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Atlantis ‘very concerned’ Family Guardian on labour reforms impact in near-$6m ‘hit’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis last night said it was “extremely concerned” over the Government’s proposed labour law reforms, saying they represented “an intrusion” into companies being able to run their businesses.

Ed Fields, the resort’s senior vice-president of public affairs, told Tribune Business that the increased costs and bureaucracy associated with the amendments to the Employment and Industrial Relations Act threatened to undermine Atlantis’s competitive standing against rival destination resorts.

“Obviously, we are extremely concerned,” he

from Prime slash

Largest employer says laws akin to ‘intrusion’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Private sector to meet PM on concerns today Hotel chief fears ‘immediate, irreversible’ impact said last night. “Our concern is in the context of the increasing pressures in doing business in a very, very competitive world.

“We’re going to have to sit with government and voice our concerns, but it would certainly be irresponsible

The Atlantis Hotel.

for us not to say the level of concern we have with this additional pressure.”

Mr Fields added that some changes, such as the requirement for employ-

ers to notify the Minister of Labour if they planned to make just one worker redundant, seemed like unreasonable, unwarranted See pg b4

US wins $13.9m ‘Ninety’ Minister: 2/3 redundancy assets confiscate appeal increase brings Bahamas

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The Privy Council yesterday paved the way for a battle over assets allegedly belonging to convicted drug trafficker, Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles, after it ruled that the US government’s $13.9 million confiscation order against him can be registered in the Bahamas.

The UK court, the highest in the Bahamian judicial system, overturned a previous Court of Appeal verdict that found the confiscation order could not be registered under the Proceeds of Crime Act because there was no written request from the US Attorney General to do so.

The Court of Appeal also ruled that Mr Knowles’ relatives, who claimed ownership of the assets ‘frozen’ on behalf of the US authorities since 2001, should have been notified of the confiscation order because it affected their interests.

This, too, was rejected by the Privy Council, which found that the ‘confiscation order’ was separate from efforts to enforce it, and that as a result it only affected Mr Knowles.

The ruling now enables the US government to seek forfeiture of Bahamasbased assets that it claims belong to Mr Knowles, paving the way for a new legal battle with his family, who allege they belong to it and

Privy Council: Order can be registered in Bahamas Ruling paves way for battle with Knowles’s family Claim property, cars theirs and bought legitimate were obtained via legitimate means.

The Privy Council said an “historic feature” of the case was the failure to determine the ownership of the assets, which have been subject to a ‘freeze’ order made on the US government’s behalf almost 16 years ago.

“The assets frozen included some dozen or so different parcels of real property, several of them condominium units, approximately nine bank accounts, and the assets of a car rental business at the [Lynden Pindling International] airport which is called A1 Car Rentals Ltd,” the Privy Council judgment said.

“It has always been the claim of the US prosecutors that the assets restrained were in reality in the beneficial ownership of the defendant, albeit carefully acquired in the name of his See pg b4

‘in line’ with Caribbean

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Minister of Labour yesterday argued that employer concerns over the proposed two-thirds increase in the redundancy pay ‘cap’ were misplaced, arguing that it would bring the Bahamas into line with the rest of the Caribbean.

Shane Gibson said the Government was not “reinventing the wheel” in its controversial labour reforms, and said regional comparisons suggest “something has to be wrong” with the current 12year cap.

Addressing the House of Assembly during the See pg b4

Gibson: 33 years in Barbados, no cap in Antigua

Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson

Family Guardian yesterday said it took a near-$6 million hit at year-end 2016 as a result of the Prime interest rate reduction, which impacted “more than 70 per cent” of its investment assets.

Lyrone Burrows, the BISX-listed life and health insurer’s president, told Tribune Business it had met its 2016 profit targets, despite having to increase reserves to compensate for the Central Bank’s pre-Christmas move to cut interest rates by 50 basis points.

Although the rate cut took effect early this year, Mr Burrows said its impact had to be factored into Family Guardian’s 2016 year-end financials, given that policyholder reserves have to be calculated on a

Rate cut impacted ‘over 70% of investment assets’ BISX-listed insurer raises reserves, ‘defers’ projects ‘In expansion mode’ on general insurance agency “forward looking” basis.

“We were significantly impacted by the change in the Prime rate,” Mr Burrows explained.

“This would have been taken into consideration for determining the reserves from 2016, as they are forward looking.

“We had to take on additional reserves because of the falling interest rate environment. In excess of 70 See pg b5

GB Power demand 10% ‘below normal’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Demand for Grand Bahama Power Company’s (GBPC) electricity is down 10 per cent below normal levels, with its majority shareholder not anticipating a recovery before 2018.

Canadian utility giant Emera, which owns a majority 80.4 per cent equity interest in Grand Bahama Power, warned in its 2016 full-year results announcement that lower energy demand in the Bahamas would act as a drag on its wider Caribbean earnings

Matthew blamed for cutting utility’s load until 2018 Utility to turn to consumers if costs not recovered within five years in 2017.

Attributing the reduced energy demand to Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath, Emera said: “Post hurricane load is down approximately 10 per cent as compared to See pg b5

PAGE 2, Tuesday, March 21, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Bahamas urged to reverse middle class ‘annihilation’ A Democratic National Alliance (DNA) candidate yesterday said the Bahamas needed to reverse “the annihilation of the middle class” by developing a proper plan to grow the financial services industry.

Arinthia Komolafe, the

DNA’s candidate for Killarney, urged this nation to focus on revitalising the financial services industry given its importance to sustaining the Bahamian middle class, via its aboveaverage wages.

A former Bahamas De-

velopment Bank (BDB) managing director, Mrs Komolafe said the Bahamas needed to “commit” itself to a Financial Services Growth Action Plan (FSGAP).

She added that this would involve numerous, wide-

ranging reforms across areas such as taxation, Immigration, the public sector, private pensions and exchange control relaxation.

“Successive administrations have presided over the annihilation and shrinking of the Bahamian middle class,” Mrs Komolafe said in a statement, “with each new day bringing about more negative reports on actions that threaten this vital segment of our society.

“The loss of jobs within our two main industries of tourism and financial services have exacerbated an already vexing issue within the Bahamas.

“Over the last decade, we have witnessed significant downsizing in both the international and local financial services sector.

While these actions have resulted from international initiatives, strategic decisions, restructuring, consolidation and outsourcing of functions within financial institutions, they have also highlighted the lack of a comprehensive plan for this vital pillar of our economy.”

Focusing on Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) decision to close four branches, leaving Spanish Wells and Bimini without any physical banking locations, Mrs Komolafe said this was merely the latest example of commercial bank downsizing and consolidation.

She referred to Tribune Business’s recent revelation that FINCO had slashed staffing levels by 70 per cent over the past five years, as it continues to outsource back office functions to its RBC parent.

Scotiabank and CIBC FirstCaribbean have also undertaken their own downsizings, with the international financial services sector enduring several closures, mergers and consolidations over the past decade.

“While much could be said about the fairness of the job cuts that have result-

Arinthia Komolafe ed from the decisions made by international financial institutions, it is apparent that a new approach and vision is needed for this vital sector,” Mrs Komolafe said.

“It is common knowledge that individuals employed within the financial services industry typically earn wages that are much higher than other sectors. Hence, they make up a significant percentage of the Bahamian middle class.

“It follows, therefore, that the challenges within this sector has left many professionals unemployed or underemployed, thereby further shrinking the middle class.”

Mrs Komolafe added that while Value-Added Tax’s (VAT) implementation may have been necessary to address the Bahamas’ structural fiscal deficiencies, it had increased the tax burden on the middle class and further reduced its disposable income.

“Our economy will not grow at the level that is required as long as the middle class remains under siege and endangered,” she said.

“There is no substitute for empowering Bahamians and Bahamian-owned businesses to thrive within and beyond our economy. Rather than focus on international banks that are repatriating earnings and cutting jobs, a deliberate national policy aimed at encouraging the establishment and expansion of Bahamianowned financial institutions should be implemented.

“We should be working with financial services regulators to implement commensurate policies, standards and requirements that provide for tiered licensing of Bahamian businesses.”

Mrs Komolafe said it was essential to improve the ease of doing business, and create an environment “that enables the private sector to flourish and the middle class to thrive”.

She added: “Regrettably, this has not been the fate of our Commonwealth over the past 10 years. Rather, policies implemented have worsened the situation and further weakened the Bahamian private sector to the detriment of employees and customers.”

Opposition: Govt ‘worst offender’ on workplace relations

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Opposition MPs yesterday slammed the Government as one of “worst offenders” in workplace relations, as debate began in the House of Assembly yesterday on the controversial

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labour law reforms.

Loretta Butler-Turner, the Opposition’s House of Assembly leader, told Parliament there were “pros and cons” to the proposed amendments to the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act. “There has to be greater equilibrium brought to the legislation,” she said.

“Don’t make either side the bad guy. Let us not black ball employers, and let us not blackball employees.”

The Long Island MP called on the Government to foster dialogue between all sides for balance and harmonious relations.

She added: “As the head goes, so goes the tail. The Government has a lot of room for improvement because they have Bahamians working without being compensated, so they are setting a bad example for employers.

“They cannot put the entire rap on employers.

They have to get it right and others will fall in line. The Government is the largest employer.”

Montagu MP, Richard Lightbourn, questioned why the legislation was only being brought to Parlia-

ment at the “ninth hour”, accusing the Christie administration of “rushing the legislation through” to ensure that it becomes law before the general election.

He also labelled the Government as one of the “worst offenders” in labour relations, referencing the number of “unregularised” workers within the civil service.

Labour Minister, Shane Gibson, replied that the Christie administration has been moving to bring the number of temporary and contractual workers within the civil service to a minimum by making them permanent and pensionable.

Dr Andre Rollins expressed concern over the impact the reforms would have on the business community and, ultimately, the wider economy.

“The economy is moving dismally and this has caused consternation on the part of employers. They are the ones responsible for minimising the further deterioration of the economy by holding o nto employees and minimising job losses where possible,” said Dr Rollins.

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Tuesday, March 21, 2017, PAGE 3

Miller warns over labour law reform

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Outspoken PLP MP, Leslie Miller, yesterday warned about the possible repercussions from the Government’s proposed labour law reforms, urging: “We must be reasonable in our approach.”

In his contribution to the House of Assembly debate on the controversial reforms yesterday, Mr Miller acknowledged concerns expressed by the private sector over the proposed changes to the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act. Referencing Tribune Business reports that large employers were mulling whether to impose wages and hiring freezes in response, Mr Miller said some employers were “maxed out”, adding that running a business was not easy.

A business owner himself, Mr Miller warned that employers’ threats should not be taken lightly. “I’m

Urges Govt to be ‘reasonable in approach’ Warns that some businesses ‘maxed out’ Fears employees will suffer consequences not taking sides,” he said.

“I want us to be fair, but I want us to realise what could happen. Who is going to suffer? The workers.

What we do in here affects the lives of ordinary Bahamians.

“Let us be very careful in the decisions that we say we make for the Bahamian people that you don’t look out for one sector and not look for the larger area.

These are very difficult times we are facing, and I’m very concerned about the outcomes once the amendments become law.

We must be reasonable in our approach.”

Mr Miller called for a “happy medium” to be reached over the reforms.

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) has previously said the labour reforms tabled in Parliament were not unanimously agreed to.

As reported by Tribune Business, the Bahamas’ largest employers, including some of the biggest hotels, are mulling whether to impose a wages and hiring freeze in retaliation for the Government’s decision to force controversial labour reforms “down our throats”.

Key among employer concerns is the 67 per cent, or two-thirds increase, in the Employment Act’s redundancy pay ‘cap’.

Line staff are currently entitled to a maximum 24 weeks or six months’ redundancy pay under the Employment Act, gaining two weeks for each year they have been employed up to the 12-year ‘cap’.However,

the Bill requires the ‘cap’ to be increased to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately upon enactment of the reforms.

And, ultimately, the ‘cap’ for line staff redundancy pay is to be increased to 40 weeks some two years after the amendments are passed.

As for managerial staff, the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due currently under the Employment Act is to be immediately increased to 64 weeks. Should the proposals pass, the ‘cap’ will ultimately be lifted to 80 weeks after two years.

The reforms effectively make redundancy ‘cost prohibitive’ for employers.

Among the consequences could be employee ‘churn’, and a reluctance to employ older workers given the cost of dismissing them, and labour market inflexibility at a time when the likes of the IMF have called for structural reform in this area.

BTC slams Aliv’s 25% ‘share’ claim The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) yesterday hit back against its first competitor, slamming Aliv’s claim that it has gained a 25 per cent mobile market share within just three-and-a-half months.

Leon Williams, BTC’s chief executive, said it was impossible for Aliv’s claimed 45,000-50,000 subscribers to equate to onequarter of the market, given that the incumbent operator has more than 310,000 customers.

This equates to an Aliv market share of between 14-15.6 per cent, and Mr Williams said BTC’s own research suggested that 90

Says 90% of new entrant clients also have its handsets BTC launching new mobile products to fight-off Aliv per cent of those 45,000 were also its customers they currently own both Aliv and BTC handsets.

“We note that it has been touted that the second mobile entrant has more than 25 per cent of the market share with a 45,000 customer base,” Mr Williams said.

“BTC wholeheartedly

BTC CEO LEON WILLIAMS and unreservedly refutes these claims, noting that while the second entrant may have 45,000 customers, it surely does not equate to a 25 per cent customer base.

A simple mathematical calculation could clarify this.

“Additionally, based on our research and our numbers, we are confident that more than 90 per cent of

these 45,000 customers are owners of two handsets, as we have not experienced a severe revenue impact.”

Mr Williams continued: “BTC is stronger than ever.

We are not losing ground, and our customers are resting with the best carrier in the country. BTC is backed by the world’s largest international television and

Minister Leslie Miller broadband company, Liberty Global, whose revenues exceed $20 billion.

“Liberty Global employs more than 45,000 team members, has over 25 million television and broadband customers, and over 10.3 million mobile subscribers, with over five million Wi-Fi access points.”

Mr Williams’s comments, issued in a statement yesterday, signal that the competition between BTC and Aliv for subscribers and market share will only intensify further over the coming months.

And a key milestone is fast approaching on April 25, for this is when mobile number portability will launch, enabling former BTC customers to keep their existing numbers when they switch to Aliv, and vice versa.

Number portability’s arrival will likely determine how many of the 45,000 subscribers referred to by

Mr Williams keep their BTC and Aliv handsets, as opposed to going with the latter operator.

In another sign of BTC’s eagerness to combat Aliv, the former yesterday promised to launch a new suite of mobile products that are “unrivalled in the market” within the next few weeks.

“Stay tuned for what’s to come. The public will definitely be in awe when we unveil our new plans. We are giving our customers what they want,” said Mr Williams.

“Even in the face of mobile liberalisation, we have been able to grow our market share by an additional 6,000 customers.

We also introduced valueadded services, including mobile television, and todate over 15,000 customers have been using the service since December.”

PAGE 4, Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Atlantis ‘very concerned’ on labour reforms impact From pg B1

interference in the private sector’s operations.

“It also somehow enters into the realm of intrusion with someone being able to run their own business,” Mr Fields said. “It’s not how one runs a business, and I can say that in the context of Atlantis always having done the right thing by its employees.”

He added that Atlantis was “going to look” at the potential financial impact if the proposed reforms, which had their second reading in the House of Assembly yesterday, became law. However, the Paradise Island-based resort has “not got to that point yet”.

Atlantis’s concerns are significant, because they come from the Bahamas’ largest private sector employer, and have emerged just before the private sector meets with Prime Minister Perry Christie today to seek a compromise over the reforms.

Gowon Bowe, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC)

chairman, confirmed to Tribune Business that the private sector will seek “to strike a balance” when it meets with Mr Christie and Shane Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, this morning.

“Hopefully, we are able to have some meaningful dialogue and let cooler heads prevail,” Mr Bowe said. “I understand that there has to be some give and take, but hopefully they’ll sit and have that conversation, and not let it go to waste.”

He added that the debates over Value-Added Tax (VAT) and increasing the minimum wage had established a precedent for compromise between the Government and the private sector, although he acknowledged that “history is not necessarily a predicator of the future”.

Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association’s (BHREA) president, also expressed hope that today’s meeting would “be able to resolve some of the issues that ourselves, the Chamber and other private sector

US wins $13.9m ‘Ninety’ assets confiscate appeal From pg B1 relations in an attempt to put them beyond the reach of the authorities.

“Equally, it has always been the claim of the defendant [Mr Knowles], and of various members of his family plus the car rental company, that these assets were nothing to do with him, but were, rather, the fruits of the honest endeavours of his relations.”

The Privy Council said fear that the US would seek to eventually enforce the ‘Proceeds of Crime’ order against the assets had likely motivated Mr Knowles’s family and relatives to oppose registration of the original ‘confiscation order’.

“It is an historic feature of the long-drawn out progress of this prosecution that although the original restraint order has been discharged, and replaced by a fresh one dated 9 June, 2011, in marginally more restricted terms, there has not been any trial of the question of the ownership of the restrained assets, nor of the source of the funds from which they were acquired, despite the passage of some 16 years since the first order was made,” the Privy Council noted.

“It is plain from the documents which the Board has seen that neither side has grappled properly with the issues of ownership or source of funds.”

The Privy Council said

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that KATHLEEN VIQUERIE WHITE of Old Fort Bay, P.O.Box N4820, Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for

Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

stakeholders have”.

Employers generally were maintaining a united front over the proposed labour law reforms, which they fear will have a “catastrophic” impact that may “bankrupt” many companies - especially small and medium-sized businesses if enacted.

Carlton Russell, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, in an e-mail to members, warned that the Bills would have “an immediate, irreversible, detrimental impact” on all businesses.

Telling all BHTA members that their “voices must be heard”, he called on them to lobby Cabinet Ministers, MPs and even senior civil servants over their concerns.

Revealing that the private sector had “escalated efforts”, Mr Russell wrote: “We are working collaboratively and expediently to respond to the tabled amendments, which will have an immediate, irreversible, detrimental impact on Bahamian businesses, including but not limited to businesses directly and indirectly involved in the hospitality and tourism industry.

“We urge you to reach

out to your appropriate public sector representative, your Member of Parliament, Ministers, and or any public representative you deem appropriate immediately to voice your concerns regarding these changes.”

Mick Holding, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, told Tribune Business that the reforms “shouldn’t be so extreme” that they end up deterring investment and job creation.

“The feedback I have received, and my view on it, is that while the law should be in place to protect workers’ rights, they shouldn’t be so extreme that they discourage employment and investment,” he said.

“I think the current proposals are a step too far in the wrong direction. It’s gone beyond employee protection, and is going to be punitive on businesses. It’s likely to discourage people from going into business.”

Mr Holding said the proposals, if enacted as is, will make redundancy cost prohibitive for employees.

He added: “I’m all for having laws in place to protect employees from unscrupulous employers, but they shouldn’t be so extreme that they penalise good em-

ployers.”

Key among employer concerns is the 67 per cent, or two-thirds increase, in the Employment Act’s redundancy pay ‘cap’.

Line staff are currently entitled to a maximum 24 weeks or six months’ redundancy pay under the Employment Act, gaining two weeks for each year they have been employed up to the 12-year ‘cap’.

However, the Bill requires the ‘cap’ to be increased to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately upon enactment of the reforms.

And, ultimately, the ‘cap’ for line staff redundancy pay is to be increased to 40 weeks some two years after the amendments are passed.

As for managerial staff, the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due currently under the Employment Act is to be immediately increased to 64 weeks.

Should the proposals pass, the ‘cap’ will ultimately be lifted to 80 weeks after two years.

The proposed reforms also impose bureaucratic notification requirements on Bahamian businesses, whenever they are considering redundancies, and a

fine equivalent to 30 days’ extra pay for each terminated employee should these not be adhered to.

Employers will have to give relevant trade unions, or employee representatives, a “written statement” explaining the reasons for the redundancies and “facts” behind the move, along with the number and category of jobs impacted, and the timeframe over which the terminations will take place.

“Recognised” trade unions must be consulted “no later than six weeks” before the redundancies will occur in a bid to “mitigate” the impact, and determine the processes and procedures that will be used. The Minister of Labour must be given 30 days’ notice.

Meanwhile, the proposed reforms to section 51 of the Industrial Relations Act deem the terms and conditions of industrial agreements as automatically incorporated into individual workers’ contracts.

Other proposed amendments force employers to start collective bargaining talks within 45 days of receiving a trade union’s industrial agreement proposal.

“much fuller evidence” was required to determine ‘ownership’ of the disputed assets.

“If the other respondents [Mr Knowles’s relatives] wish to assert that they own the assets beneficially, it is likely that they will have to produce evidence of the source of legitimate funds from which they were acquired,” it added.

Turning to the US ‘confiscation order’ itself, the Privy Council found that while it could be viewed as ‘ambiguous’, because it came from a different country, it was seeking payment of funds that were obtained in connection with criminal activities.

Siding with the initial Supreme Court verdict delivered by then-senior justice Hartman Longley, the Privy Council found that the US government had requested the ‘confiscation order’s registration, and that there was no need for Mr Knowles’s relatives to have been served with notice of the proceedings.

Damian Gomez QC, the former minister of state for legal affairs, appeared for Mr Knowles and his relatives, while UK-based QC, Peter Knox, acted for the Government and the US.

Minister: 2/3 redundancy increase brings Bahamas ‘in line’ with Caribbean

duction of trade union dues from the wages. This one is the most egregious and disgraceful ones.”

Mr Gibson said the latter reform stemmed from the dispute between the Meliá Nassau Beach and the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU). The resort in 2015 said it was not obligated to provide administrative facilities for the payment of hotel union dues as there was no valid industrial agreement with the union.

“We amended the law to ensure that once recognition is given, the employer is obligated to deduct union dues and forward it on to the union,” said Mr Gibson.

He added that the Government does not want to discourage social dialogue on labour-related issues.

“The one thing we don’t want to do is discourage social dialogue. Whatever the Tripartite Council and social parties decide on, the Government doesn’t necessarily have to accept it, but they can recommend to the Government what they think the position should be and the Government would then exercise their discretion and determine what part of, if any, of the recommendations they would advance to legislation,” said Mr Gibson.

From pg B1 second reading of the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act amendments, Mr Gibson said: “That’s the one that really has the employers going.

“We checked around to see what people do in other countries with termination pay. In Jamaica, it’s capped at 20 years, and in Barbados it’s capped at 33 years. In Antigua, there is no cap.

“In the Bahamas, it is capped at 12 years. Something has to be wrong. What we sought to do is see what was happening in the region and not reinvent the wheel; to look at what is happening in the region and use the thresholds that currently exist,” added Mr Gibson.

“I have a meeting tomorrow morning (today) with some employers where we will go over this to try and reach a compromise.”

Key among employer concerns is the 67 per cent, or two-thirds increase, in the Employment Act’s redundancy pay ‘cap’.

Line staff are currently entitled to a maximum 24 weeks or six months’ redun-

dancy pay under the Employment Act, gaining two weeks for each year they have been employed up to the 12-year ‘cap’.

However, the Bill requires the ‘cap’ to be increased to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately upon enactment of the reforms. And, ultimately, the ‘cap’ for line staff redundancy pay is to be increased to 40 weeks some two years after the amendments are passed.

As for managerial staff, the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due currently under the Employment Act is to be immediately increased to 64 weeks. Should the proposals pass, the ‘cap’ will ultimately be lifted to 80 weeks after two years.

Among other amendments is the Employment Act’s definition of ‘employer’. “Right now, employer is not properly defined to make sure we know exactly who the employer is and who should be given recognition,” Mr Gibson said.

“We also will require employers to accept an employee’s request for the de-

NOTICE

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NOTICE

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International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000

International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000

CF INVESTMENT FUND LTD. (the “Company”)

SSM Investment Fund Ltd. (the “Company”)

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Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of SSM Investment Fund Ltd. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 26th day of January, 2017.

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of IMD Investment Fund Ltd. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 10th day of February, 2017.

Luciane Ribeiro Moreno Liquidator

Luciane Ribeiro Moreno Liquidator

Luciane Ribeiro Moreno Liquidator

NOTICE

NOTICE

NOTICE

International Business Companies Act Nº 45 of 2000

International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000

International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000

Bristol Global Investments Ltd. (the “Company”)

LB Investment Fund Ltd. (the “Company”)

CI Investment Fund Ltd. (the “Company”)

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act Nº 45 of 2000, the Dissolution of Bristol Global Investments Ltd. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 10th day of February, 2017.

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of LB Investment Fund Ltd. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 26th day of January, 2017.

Daniela de Castro Martins Liquidator

Luciane Ribeiro Moreno Liquidator

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of CI Investment Fund Ltd. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 26th day of January, 2017.

Luciane Ribeiro Moreno Liquidator

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, PAGE 5

Family Guardian in near-$6m ‘hit’ from Prime slash From pg B1 per cent of our investment assets would have been impacted by the 50 basis point reduction in Prime.

“That constituted a significant hit for us in terms of the reserves,” Mr Burrows continued. “That would have been just short of $6 million, but even with that we were able to achieve a fairly reasonable level of return to get the profits we had.”

The Family Guardian president added that this was reflected in the $689,373 net loss incurred for the final three months of 2016, which represented a negative $2.48 million reversal from 2015’s fourth quarter profit.

Despite this, Mr Burrows reiterated that Family Guardian was “able to hit our targets for the year”,

although the 0.5 percentage point Prime rate reduction’s impact has affected its plans for 2017.

“It required us to take some other measures to soften the impact of the Prime rate reduction,” Mr Burrows said.

“We had to make some adjustments in the expense line to limit or mitigate the impact of the Prime rate reduction. We would have reduced some of the things we were looking at engaging in in 2017.

“We had to take a second look at our administrative costs and, in some instances, had to defer some of the things we were looking to do in the course of the year. Anything that we had an opportunity to defer, we deferred into future years.”

Mr Burrows’s comments show the impact that the

GB Power demand 10% ‘below normal’ From pg B1 normal expectations.

“However, management anticipates that demand will recover to pre-storm levels by 2018.”

Much of the reduced demand is likely to stem from the continued closures of the former Memories property and much of the Grand Lucayan resort, since hotels are significant energy consumers. And some residential properties badly damaged during Hurricane Matthew may still have to be restored to the grid.

Emera pegged GB Power’s post-Matthew restoration costs at $28 million, a slight rise from previous estimates of $27-$27.5 million.

While GB Power is seeking to fully recover these restoration costs over the next five years internally, the Emera filing discloses that should it be unsuccessful, it can then seek to obtain the remainder from its customers via rate increases.

“GBPC’s generation and substation infrastructure weathered the storm well, [but] over 2,100 transmission and distribution poles and related conduits were damaged or destroyed, as were many connections to customer homes,” Emera said of Matthew’s aftermath. “Restoration efforts have been completed with the support of other Emera affiliates.

“Emera Caribbean has recorded $28 million of restoration costs associated with Hurricane Matthew, with no impact to net income. $21 million has been recorded as a regulated asset amortised over five years, and $7 million recorded as property, plant and equipment depreciating at an average 27 years.

“Both assets are included in rate base. In December 2016, the GBPA (Grand Bahama Port Authority) has approved the full recovery of the storm restoration costs in this manner.”

Unveiling GB Power’s cost recovery plan in late 2016, the GBPA said Grand Bahama residents and businesses would see no increase in their electricity rates “for the next five years”, with the utility absorbing the financial impact itself.

Confirming this, Emera’s results filing said: “This is achievable as the company’s fuel costs over this period are forecast to decrease.

Fuel costs are managed through a fuel hedging programme, which allows predictability of these costs.

“Any over recovery of fuel costs during this period will be applied to the Hurricane Matthew regulatory deferral, until such time as the deferral is recovered.

Should GBPC recover funds in excess of the Hurricane Matthew regulatory deferral, the excess will be placed in a new storm reserve.”

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Central Bank’s Prime rate cut has had on insurance and bank balance sheets, as the reduction works its way through the Bahamian economy in early 2017.

With returns on Family Guardian’s fixed income investments, such as deposits, bonds and preference shares, tied directly to Prime, the interest rate cut has reduced these yields, forcing it to increase reserves to compensate.

Reserves for future policyholder benefits increased by 7.5 per cent year-overyear, growing from $187.288 million to $201.292 million, partly to compensate for the Prime rate cut.

Still, Family Guardian’s BISX-listed parent, FamGuard Corporation, produced a relatively flat bottom line performance year-over-year, with net income down 5.8 per cent at $6.496 million compared to $6.893 million the year before.

Total comprehensive income was also down by 8.1 per cent, standing at $7.129 million for 2016 compared for Grand Bahama residents and businesses to watch for the future, Emera then added: “If the Hurricane Matthew deferral is not fully recovered at the end of five years, GBPC will have the opportunity to request recovery from customers in future rates.”

With demand for Grand Bahama Power’s supply unlikely to recover until 2018, Emera warned that “expected short term load decline” resulting from Hurricane Matthew would be a key factor in its 2017 Caribbean earnings coming in below prior year levels.

Caribbean electricity sales, revenues and volumes all declined for Emera in the 2016 fourth quarter, primarily as a result of Matthew’s impact in Grand Bahama.

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to $7.761 million the year before.

However, the way in which 2016’s net income is distributed has increased ordinary shareholder earnings per share (EPS) from $0.46 in 2015 to $0.50. This is because the share of profits to ordinary shareholders rose by 3.4 per cent to $4.99 million, while the earnings for Family Guardian’s ‘non-controlling interests’ dropped by 48.7 per cent to $880,324.

Mr Burrows, meanwhile, said Family Guardian “definitely wants to be in expansion mode” on its general insurance business, FG Insurance Agents & Brokers, and open to acquiring rival companies if they were “a good fit”.

“We’re always open to opportunity,” he told Tribune Business. “We are mindful of how there are a lot of other agents and brokers out in the market, and if a buying opportunity presents itself, we will be

more than willing to look at it over the next several months.”

Mr Burrows added that Family Guardian was also targeting “organic growth” on the general insurance side, training its life personnel to sell the latter product suite and vice versa, in a bid to exploit cross-selling opportunities.

He said Family Guardian was optimistic about its 2017 prospects, especially if Baha Mar’s anticipated opening and improvements in the US economy resulted in increased tourism inflows and Bahamian jobs. The latter development would generate increased consumer demand for many products, including insurance.

The BISX-listed group, though, is also focused on what it can control and its internal efficiencies. Mr Burrows said the key focus for 2017 is implementation of a new technology platform, which will “improve efficiencies in operations

beyond” this year.

“We’re focusing on efficiencies within our operations,” he told Tribune Business. “We are embarking on introducing a new policy administration system for our home service division and financial services division.

“Home service will be in place before the end of the summer, and financial services by the middle of next year. We’re doing the same on group health, and anticipate that this new system will deliver a significant level of efficiencies from an operational standpoint, allowing us to better serve our market and expand our product offering and service to clients.

“The more efficient we get, we’re able to drive down those policy unit costs, which makes the product more profitable and enables us to price those products more efficiently to be more competitive in the local market.”

PAGE 6, Tuesday, March 21, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

The countdown begins: Britain to start EU exit on March 29

LONDON (AP) — Britain will begin divorce proceedings from the European Union on March 29, starting the clock on two years of intense political and economic negotiations that will fundamentally change both the nation and its European neighbors.

Britain’s ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, informed European Council President Donald Tusk of the exact start date on Monday morning.

“We are on the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said. “The government is clear in its aims: a deal that works for every nation and region of the U.K. and indeed for all of Europe - a new, positive partnership between the U.K. and our friends and allies in the European Union.”

The trigger for all this tumult is the innocuous-sounding Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, a never-before-used mechanism for withdrawing from the bloc. British Prime Minister Theresa May, under the Article, will notify Tusk of her nation’s intentions to leave the 28-nation bloc.

The article stipulates that the two sides will have until March 2019 to agree on a divorce settlement and — if possible — establish a new relationship between Britain, the world’s No. 5 economy, and the EU, a vast single market containing 500 million people.

The European Commission — the bloc’s legislative arm — said it stood ready to help launch the negotiations.

members of protocol adjust the British and EU flags at EU headquarters in Brussels. Yesterday the European Commission said it has been informed in advance of Britain’s plans to trigger its exit from the EU on March 29 and stands ready to help launch the negotiations. (AP Photo) “Everything is ready on this side,” commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said. Leaders of the 27 other EU nations will meet by the month of May to finalize their negotiating guidelines.

May’s 10 Downing Street office said the prime minister will make a statement in the House of Commons on the day Article 50 is triggered.

Britons voted in a June referendum to leave the EU after more than 40 years of membership. But May was not able to trigger the talks until last week, when the British Parliament approved a bill

authorizing the start of Brexit negotiations.

But like any divorce, things may not go to plan.

The letter May sends next week will plunge Britain into a period of intense uncertainty. The country doesn’t know what its future relationship with the bloc will look like — whether its businesses will freely be able to trade with the rest of Europe, its students can study abroad or its pensioners will be allowed to retire easily in other EU states. Those things have become part of life in the U.K. since it joined what was then called the European Economic Community

in 1973.

It’s also not clear what rights the estimated 3 million EU citizens already working and living in Britain will retain.

And it’s not even certain that the United Kingdom — made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — will survive the EU exit intact.

Scotland’s nationalist first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is seeking a referendum on independence within two years. In the same Brexit vote in which most Britons chose to leave the EU, Scottish voters mostly wanted to stay.

Sturgeon says Scotland mustn’t be “taken down a path that we do not want to go down without a choice.”

May has rejected that suggestion, saying “now is not the time” for another referendum on Scottish independence.

Pro-EU Labour Party Lawmaker Pat McFadden said Monday it is now up to May to deliver the good deal for Britain that she has promised.

“The phony period is nearly over, and the real work of negotiations are about to begin,” McFadden said.

Conflicts are likely to arise soon. The EU wants Britain to pay a hefty divorce bill — estimates have ranged up to 60 billion euros ($64 billion) — to cover pension liabilities for EU staff and other commitments the U.K. has agreed to.

British negotiators are sure to quibble over the size of that tab.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

Iraqi prime minister joins Trump for meeting focusing on IS WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday held his first meeting with Iraq’s prime minister Monday as the American leader shapes his policy for defeating the Islamic State group.

With Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at the White House, Trump said Iran was one of the issues facing his team and the Iraqi delegation. He took

the opportunity to criticize the nuclear deal his predecessor, Barack Obama, pursued with Iran.

“One of the things I did ask is, ‘Why did President Obama sign that agreement with Iran?’ because nobody has been able to figure that one out,” Trump said. “But maybe someday we’ll be able to figure that one out.”

Trump said he hopes to address the “vacuum” that was created when the Is-

lamic State group claimed Iraq and added that “we shouldn’t have gone in” to Iraq in the first place.

Speaking after Trump during the bilateral meeting, al-Abadi said that Iraq has “the strongest counterterrorism forces, but we are looking forward to more cooperation between us and the U.S.” Trump campaigned on a promise to dramatically ramp up the assault on IS

and has vowed to eradicate “radical Islamic terrorism.”

So far, he has not indicated a dramatic change of course.

Like Obama before him, Trump has not suggested any sharp increases in troop levels or in airstrikes against militant targets, looking to avoid giving off the image of an invading force.

Earlier Monday, Trump greeted al-Abadi in the Oval Office shortly after FBI Director James Comey said the FBI and Justice Department have no information to substantiate Trump’s claims that Obama wiretapped him before the election.

As reporters were leaving, al-Abadi leaned over to

said a “vast” bill is unreasonable, and suggested that May should follow the “illustrious precedent” of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who successfully sought a rebate from the bloc in 1984.

Negotiations will also soon hit a fundamental topic: Britain wants “frictionless” free trade, but says it will restore controls over immigration, ending the right of EU citizens to live and work in Britain. The EU, however, says Britain can’t have full access to the single market if it doesn’t accept the free movement of its people, one of the bloc’s key principles.

May has suggested that if talks stall she could walk away, saying that “no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain.”

That prospect alarms many British businesses. If Britain crashed out of the EU without a trade deal it would fall back onto World Trade Organization rules, leading to tariffs and other barriers to trade.

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has warned that the British government has not done enough to prepare for the “real prospect” that talks with the EU may break down, ending in no deal and “mutually assured damage” to both Britain and the EU. Even if the talks go well, EU leaders say there is little chance that a final agreement on relations between the two parties will be reached by 2019. Some experts say the process could take a decade.

Trump and joked, “We have nothing to do with the wiretap.”

The Iraqi premier’s first visit to Washington since Trump’s inauguration came before Trump hosts a 68-nation meeting geared toward advancing the fight against the militant group.

During al-Abadi’s last visit to Washington, the Iraqi premier worked to drum up greater financial and military support as he faced the daunting task of rebuilding cities destroyed in the fight against the Islamic State group. He also sought greater assistance to help the country confront a humanitarian crisis, with more than 4 million people displaced in the fighting.

As he departed Baghdad for the Monday afternoon meeting at the White House, al-Abadi declared in a video statement, “We are in the last chapter, the final

stages to eliminate IS militarily in Iraq.”

But as Iraqi forces come closer to recapturing the city of Mosul — it’s militant group’s biggest stronghold in Iraq — the extent to which the Trump administration is willing to commit to efforts to rebuild Iraqi cities, many of them in ruins from the fighting, remains to be seen.

Trump’s budget proposal would cut by roughly 30 percent funding for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Both contribute significantly to peacekeeping missions and development programs.

How Iraq will be impacted

by Trump’s approach isn’t known. Previous administrations have asserted a need for maintaining assistance to Iraq to counter the influence of neighboring Iran.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump, yesterday, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo)

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, PAGE 7

US stock indexes dip for a third day as banks stumble

NEW YORK (AP) — After an early-afternoon slump, U.S. stocks finished mostly lower Monday in a quiet day of trading. Banks fell along with bond yields as stocks declined for a third straight day.

Lower bond yields hurt banks because they force interest rates down on mortgages and other kinds of loans. Utility companies gave up some of their recent gains.

Most sectors didn’t move much on the lightest trading day of the year. European markets mostly fell after the British government said it will formally begin the process of leaving the European Union next week.

Sameer Samana, a strategist for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said politics may keep investors occupied for the next few weeks as they wait for elections in France and a European Central Bank meeting, both next month, while legislators in the

U.S. debate the proposed Republican-backed health care law.

“There’s enough events that will keep markets busy,” Samana said. He added that investors want to see tax reform proposals because they could boost corporate profits, but those aren’t likely to come until the health care bill is dealt with.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 4.78 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,373.47.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 8.76 points to 20,905.86. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.53 points to 5,901.53. The Russell 2000 of small-company stocks fell 7.43 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,384.10.

The stock market has mostly been quiet this month. Its two big moves were both linked to the Federal Reserve: on March 1 stocks jumped after the central bank signaled it would raise rates, and they climbed last Wednesday af-

ter the Fed made it clear it will move slowly for the rest of the year.

Britain’s government said it will trigger the process of leaving the EU on March 29. That will start a long negotiation between Britain and the EU, with uncertain effects for banks and other companies that do business across borders. Britain is expected to officially leave the union in 2019.

Bond prices rose, send yields to their lowest in three weeks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.46 percent from 2.50 percent.

Wells Fargo fell $1.04, or 1.8 percent, to $57.63 and Synchrony Financial gave up 92 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $34.20.

The British pound slipped to $1.2350 from $1.2396 late Friday, and it’s down about 20 percent since Britain voted to leave the EU in late June. The dollar declined to 112.58 yen from 112.70 yen. The

Traders Robert Arciero, left, and Frederick Reimer work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, yesterda. U.S. stocks are opening slightly lower, led by losses in banks after Britain announced it will formally trigger the process of leaving the European Union. (AP Photo) talks but said Washington doesn’t have experience in the diamond industry and questioned the timing of the offer. Washington Cos. said it first made its offer in February and that Dominion Diamond isn’t willing to open its books.

Nektar Therapeutics soared after the company said an experimental pain drug met its goals in a latestage study. Its NKTR-181 is an opioid drug designed to relieve pain without causing euphoria, which the company said can contrib-

ute to drug abuse and addiction. It studied NKTR181 as a treatment for lower back pain. Nektar stock rose $6.71, or 43.3 percent, to $22.21.

Array BioPharma fell 29 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $10.27 after it withdrew a marketing application for its melanoma drug binimetinib. After Array talked to regulators, the company said it was clear they wouldn’t approve the drug based on its most recent trial. It will continue studies of binimetinib.

Puerto Rico balks at proposed $450M public university cuts

been a point of contention as Puerto Rico seeks to restructure some $70 billion in public debt amid a decadelong economic crisis. The board recently approved a 10-year fiscal plan that implements multimilliondollar cuts and increases in some services to help stabilize the island’s economy.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor on Monday pushed back on a federal control board’s demand for $450 million in cuts at the island’s largest public university.

The proposed cuts recently prompted nearly a dozen top university officials to resign in protest amid warnings it would affect the quality of education and lead to layoffs of professors who already have been denied sabbaticals and salary increases.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the control board in a

letter that the University of Puerto Rico cannot sustain further cuts because its budget has already been reduced by $348 million in the past two years. He proposed instead that university budget cuts be instead reduced to $241 million and implemented by 2021.

“Having access to higher education is key element to enhance economic and social development,” he wrote.

Rossello said he could generate more revenue for the university by having government agencies pay

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that PETERSON YRA of Sisal Rd., Blue Hill South, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 21st day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that DELIS CARME NESTHAN of Sir Lynden Pindling Estates, P.O.Box CR-54802 The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 21st day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, MICHAEL BELIZAIRE of Island Drive, off Carmichael Road, P.O. Box CR-54507, New Providence, Bahamas intend to change my name to EUGENE BELIZAIRE. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-792, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that CORESHA KENDRICKA MORLEY of Bamboo Blvd., P.O.Box CR-56100, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that RITA PETIT-FRERE of Augusta Street, Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

professors to provide training for teachers and other government employees.

Public Affairs Secretary Ramon Rosario said in a press conference on Monday that municipalities are

euro fell to $1.0733 from $1.0743.

Benchmark U.S. crude declined 56 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $48.22 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 14 cents to $51.62 a barrel in London.

Dominion Diamond climbed $2.28, or 23 percent, to $12.20 after Washington Cos. went public with an offer to buy the diamond mining company for $13.50 per share, or about $1.1 billion. Dominion Diamond said it is willing to engage in

already paying private companies to provide that service, so it would not be an additional financial burden on them.

The university system has a total of 11 campuses and

NOTICE

serves more than 50,000 students.

The board, which oversees the island’s finances, did not immediately comment on Rossello’s letter.

The proposed cuts have

NOTICE is hereby given that KEMUEL SAINTILIEN of #3 Edgar Place, Freeport, Grand Bahama, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twentyeight days from the 21st day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that HAROLD HUNTER WHITE III of Old Fort Bay, P.O.Box N4820, Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twentyeight days from the 14th day of March, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

MARKET REPORT MONDAY, 20 MARCH 2017

t. 242.323.2330 | f. 242.323.2320 | www.bisxbahamas.com

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE 1,905.06 | CHG 0.75 | %CHG 0.04 | YTD -33.15 | YTD% -1.71 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.38 17.43 9.09 3.56 4.70 0.12 7.20 8.50 6.10 10.60 15.27 2.72 1.60 5.83 10.00 11.00 9.30 6.90 12.01 11.00

52WK LOW 2.70 17.43 8.19 3.50 1.77 0.12 3.80 8.15 5.56 7.72 11.00 2.18 1.31 5.80 6.79 8.56 7.00 6.35 11.92 10.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

900.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 106.00 100.00 106.00 105.00 105.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

1.00 105.50 100.00 100.00 105.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Bank of Bahamas Benchmark Cable Bahamas CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Colina Holdings Commonwealth Bank Commonwealth Brewery Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol ICD Utilities J. S. Johnson Premier Real Estate Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Commonwealth Bank Class E Commonwealth Bank Class J Commonwealth Bank Class K Commonwealth Bank Class L Commonwealth Bank Class M Commonwealth Bank Class N Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00 100.00

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS FAM FBB FIN FCL ICD JSJ PRE CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA CBLE CBLJ CBLK CBLL CBLM CBLN FBBA FCLB

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 17 (Series A) + Fidelity Bank Note 18 (Series E) + Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB17 FBB18 FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-3Y BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-5Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-5Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0103 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

113.70 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.03 3.92 1.94 169.70 141.76 1.47 1.67 1.57 1.10 6.96 8.50 6.30 9.94 11.21 10.46

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.41 1.61 1.52 1.03 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57

LAST CLOSE 4.38 15.85 9.09 3.54 1.77 0.12 4.50 8.50 6.00 10.48 11.86 2.12 1.55 5.83 9.75 9.85 9.25 6.90 12.01 10.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01 LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 100.00 104.98 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 4.38 15.85 9.09 3.54 1.77 0.12 4.50 8.50 6.00 10.48 11.86 2.11 1.55 5.83 9.75 9.85 9.30 6.90 12.01 10.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.11 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00

105.56 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.58 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund FG Financial Preferred Income Fund FG Financial Growth Fund FG Financial Diversified Fund FG Financial Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund

VOLUME

300 1,000

VOLUME

NAV 2.03 3.92 1.94 168.44 141.76 1.47 1.64 1.56 1.04 6.96 8.50 6.30 9.80 11.13 9.63

EPS$ 0.029 1.002 -0.144 0.170 -0.130 0.000 -0.030 0.607 0.430 0.450 0.110 0.102 0.080 0.300 0.520 0.960 0.820 0.294 0.610 0.000

DIV$ 0.080 1.000 0.000 0.210 0.000 0.000 0.090 0.300 0.220 0.360 0.490 0.060 0.060 0.240 0.400 0.000 0.330 0.140 0.640 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 151.0 15.8 N/M 20.8 N/M N/M -150.0 14.0 14.0 23.3 107.8 20.7 19.4 19.4 18.8 10.3 11.3 23.5 19.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST 7.00% 6.00% Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2017 31-May-2018 19-Oct-2022

6.95% 4.00% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.25% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 3.88% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2017 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2020 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2020 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 4.30% 4.30% 3.82% 3.82% 2.73% 2.73% 3.95% 3.95% 6.77% 6.77% 0.40% 4.04% -1.76% 1.06% -0.34% 2.70% -0.95% 1.55% 4.35% 4.69% 4.13% 4.28% 4.22% 4.64% 6.19% 3.43% 2.77% 2.98% -3.66% -3.90%

NAV Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Jan-2017 31-Jan-2017 31-Jan-2017 31-Jan-2017 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

YIELD 1.83% 6.31% 0.00% 5.93% 0.00% 0.00% 2.00% 3.53% 3.67% 3.44% 4.13% 2.84% 3.87% 4.12% 4.10% 0.00% 3.55% 2.03% 5.33% 0.00%

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | FG CAPITAL MARKETS 242-396-4000 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, PAGE 9

Participants run in last year’s inaugural walkathon organised by the Mitchell Ekedede Brain Injury Foundation

Taking steps towards a brain injury treatment centre

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

A

s people all over the world observe March as Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month, here in the Bahamas an organisation is hoping to raise the funds to build a unique facility to treat those suffering from the effects of brain injury.

To raise the money, as well as awareness of a condition that affects millions globally, the Mitchell Ekedede Brain Injury Foundation will host its second annual walkathon this Saturday, beginning at Arawak Cay at 5.15am.

The general public is invited to participate.

After a horrific accident that left his son with a brain injury in October 2012, Matthew Mitchell teamed up with Dr Magnus Ekedede, the neurosurgeon who saved his son’s life, to form a new foundation with the aim of reducing the incidences of traumatic brain injury in the Bahamas.

The foundation is a non-profit organisation whose primary objective is to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury and acquired brain injury in the Bahamas through brain injury awareness, education, research, prevention, treatment and advocacy.

Traumatic brain injury

Local foundation hosts second annual walkathon (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by trauma such as a blow to the head.

It differs from acquired brain injury (ABI), which describes any other brain injury typically brought on by factors such as stroke, tumour, brain aneurysm or oxygen deprivation.

“When brain injury is suffered, most people cannot afford the cost of in and out patient care which is especially critical during the first year when such an injury is suffered, both for surgery and rehabilitation.

The cost of proper care approximates $400,000 annually,” Mr Mitchell told Tribune Health.

“Without insurance or personal wealth, care is not affordable or accessible.

This generally results in serious lifetime disabilities or death. Money should not be a reason why people do not get quality healthcare.”

He explained that after expensive surgery, the types of rehabilitation needed – sometimes at a minimum of five days a week, at least three times daily – are neuropsychology, speech, physical, occupational and recreational therapy.

“By financially supporting our walkathon and generally donating, which can be done via our website at

Neurosurgeon Dr Magnus Ekedede such promotes the chance that if a person does suffer brain injury, our foundation at some point in our development, will be able to assist persons who cannot afford care,” he said.

Mr Mitchell hopes that people can empathise with those who have brain injury and show their support in any way that they can.

“We encourage people to not think that it ‘cannot happen to me’, because

it can. We are also aware that money is tight for most people, but to the extent that one can, we ask that you give some priority to assisting whenever possible,” he said.

“Proceeds from the walkathon will go towards funding initiatives, the largest of which is to construct our neuro-rehab centre.”

This year, the foundation hopes to secure land to construct the centre, which will be the first of

its kind in the Caribbean.

An amount of $20 to $25 million is needed for this project.

“We also hope to form a private public partnership with the Bahamas government to assist in reducing or eliminating in excess of $7 million annually now spent for the care of those suffering brain injury. If our foundation achieves its goals, which include initial government support by granting land on which we

can construct our neurorehab centre, in addition to the public financially supporting us through donations, $7 million or more annually will not have to come from the public purse to care for those who suffer brain injury,” said Mr Mitchell.

For more information, visit the website at www. mebif.org or call 698-0575, 434-8224.

A Muppet with autism to be welcomed soon on ‘Sesame Street’ NEW YORK (AP) — Folks on Sesame Street have a way of making everyone feel accepted.

That certainly goes for Julia, a Muppet youngster with blazing red hair, bright green eyes — and autism. Rather than being treated like an outsider, which too often is the plight of kids on the spectrum, Julia is one of the gang.

Look: On this friendliest of streets (actually Studio J at New York’s Kaufman Astoria Studios, where “Sesame Street” lives) Julia is about to play a game with Oscar, Abby and Grover. In this scene being taped for airing next season, these Muppet chums have been challenged to spot objects shaped like squares or circles or triangles.

“You’re lucky,” says Abby to Grover. “You have Julia on your team, and she is really good at finding shapes!”

With that, they skedaddle, an exit that calls for the six Muppeteers squatted out of sight below them to scramble accordingly.

Joining her pals, Julia (performed

by Stacey Gordon) takes off hunting.

For more than a year, Julia has existed in print and digital illustrations as the centerpiece of a multifaceted initiative by Sesame Workshop called “Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children.”

She has been the subject of a storybook released along with vid-

Sesame Workshop shows Julia, a new autistic muppet character debuting on the 47th Season of “Sesame Street” on April 10, 2017, on both PBS and HBO. (Zach Hyman/Sesame Workshop via AP) eos, e-books, an app and website.

The goal is to promote a better understanding of what the Autism Speaks advocacy group describes as “a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.”

But now Julia has been brought to life in fine Muppet fettle. She makes her TV debut on “Sesame Street” in the “Meet Julia” episode airing April 10 on both PBS and HBO. Additional videos fea-

turing Julia will be available online.

Developing Julia and all the other components of this campaign has required years of consultation with organisations, experts and families within the autism community, according to Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president of US Social Impact.

“In the US, one in 68 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder,” she says. “We wanted to promote a better understanding and reduce the stigma often

found around these children.

We’re modeling the way both children and adults can look at autism from a strength-based perspective: finding things that all children share.”

Julia is at the heart of this effort. But while she represents the full range of children on the spectrum, she isn’t meant to typify each one of them: “Just as we look at all children as being unique, we should do the same thing when we’re looking at children with autism,” Betancourt says.

It was with keen interest that Stacey Gordon first learned of Julia more than a year ago. “I said, ‘If she’s ever a puppet, I want to BE Julia!’”

No wonder. Gordon is a Phoenix-based puppeteer who performs, conducts classes and workshops, and creates whimsical puppets for sale to the public.

She also has a son with autism, and, before she started her family, was a therapist to youngsters on the spectrum.

Although she figured her chances of landing the dream role of Julia were nil, her contacts in the puppet world paid off: Two friends who worked as Muppeteers on “Sesame Street” dropped her name to the producers. After submitting tapes, then coming to New York for an audition, she was hired.

In the introductory segment, Julia is having fun with Abby and

Elmo when Big Bird walks up.

He wants to be her new friend, but she doesn’t speak to him. He thinks she doesn’t like him.

“She does things just a little differently, in a Julia sort of way,” Abby informs him.

Julia, chuckling, then displays a different-but-fun way of playing tag, and everyone joins in. But when a siren wails, she covers her ears and looks stricken.

“She needs to take a break,” Big Bird’s human friend Alan calmly explains. Soon, all is well and play resumes.

“The ‘Meet Julia’ episode is something that I wish my son’s friends had been able to see when they were small,” says Gordon. “I remember him having meltdowns and his classmates not understanding how to react.”

Gordon says her son, now 13, isn’t drawn to puppetry. “He’s more interested in math and science, and plays the piano brilliantly,” she says with pride.

But she’s having a blast being part of the show that helped hook her, as a child, on puppeteering.

“It is so much fun to be on set with everyone, and get to play up all the positive things I’ve seen with the kids that I’ve worked with,” Gordon says. “At the same time, I come at this with a reverence. I don’t want to let the autism community down.”

PAGE 10, Tuesday, March 21, 2017

30-year-old man needs your help to save his life

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

Joseph Darville is reaching out to his loved ones and the community at large to help him locate a compatable kidney donor to save his life.

The Grand Bahama native, who used to work in construction, has undergone seven surgeries for acute kidney disease within the last seven months.

The procedures have taken a toll on him, but he said the love and support from family and friends has been enough to keep him going.

Mr Darville, who now resides in Nassau, began having medical issues, including hypertension, three years ago when he was just 27 years old.

He remembers walking into a trauma room at the Princess Margaret Hospital with his blood pressure over 280.

“I remember the nurses saying that this was the first they actually had someone walk into this area. After running further tests it was discovered that I also had some loss of kidney function,” he told Tribune Health.

This was just the start of a long ordeal.

Joseph Darville is in desperate need of a new kidney Mr Darville later returned to PMH with further symptoms, having flown in from the Berry Islands. He was admitted for severe pain.

“After being evaluated I was then told that I was experiencing kidney failure and my blood was severely toxic and would need dialysis going forward.

Since then my life has been changed greatly. In order to receive dialysis, surgeons install ports directly into major arteries of your body which allow them to perform the procedures. On aver-

THE TRIBUNE

age you need at least three treatments a week to remain healthy. However, sometimes these ports have issues,” he explained.

On a recent trip to Cuba for a more extensive evaluation of his condition, he was diagnosed with stage 5 chronic kidney disease. Doctors told him that he will need a kidney transplant in the near future.

A person with stage 5 chronic kidney disease has end-stage renal disease (ESRD). At this advanced stage of kidney disease, the kidneys have lost nearly all their ability to do their job effectively, and eventually dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed to live.

To help him find a compatible donor, Mr Darville launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist with considerable costs associated with the transplant.

“After going through all of this I would highly urge my fellow Bahamians to please get regular check-ups. I am hopeful that I will find a donor from a family member and hope to raise the funds as soon as possible,” he said.

To make a donation visit https://www. gofundme.com/josephs-kidney-transplant-donation.

‘Change for Change’ brings hope to GB cancer patients

Cancer survivor and advocate Linda Malcolm (third from left) is pictured presenting donations from the ‘Change for Change’ initiative to representatives from local cancer support organisations in Grand Bahama.

Three Grand Bahama cancer charities have been selected to benefit from the ‘Change for Change’ initiative Solomon’s and Cost Right recently teamed up with breast cancer survivor and advocate Linda Malcolm to launch the in-store campaign to provide financial support to charities assisting cancer patients on the island.

The initiative encouraged customers of Solomon’s and Cost Right Freeport to donate spare change to assist the Sister Sister Breast Cancer Support Group, the Cancer Association of Grand Bahama and the Cancer Society of the Bahamas. Store managers strategically placed donation boxes in the retail outlets with the hope that customers would contribute to help their fellow Grand Bahamians.

“Cancer continues to affect persons in our community on a daily basis and we know that being diagnosed with the illness and seeking medical attention can be an emotionally draining and financially difficult time for families,” said Renea Bastian, vice president of Marketing and Communications at AML Foods, par-

ent company of Solomon’s and Cost Right.

“When approached by Mrs Malcolm to partner on this initiative, we immediately agreed to make our stores in Grand Bahama available to assist in the ‘Change for Change’ donation campaign. We are grateful to our customers for their generosity. They helped to make this drive a true success.”

Mrs.Malcolm thanked Solomon’s and Cost Right for the opportunity to reach a wide cross section of donors for the project.

“On behalf of the organisations who have benefited from the recent ‘Change for Change’ drive, we convey our gratitude to AML Foods for stepping up in a huge way to make this initiative a success,” she said.

“We especially thank the customers at Solomon’s and Cost Right in Grand Bahama who were extremely receptive to our idea and eager to assist with this project.”

The company plans to continue working with Mrs Malcolm on future fundraising goals to help make life easier for persons fighting cancer in the Grand Bahama community.

Dr Alia P Campbell engages kids using the Faith Dental Centre mascot.

Albania Christian Academy students pose outside the Faith Dental Centre with Dr Joy C Pickstock and team.

Students taught to ‘Live Mouth Smart’ The Faith Dental Centre yesterday celebrated World Oral Health Day with the students at the Albania Christian Academy.

Dr Joy C Pickstock, managing director of the dental centre, treated the graduating class to free dental screenings, cleanings and other services.

World Oral Health Day is observed annually during the third week of March.

It is the start of a global, year-long campaign to raise awareness of the importance of oral health and oral hygiene to overall wellness. This year’s theme was “Live Mouth Smart”.

Realising that life-long learning and habit-formation occur during a child’s first six years of life, Dr

Pickstock has adopted the Albania Christian Academy, annually providing free dental care services and education to children and parents alike.

“This has been a longstanding commitment by Dr Pickstock,” said Dr Albert S Ferguson, director of the Academy, “We know Dr Pickstock and Faith Dental Centre to be a highly professional and cutting edge dental practice, so we are thankful that they have chosen, over these many years, a well-known, professionallyoperated early educational entity, which also pursues excellence.”

For more on World Oral Health Day activities and programmes, visit www. worldhealthday.org.

The Faith Dental Centre team of Antionette Moxey, Jerrice McDonald and Rowena Davis pose during a dental class session taught by Dr Joy C Pickstock.

Dr Joy C Pickstock, of the Faith Dental Centre, displays the official T-Shirt for World Oral Health Day.

THE TRIBUNE

Gentle masculinity Sit. Feast on your life.

In Bahamian and indeed in Caribbean modern-day culture, we look to most men to be paragons of brutish strength and epic unthinking reaction to every stimuli. Here shall be no quiet contemplation, no words of wisdom, and no thoughtful kindness.

We celebrate this kind of masculinity that will put another in the grave faster than we can create life, much like the Wild West of Hollywood that romanticised the killing of those Red Indians who were unwanted on the land they occupied because it had more value than they invested in it.

(They saw themselves purely as custodians of land, never owners, always caretakers for those to come); this is not original because what needs to be said cannot be said without saying how much we are always owing to someone else’s investment, someone else’s footprint, the step on our toes the toes we stood on as toddlers as we learned the waltz that would wind us through to the final curtain.

The brand of masculinity we see, we celebrate in the leadership (who can kill one another with words meant expressly for public consumption), but condemned in the poor who will kill each other with loath-filled pistols of poison and leadershipempowered venomous bullets.

Masculinity is far removed from respectability and learnedness or creation. At neither level is their real gallantry, generosity or the culture of shared greatness. We inhabit a time where, ‘I will cut you down for no other reason that to show how big I am’.

As we sit and feast, in celebration of the life of poet and playwright Derek Walcott, we see not such, but a gentleness of spirit and the ability to create, to share, to access fabulous beauty and to pass the space onto those behind.

This is not a celebration of being beyond human, but of the fragility of humanity in a body that burst every kind of limit with accessing the greatness within and beyond. The gentleness of the late Walcott’s greatness and his

Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett masculinity cannot be ignored.

To Walcott, we sit at the feast but need not bar our neighbour from joining. When we witness Walcott, we open to a higher level of being. We may come to Walcott with barred jalousies against the neighbour reality that is less than me, but we leave him with open verandahs over lives buried in pettiness and greed. This does not claim to be original, as there is no originality without debt of past, owing to footsteps in sand that, though washed away by the water’s advance and withdrawal, remain always, somewhere.

“One last epiphany: A basic stone church in a thick valley outside Soufrière, the hills almost shoving the houses around into a brown river, a sunlight that looks oily on the leaves, a backward place, unimportant, and one now being corrupted into significance by this prose. The idea is not to hallow or invest the place with anything, not even memory.

African children in Sunday frocks come down the ordinary concrete steps into the church, banana leaves hang and glisten, a truck is parked in a yard, and old women totter towards the entrance. ‘Here is where a real fresco should be painted, one without importance, but one with real faith, mapless, Historyless’.

(The Antilles) Nothing remains after the end, except the greatness that was always disembodied. Walcott has left us with an everlasting impression, mental as much as spiritual of that expansive acceptance of the local and the global

Sir Derek Alton Walcott (January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. of the sacred conjoined with the mundane. He leaves us, as we are always want to say at funerals, with legacy, a massive man (as we ignore his humanity for his greatness). But as Walcott himself would say: “This gathering of broken pieces is the care and pain of the Antilles, and if the pieces are disparate, ill-fitting, they contain more pain than their original sculpture, those icons and sacred vessels taken for granted in their ancestral places. Antillean art is this restoration of our shattered histories, our shards of vocabulary, our archipelago becoming a synonym for pieces broken off from the original continent.”

A boundless mind has left us, but in its wake we have the possibility of greatness shared beyond physical. In the ashes that give us beauty, beyond the political ramshackle shed of selfinterested chaos, is the possibility of renewal. In the shadow of greatness there is more greatness, deeper joy, massive sorrow, incredible mourning and amazing beauty, but also a depth of being that we all touch with our minds and souls only.

Walcott has left us and we feel

the weight of his departure. It is not the weight of loss when a great man dies, because he has left nothing. It is the weight of Xanadu-like wealth that winged us into this paradise too easily sold off into other worldliness. It is not the state funeral of fame or pomp, but the gentleness of soul and thought, beyond body and physical locatedness that allows us to be even more than we are.

We are more than tourism and brutish, unlearned masculinity.

A culture based on joy is bound to be shallow. Sadly, to sell itself, the Caribbean encourages the delights of mindlessness, of brilliant vacuity, as a place to flee not only winter but that seriousness that comes only out of culture with four seasons. So how can there be a people there, in the true sense of the word?

Where can we find such word-smithing, brush strokes of peace-filled worship and awe for life, such channelling of nature’s beauty in the hate-filled, and poisonous wombs of our times?

We have become obsessed with destruction and as Walcott crafts: “How quickly it could all disappear! And how it is beginning to drive us further into where we

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, PAGE 11

hope are impenetrable places, green secrets at the end of bad roads, headlands where the next view is not of a hotel but of some long beach without a figure and the hanging question of some fisherman’s smoke at its far end. . . . but every day on some island, rootless trees in suits are signing favourable tax breaks with entrepreneurs, poisoning the sea almond and the spice laurel of the mountains to their roots. A morning could come in which governments might ask what happened not merely to the forests and the bays but to a whole people.”

But even those places we hope are impenetrable are sold for a song, and the final dance as the lead actor bows morbidly wounded by the last curtain call of progress. As we wash away our footsteps, leaving them in blood-bathed hatred, on roads that remember not our names but only our lost dreams, our wasted energies to the vanity of earthly greatness housed in money and land deals, drugs and prostitution, we see our own demise.

Let us haul down our mainsails, hoist our jibs and staysails, as we feast; let us remember how quickly what we see can be erased by the devastation and greed we are empowering through our money and legacy inspired battle.

This may not be read; this may not be appreciated, but that matters little as we laugh at our folly and enjoy our life-bound power to destroy and to kill, we can meditate on the creativity of gentle masculinity that may never fade, but has showed us how to challenge the awful rootless trees in poisoned suits that destroy the very home they inhabit and willingly erase lives, people, who are complicit in their own undoing.

Walcott may no longer be with us physically, but his greatness and gentle masculinity remain a symbol of transcendent splendour, resting in our souls and in our minds, should we choose to open to the possibility of such gentle, contemplative creativity.

Time, not money, is your greatest asset Considering the obsession many have with money, you may be surprised to learn that money is not your greatest asset. Yet most people spend a great deal of their time chasing money. Still, for many money remains an elusive commodity.

The question to ponder today is if time is in fact your greatest asset, are you sincerely taking care of your time? Do you treat your time with even a modicum of respect?

Truth be told, the answer for most people is a resounding ‘no’.

Most are simply unaware of the value of their time. Thus, they squander it frivolously.

What is even more critical is that time and money are almost inseparable. In a sense, money travels where time is invested.

If you were to take a peek at the foundation of the working world, you will see that it speaks to this time/money formula.

People trade in a set amount of their time doing a job for a set amount of money, called a pay cheque. This means that your time has a price tag, whether you acknowledge it or not. The responsibility is yours to determine what your time is worth and the degree to which you are making productive use of your time.

This is not about managing time. Nobody can manage time.

The one thing about time that all of us come to learn is that it goes on and on and on ad infinitum.

Time is bigger than human kind.

It goes on whether you use it or

Michelle Miller Motivationals

Michelle M Miller not. For this reason, you cannot manage time. What you can manage however, is your use of time.

We ought to be very deliberate and intentional regarding our use of time. We can choose to use it or choose to lose it.

Time doesn’t care what you do with it. What it will do, however, is reveal what you have done or have been doing with it. Time, as they say, will tell. It tells the world exactly what you have been doing with it; it exposes the truth of how well you’ve used or misused it.

Those who use their time to overindulge in alcohol use, for example, soon become alcoholics.

Individuals who overindulge in eating and poor diets, in time become overweight. Whereas, those who put time into healthy diet and exercise become physically fit.

13 women graduate with new leadership skills From pg B12 Ambrosine Huyler hosted the ceremony. Keshan Cartwright spoke on behalf of UB and its CELEARN programme, which facilitated the course. An inspiring message was delivered by Gravette Brown, a Bahamian achiever currently working for the World Bank.

She has travelled the world, including countries in Africa and Europe, and has landed million-dollar deals for institutions.

She said that authenticity, hard work and great problem-solving skills helped her achieve her current success. She advised the women that it is better not to engage in a project

than to be inauthentic; it does a disservice not only to those you work for, but to yourself.

Keynote speaker Rev Angela Palacious talked about several soul-stirring points for the women to consider. For instance, Rev Palacious pointed out that her path to priesthood was 18 years in the making before the public ever knew of her ordainment. This is a testament, she believes, to the virtues of patience and tenacity.

She encouraged the women to consider that their reputation valuable, and not to bring shame upon themselves or God, but to work diligently to keep the principles of a

Social media can often be a great time waster.

This is also the case with money and resources. Those who are more responsible with their resources of time and money, in time, acquire more resources. It’s all a matter of time.

Living an empowered life is not a cake walk. It is a process of unravelling who you are and paying attention to the way you manage your resource of time.

I find it ironic that so many people are quick to want to manage their money, but don’t pay any attention to the way they waste their time. I suppose people fail to realise that time really is money. You can use your time to make more money; you can use your money to make more out of your time There is no place where this shameless waste of time is more evident than in the use of social media platforms.

virtuous woman.

Minister of Social Services and Community Development Melanie Griffin applauded her first round of graduates from the ‘Women in Leadership and Decision-Making’ course. The success of the course, she said, has led her to consider more ways to empower women to become leaders in the country.

She wishes to see “more women at the table”, making decisions for the country. Graduates included Sabrina Russell-Skinner, Eulie Elliott, Akua Anyane, Tia L Clarke, Denise Sands, Ann-Marie Bain, Wilmelda Appolon, Iesha E Deveaux, Nadia Newbold, Autira Newbold, Alayna Ledard, Lina E Mortimer-Reyes, and Bishop Gloria D Ferguson.

Many are addicted to their phones or tablets. The amount of time wasted sending pictures and audio clips up and down the internet highway are just, as Mama would say, ‘a crying shame’. People are so disrespectful not only of their time but also of yours. As such, they take it upon themselves to send you anything they get their hands on. This habit of forwarded photos, some of which are totally inappropriate, has become an intrusive addiction for many. The people who send these e-mails are today’s self-appointed newscasters and reporters. They casually spend the bulk of their day wasting time sending, texting, posting and forwarding information.

What is even more tragic is that most of what so many are quick to circulate has no real use value.

In a sense, it amounts to mere

noise pollution, in which both the sender and the receiver becomes infected; opening and forwarding the same useless info on and on.

Since time is your greatest asset, what would you do with it if every minute of your time cost you $50?

This means that five minutes of your time would cost $250.

How differently would you spend your time? Would you pay more attention and be more respectful of it?

Leader to leader, your time is a gift. Be responsible and respectful not only of your time, but also that of other’s.

Wisely invest your time being productive. Limit any frivolous use of social media platforms.

These platforms are design to improve your opportunity to grow and expand your market share.

There is no point in chasing money if you don’t respect your time.

It has been my experience that money more readily shows up and even stays with you if your time is valued and respected.

When you place high value on your time, you are better prepared to live and empowered life. Yes, you definitely can do it.

What do you think? Please send your comments to coaching242@ yahoo.com or 429-6770.

• Michelle M Miller is a certified life coach, communication and leadership expert. Visit www. talktomichellemiller.com or call 1-888-620-7894; mail can be sent to PO Box CB-13060.

Community leaders and UB representatives attend the closing ceremony of the “Women in Leadership and Decision Making” course.

SECTION B

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

Felisha Rosendahl decorates her way to success

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

M

AKING the transition from high school to college brings with it its fair share of challenges. And being able to maintain outstanding academic excellence during this time is even more difficult.

However, even in the face of these obstacles, Felisha Rosendahl has made the Dean’s List every semester since enrolling at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia.

Felisha enrolled in the Winter 2015 semester and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design. Though is has not been easy, Felisha’s desire to see her dreams fulfilled is what keeps her going.

“I felt very accomplished and that hard work really does pay off,” she told Tribune Woman.

Felisha’s hobbies include music,

Felisha Rosendahl has found success at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia.

sports, cooking, photography and travelling. She also won consecutive MVP titles playing for the school’s girls soccer team.

Since she was child, Felisha said she has been interested in crafts, so it was a natural decision for her to pursue a career in the creative field.

“As a young girl I always found myself being creative, whether it was sketching up my dream home or redecorating my room. I also knew that I wanted to help people in some shape or form and ultimately realised that I could help people through design. Considering the fact that we spend a large percentage of our time indoors, I believe that interior design plays a huge role in how we think, act and feel in a space. That said, I chose this field because I want to help people make the right choices when it comes to the spaces we spend all of our time in as well as educate and share my knowledge on smart design choices that can benefit our hurting environment,” she told Tribune Woman said.

Starting tertiary education at the Savannah College of Art and Design has been exciting for her.

However, this time also brought with it challenges that Felisha had to overcome.

“I guess being forced to break out of my ‘child shell’ and become an adult with responsibility, constantly taking risks and being put out of my comfort zone was one the most challenging things for me,” she said.

Besides her recent accomplishment, a major highlight of her college experience has been watching herself grow and transform into a young independent woman and breaking out of her shell.

Once she has completed her degree, Felisha hopes to start her own company.

“I hope to open my own interior design firm where I can offer my unique interior design services to people and help improve their overall wellbeing while making positive contributions to our environment,” she said.

Bahamian ‘Wise Women’ come together for 2017 festival 13 women

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

THE dynamic group of ladies behind the Wise Women Festival are back in action for a fourth year in a row. This year, the festival will be held on Saturday, April 1.

The committee said it is heartened by how much the festival has grown since its inception in 2014. Not only have attendance numbers increased significantly, but they have also be able to reach more women and honour their impact on our society, be it in business, the church or in family life.

A highlight of the event is the presentation of the Wise Women Award, which goes to deserving woman who has given community service.

Held at a private residence on Yamacraw Road beginning 12 noon, the event festival feature free demonstrations by the Eye Candy Makeup Studio, healing massages by Rukenya Nash, work by local artisans, and a fashion show

by Fashion Hall. Featured speakers will include Rev Rubyann Cooper Darling, Gaynel Curry, Dr Tracey Thompson, retired Justice Jeanne Thompson, and Erin Greene.

Topics discussed will touch on strong women and hard times, strengthening the family, women in culture and cottage industries.

Founded by Justice Cheryl Albury, the festival was started as a way to reach

women across generations and to holistically nurture, inspire and celebrate their growth. She gathered a committee of family members and friends who met to organise the festival, from logistics to entertainment.

As the event continues to grow year after year, planning committee member Simmone Bowe said the hope is that the Wise Women Festival will continue to reach all generations of women, young and old, with a view to building a safe, trusting community for them.

“Often the perception is that women cannot work together or support each other, but this event seeks to dispel that image. It has done so successfully year after year. The event captures all dimensions of womanhood and the role of women in our communities. There will be information for women that covers their role in the family, their communities, their culture, their spiritual life, and their health. Though there will be fun activities that women enjoy, the day is intended for women to come away feeling inspired, supported and challenged to improve and enhance their quality of life through new learning,” said Ms Bowe.

Admission is $2 and all proceeds will go to the Persis Rodgers Home for the Aged. Event information and inquiries are available via the Wise Women Festival Facebook page and by e-mailing wisewomen242@ gmail.com.

graduate with new leadership skills

By FELICITY INGRAHAM

Free health screenings, pastries, art and more will be available at this year’s Wise Women Festival.

“Often the perception is that women cannot work together or support each other, but this event seeks to dispel that image...The event captures all dimensions of womanhood and the role of women in our communities.”

Festival founder Cheryl Albury (left) with Minalee Hanchell.

International Women’s Day marked the graduation of 13 Bahamian women from the “Women in Leadership and Decision-Making” course at the University of the Bahamas.

The course, sponsored by the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development, was designed to augment the position of women in their respective careers, giving them the tools necessary to lead on an even greater level and make decisions that positively affect their country.

For several weeks, these women attended classes that provided them with skills and taught them concepts fit for the international arena.

The Department of Gender and Family Affairs, directed by Gaynel Curry, hosted the course. The closing ceremony, held on March 8, which marked International Women’s Day, was a day of empowerment and one filled with exuberance as the graduates convened at UB’s Choices restaurant to receive their completion certificates.

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