’re just obviously monitoring and very concerned for him. . . . It was not a nice thing to see.”

BOTTOM TEAMS WIN

On a low-scoring afternoon, three of the other six mid-afternoon kickoffs also finished 1-0. Fulham beat Brighton away, Everton earned a crucial victory over fellow relegation struggler Leeds, and Bournemouth won at Wolves. A last-gasp equaliser earned Brentford a 1-1 draw at home against Crystal Palace. Substitute Manor Solomon scored the 88th-minute winner for Fulham to put the London club three points above Brighton in sixth place as the newcomer surprisingly challenges for a European spot.

It was an important day at the bottom of the standings as the three teams who started the day in the relegation zone all won. Everton climbed out of the relegation zone thanks to Seamus

Coleman’s second-half goal, moving two points above 19thplace Leeds.

Bournemouth also moved above West Ham into 17th place after Marcus Tavernier marked his return from injury with the winner against Wolverhampton — although the south-coast club could be back in the relegation zone if West Ham earns at least a draw against Tottenham on Sunday.

Southampton remained in last place, three points from safety.

LIVERPOOL SURGING

After a hugely disappointing first half to the season, Liverpool could yet pull off a top-four finish.

Liverpool followed up its morale-boosting win over rival Everton with a comfortable victory at St James’ Park in a game that was essentially over halfway through the first half.

Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo scored before Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was sent off in the 22nd minute for handling the ball outside the area — ruling him out of the team’s League Cup final next weekend against Manchester United.

The win puts Liverpool six points behind fourth-placed Newcastle, having played a game less.

Liverpool centre back Virgil van Dijk made his return after sitting out for nearly six weeks with a hamstring injury and said he hoped this week could be a turning point for the team.

“We’ve had results in the season where we have felt like this is the time to kick on. But this feels a little bit different,” Van Dijk said. “Coming away from the big win against Everton, it was important to keep going and find a way to win.”

FEMKE BOL

FEMKE BOL BREAKS 40YEAR WORLD INDOOR RECORD IN 400 METRES

APELDOORN, Netherlands (AP) — Femke Bol broke a 40-year-old world indoor record in the women’s 400 metres yesterday, covering the distance in 49.26 seconds.

Bol was running in front of a home crowd at the Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

“When I crossed the line I knew that the record was mine, because of the noise that the crowd made,” Bol said.

The previous record of 49.59 was set by Jarmila Kratochvilova on March 7, 1982.

The 22-year-old Bol won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 400 hurdles. She also ran a world indoor 500-metre best of 1:05.63 in Boston in her first race of this season.

Yesterday, she got off to a strong start at the Omnisport arena and beat Lieke Klaver, who finished second in 50.34.

“It was because of all the fans here that I ran this record,” Bol said. “Never have I ever seen that many people here.”

RASHFORD

SCORES TWICE, MAN UNITED DEFEATS LEICESTER 3-0

By JAMES ROBSON AP Soccer Writer

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — In this kind of form Marcus Rashford might just fire Manchester United to the Premier League title and more. The striker scored twice to set up a 3-0 win against Leicester yesterday as Erik ten Hag’s team closed in on second-place Manchester City and kept the pressure on table-topping Arsenal.

That’s 16 goals in 17 games for Rashford since returning from the World Cup in a run that has prompted fans to label him the best player in the world right now.

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe – and a certain Cristiano Ronaldo – might have something to say about that, but United’s fourpronged trophy pursuit has been energised by Rashford’s outstanding form.

The England international fired his team in front on 25 minutes at Old Trafford after United withstood an early onslaught from Leicester.

He scored a second in the 56th and substitute Jadon Sancho added a third five minutes later.

Rashford has scored in seven straight Premier League games at home, which is the longest run for a United player since Wayne Rooney’s eight-game streak in the 2009-10 campaign.

Ronaldo had a sequence of scoring in 10 straight games in 2008, but it is a measure of Rashford’s form that he is keeping company with such iconic names.

He now has a career-best 24 goals this season and is showing no signs of slowing down, no matter what the opposition.

MANCHESTER City’s Erling Haaland, right, challenges for the ball with Nottingham Forest’s Keylor Navas at City ground in Nottingham, England, on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

CI Gibson Lady Rattlers - senior girls champions.

DW Davis Royals - junior boys champions.

Hugh Campbell opening day

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Will the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s senior boys’ basketball champions be Tabernacle Baptist Falcons or will the New Providence champions Charles W Saunders or CI Gibson Rattlers have enough left in the tank to pull off the 39th edition title of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic?

The week-long tournament for senior boys is scheduled to get underway at 5pm today at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium where all of the games will be played instead of at the

PRESTIGIOUS BASKETBALL CLASSIC JUMPS OFF TODAY

marquee AF Adderley Gymnasium.

The tournament, hosted by AF Adderley Junior High as their major fund raiser, returns after a twoyear hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fresh off their victory as the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association champions on Thursday over the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves, head coach Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson said they are as ready as could be. “We’re going to take a few days off and get back in the gym on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to get ready for Wednesday against whoever our

opponents are,” said Johnson as they play their opener at 8pm.

“We set goals this year to definitely try to win it. We will take it one game at a time and one possession at a time and see what happens.”

Johnson guided the Rattlers to five titles, starting in 2002, then three straight from 2004-2006 and their last one in 2014.

The Cougars are still celebrating their first victory for Charles W Saunders as the champions for the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Sports over their Baptist rivals, Jordan Prince Williams Falcons

two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how both teams respond to the challenge.

In the meantime, one of the tournament’s defending champions Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins will have a new coach, who has to make a major adjustment after the loss of their top scorer Laterro Young, during the GSSSA sudden playoffs.

Coach Kevon Spence has replaced Denycko Bowles, who has moved to coach Anatol Rodgers this year as basketball returned after a two-year hiatus because of

SEE PAGE 14

Lillard tops Hield for his first 3-point title

(AP) — Damian Lillard represented his school and his brand, doing them both proud.

Lillard, the Portland star, won the 3-point contest by topping Indiana teammates Chavano “Buddy” Hield and Tyrese Haliburton in the final round.

Lillard wore a Weber State jersey with “Dolla” on the back. Weber State is his college; he performs music under the name Dame D.O.L.L.A. And when he got the trophy, he had a Blazers warmup shirt on for that moment.

“They say the third time’s the charm,” said Lillard, who got his first 3-point title in his third try at the event. “And I’m happy that it happened here. It’s a perfect situation. I’m happy that I

did it in my home, coming back here to Utah.”

Lillard won the final round with 26 points. Hield

had 25 and Haliburton scored 17.

SEE PAGE 15

DAMIAN LILLARD, of the Portland Trail Blazers, celebrates after winning the three-point contest at All-Star weekend Saturday.

(AP Photo/Rob Gray)