TWO-time Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Olympic and World champion Steven Gar diner came face-to-face with giant-size versions of themselves, with a mural added to the wall of Muf fler World on Mackey Street. The pair took pictures with employees, fans and passersby yesterday.
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.netFULL
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN was charged in Magistrate’s Court yester day in connection with the murder of Omar Davis, Jr. Normand Toussaint, 20, represented by attorney Patrick Mackey, faced Chief Magistrate Joyann FergusonPratt on a charge of murder. He is accused of caus ing the death of 21-year-old Davis, Jr, on August 15 while being concerned with others. Davis Jr’s partially decomposed body was found by police on August 16 in a garbage bag in the trunk of the victim’s black Honda Fit near Centreville Caribbean Liquor Store.
Photo: Samora J St Rose/Tribune Staff
FACE TO FACE: A BRAND NEW LIFE FOR AISHA - SEE EIGHT NASSAU Cruise Port will generate up to $40m in annual operating revenues from 2023 onwards, it has been revealed, with next year’s passenger volumes forecast to hit a record high by breaching the four mil lion mark. Michael Maura, its chief executive, voiced optimism that the finan cial forecast by controlling shareholder, Global Ports Holding, will be met.
BACK TO CLASS FOR TEACHERS
STORY - SEE BUSINESS GUN VICTIM IN ‘WRONG PLACE AT WRONG TIME’ JORODLY AVRIL SEE PAGE FIVE TUESDAY HIGH 90ºF LOW 79ºF i’m lovin’ it! Volume: 119 No.187, August 23, 2022 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1 Established 1903The Tribune CARS! CARS! CLASSIFIEDS TRADERWOMAN & HEALTH The Tribune Monday, February 8, To Advertise Call 601-0007 or 502-2351 Starting $33.60 Biggest And Best! LATEST NEWS ON TRIBUNE242.COM piecrémeGuava
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By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net SUSPECT FACES COURT OVER OMAR DAVIS JR MURDER
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper Man had not wanted to go to baby shower where he was shot dead
ICONSGOLDEN
SEE PAGE TWO
FOUR PORTEXPECTEDPASSENGERSMILLIONATNEXTYEAR
SEE PAGE THREE
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net TEACHERS returned to the classroom yesterday after the Bahamas Union of Teachers members decided to forgo threatened indus trial action.
THE girlfriend of a 22-year-old man who was killed when a gunman opened fire at a baby shower on Sunday said ini tially he did not want to attend the event, but only did so not to disappoint his friends.Rhandya Conliffe, told The Tribune yesterday that Jorodly Avril didn’t like Nassau Village or being around large crowds. Ms Conliffe, as well as the victim’s mother and cousin spoke to The Tribune the day after he was murdered at the Accordingevent. to police it was around 9pm when offic ers received a call about a shooting at Stack Avenue, Nassau Village.
PAGE 2, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
REPORTS
It was reported by authorities that Davis Jr suffered multiple wounds to his head and upper body, including stab wounds. While four other men were in police custody in connection with this matter, Toussaint is so far the only suspect to be officially charged.During the reading of the accused’s charges, Davis Jr’s bereaved mother, Gia Whymms, could be heard weeping in court. Due to the nature of the offence, Toussaint was not required to enter a plea. He was then informed that his case would proceed by a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).While Toussaint was denied bail, he was told of his right to apply for bail at the Supreme Court, where his trial will be heard. He was sent to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. His VBI will be presented on December 27. DAVIS JR MURDER from page one
A CANDLELIGHT vigil held last night in memory of Omar Davis Jr, whose body was found dead on August 16. Photos: Austin Fernander
REMEMBERING OMAR
THE family of former member of Parliament Kendal Nottage has said social media posts circu lating about his death are false.In a statement released yesterday, Mr Nottage’s family said, “He is alive and physically and mentally well at the age of 82 years. To God be the glory.” Though thankful for the concern shown, Mr Nottage’s family asked the public not to spread unconfirmed and false information.“Weaskthat you please refrain from sharing unveri fied and false information. We would like to thank family friends and the general public for their con cern, the depth and level of which is greatly appreci ated,” the family said. Mr Nottage is the brother of former Progressive Lib eral Party (PLP) member of Parliament Dr Bernard Nottage, who died at the age of 71 in 2017. Mr Nottage was appointed as the first minis ter of sports for the PLP in 1977 by Sir Lynden Pindling after losing his seat in High Rock Grand Bahama in the 1977 general election. OF DEATHNOTTAGEFALSE
By LETRE SWEETING
SUSPECT FACES COURT OVER OMAR
FREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard called on the gov ernment to “clarify” its statements or “substanti ate its claims” in response to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ statements about half the national debt being as a result of impacts of Onhurricanes.August 16, during a regional conference at Baha Mar, Mr Davis said that 50 percent or more of the country’s national debt was connected directly to consequences of natural disasters between 2015 and 2019 and having to borrow money for recovery. Though Mr Pintard agreed that The Bahamas and other small island develop ing states bear the brunt of pollution from more devel oped nations, Mr Pintard called on the government to indicate the source of its calculation that 50 percent of the outstanding debt profile of $12.1 billion was caused by climate events between 2015 and 2019. “At the beginning of fiscal year 2015/16 the public sector debt stood at approximately $5.4 bil lion. To conclude that 50 percent of our current out standing debt came from climate events would mean that almost all the growth in the debt in that time would be attributable to climate change events that hap pened between 2015 and 2019,” said Mr Pintard. “It clearly leaves out the fiscal effects of the pandemic and the unprec edented steps that the then government had to take in order to support tens of thousands of displaced persons, while doing as much as possible to keep the economy afloat. The initiatives were supported unanimously by the then PLP in opposition and con tributed substantially to the increase in the debt pro file,” he said. Mr Pintard added that it is important that the gov ernment “maintains its credibility” when giving public statements and moves past “bemoaning” situations to actually gov erning and dealing with them.“We accept that climate change events over the years have caused restora tion efforts and revenue losses that have caused the country billions of dollars in necessary borrowing. But we believe it is impor tant that the government maintains its credibility in its public statements. It is thus important that the gov ernment substantiates its claims on the fiscal impact of the climate events or clarifies its statements,” Mr Pintard“Moresaid.important than that, the government must move past bemoaning the situation and get on with the job of governance. We call on the government to lay out its detailed plan to improve the fiscal and economic situation and put the country on a solid foundation for sustained and inclusive economic growth. We also expect to see the plan to address the effects of climate change to ensure more robust and resilient infrastructure and greener means for generat ing power,” he said.
Gun victim in ‘wrong place at wrong time’
“I received a call around nine and some messages that they heard my cousin got killed in Nassau Vil lage,” Ms Desinord said. Ms Desinord with other family members of the victim rushed to the scene searching for their loved one. Avril was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said two gunmen got out of a grey Nissan Note and opened fire on a group.
Prime Minister Davis noted at the event that the Caribbean had been identi fied as the region with the largest number of indebted countries.“Herein The Bahamas, we undertook an exercise which revealed that more than 50 percent of our outstanding debt can be linked to the impacts of the hurricanes which descended on us between 2015 and 2019,” he said. “Our coun tries are struggling with debts accumulated by cli mate disasters.” He added: “What does this mean for the develop ment of our nations, when our risk profile is becoming so severe that insurers question their willingness to offer risk facilities to offset climate disasters? Put simply, we are in danger of becoming uninsurable.” OLIBRICE, the victim’s mother. Moise Amisial Austin Fernander
‘HALF NATIONAL DEBT DOWN TO CLIMATE COSTS? PROVE IT’ By LETRE SWEETING from page one BENITA
Techenide Desinord, the victim’s cousin, said Avril was someone who always encouraged her with his positive spirit. Ms Desinord explained that the night of her cous in’s murder she was at work feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Photo:
THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 3 Once there, they dis covered five people had been shot. Initially they said a man had been killed and four juveniles had been injured and were being treated in hospital. However, yesterday they clarified that two juveniles - ages 15 and 16 — were injured with two adult men. Ms Conliffe described the victim as being some one who was quiet and didn’t bother anyone unless spokenHoldingto. back tears, she said he was just at “the wrong place at the wrong time”.When asked about the last time she had seen Avril before the shooting, Ms Conliffe said they met with each other before he even tually headed to the baby shower. He told her he would call her that night to come to his house, unfor tunately Ms Conliffe never got the Avril’scall.family said he dreamt of having a better life which is why he strived to provide for his mother and little brother while working at a local auto airconditioning business. Ms Conliffe said she knew of her boyfriend’s aspirations and would talk to him daily about the bad company his friends kept. “Every time I speak to his mummy, his mummy calling me saying ‘protect my son, because my son isn’t going to listen to me.’ She always telling me watch her son, protect her son, and talk to him. I feel like I failed her,” Ms Conliffe said, crying. He spoke about wanting to move out of the crime infested area he lived in along with starting his own mechanics business, The Tribune was told. Benita Olibrice, the vic tim’s mother, described him as being a “good boy”, someone who gave her no problems or worries. His mother said she did not know where her son was going the night he was murdered, but before he left home, he told her that he loved her. Ms Olibrice, who spoke Creole and needed an inter preter, explained that she was the “mummy” and “daddy” in her son’s life. Ms Olibrice said her son would always try to help her with bills or anything that could make their lives easier.Asshe sat in despair, Ms Olibrice said her son would talk to her about wanting to get his Bahamian citi zenship so that one day he could move away to further his education in order to create a better life for them. The grieving mother said she has “no one” because Avril was not only her loving son, but he also was a protector and provider for her and his little brother. Ms Olibrice said she would tell the people involved in these killings that they have to repent and try to get closer to God.
THE SCENE of Sunday’s murder. Photo:
PAGE 4, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
‘Ingraham
PROGRESSIVE Lib eral Party Chairman Fred Mitchell says the Davis administration has done much more than public relations in nearly one year, adding there were “big deal” decisions made since the party took office. As a guest on a radio talk show on Friday, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the PLP gov ernment has been reluctant to make decisions on con troversial issues since being elected.Hesaid the administra tion had put on a first class show of public relations. Mr Ingraham said while the party was receiving good reviews, this was only “on the surface” and could change at any time. In response, Mr Mitch ell said he viewed Mr Ingraham’s comments as commendation for the government.“ThePLP has done much more than public relations in one year,” Mr Mitch ell said in a statement that was disseminated by Baha mas Information Services executive director Elcott Coleby.MrIngraham was being a bit cheeky but when you read what he said as opposed to the headline, he actually praised and approved the PLP govern ment’s performance.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
“I therefore thank the former Prime Minister for his general support of the PLP’s first year in office. His praise for our work accords with the generally good reviews that the adminis tration is getting across the country.“Good public relations is another way of saying that the PLP is doing a good job in letting the public know what we are doing.” As for the government’s work since taking office, Mr Mitchell said: “We are of course tackling some com plex issues and in time we will tick all of the boxes. “Some policy initiatives can be seen now and some are not yet in the public domain, but we encourage all and sundry to stand by. “It is, however, great that Mr Ingraham is able to be measured and generally objective in his observa tions, notwithstanding his FNM“Butmembership.thereduction of VAT is a big deal. Settling the long outstanding labour contracts for the public ser vice is a big deal. Fixing the economy of Grand Bahama is a big deal. Finishing the three major international airports in the country is a big deal. These were hard and complex decisions taken in the first year,” the minister of foreign affairs said.“So, there was a lot done and there are more to come.
“Additionally, starting the housing programme is a big deal. Dealing with our international relation ships and climate change is a big deal. Distribution of taxi and livery plates is a big deal. Watch and see for there are more to come.”
Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net PLP chairman
MITCHELL: PLP NOT JUST PUBLIC RELATIONS By KHRISNA
Mitchell. Are you positivepreschoolDopositivepersonablearticulate,energetic,andarolemodel?youworkwellwithandprimaryagedchildren?Particularsare:40hourworkweek,workingenvironment,9weekspaidvacationperyear.Annualsalarycommensuratewitheducationandexperience.Entrylevel$14,300.00+ Classroom hrbahamas2014@gmail.comActivityAssistantsTeachingAndCoordinatorsNeededPleaseemailresume,referencesandcoverletterto:
A CABINET minister is of the view that recent public comments by former prime minister Hubert Ingraham made it clear that there remains “a cleavage” within the Free National Movement.PublicService and For eign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, who is also Pro gressive Liberal Party chairman, in a message to supporters yesterday focused on events held by the FNM over the weekend in observance of the party’s first electoral win 30 years ago.One of the events, an evening of reflection with Mr Ingraham on Friday night, saw Mr Ingraham allude to the legal trou bles that have faced Long Island MP Adrian Gibson stemming from his tenure as executive chairman of the Water and Sewerage Corporation.InJune, Mr Gibson along with several others were charged for alleged offences related to his time at the utility company. He is alleged to have illicitly gained more than $1m from contracts granted to Elite Maintenance and Baha Bay. It is alleged that he gained a financial advantage of a collective $1,279,532.97 after he alleg edly received a variety of payments in cheques and wireMrtransfers.Ingraham said: “We determined for good reason that we would not make MPs chairmen of the util ity companies. Yet still we went and made Adrian Gibson executive chairman of Water and Sewerage Corporation and now we got all kind of egg over our face.”Not only did Mr Mitch ell take aim at these comments, but he also questioned former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ involvement in the week endWhilecelebrations.theformer prime minister was not seen by The Tribune at the reflec tion event, he was present for the party’s church ser vice on Sunday. “The FNM was celebrat ing that infamous date - the 19th of August, last Friday,” Mr Mitchell said in a note to supporters. “I think of the expression ‘When you dig one grave you dig two’. I think also be careful what you wish for. “I say that because the party trotted out all of its leaders from the glory days. Chief amongst them was the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. “No doubt the PLP is minding all of the live feeds to determine what it all means, but there are a couple of things which jumped out at me.” He continued: “The first is that missing in action was Hubert Minnis, the immedi ate past prime minister and leader of the FNM party, who led them for almost ten years and certainly led them into defeat last year. “Dr Minnis is being treated like one of those old uncles who has a disease who everyone wishes would go and hide and who we don’t want to come around. Not a word of thanks to him.“Instead they reached far back into another galaxy to revive and refresh former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and gave him the microphone, a comfortable chair and the bully pulpit to say what he liked and he certainly did that. The crowd, such as they were, packed into the Mackey Street headquarters, stopped and cheered. But I’m not sure if he exactly helped their case. “It is clear that there is still a cleavage in the FNM party and Michael Pintard and present leadership are doing their best to paper over the cracks.” Mr Mitchell went on to note that despite calls to supporters to put on a united front, Mr Ingraham “with his considerable polit ical skills could not miss the opportunity to twist the knife” into Dr Minnis. “Then the coup de grâce was throwing Adrian Gibson and the entire FNM argument that the PLP was picking on him under the bus when he said the FNM made the mistake of appointing Mr Gibson to head the Water and Sewer age Corporation and then he says ‘we the FNM have egg all over our face’. That’s what he said. “Just what I said, be care ful what you wish for and when you dig one grave you really dig two,” Mr Mitchell said. comments show divide remains within FNM’
As a guest on Guard ian Talk Radio’s “Z Live: Off the Record”, with host Zhivargo Laing, Mr Ingra ham said: “They’ve not done anything major since they came in except they reduced VAT from 12 to 10 percent and put it on bread basket items and they were able to get away with that and the public accepted that 10 percent is better than 12 even though it’s costing lots of money for lots of people who can’t afford it.
“But generally speak ing, they’re getting a good review by the population so far but that’s on the surface. I expect that not long from now they will be held accountable for their actions or inaction just like everybody else.” RUSSELL Fred
MINISTER of Education Glenys Hanna Martin yesterday. Photo: Moise Amisial
Parents have no discretion to cause for their compul sory school aged children — ages five to 16 — to not attend“Childrenschool. must attend school and parents must assure that their children attend and under the Edu cation Act the minister has a duty to ensure that parents comply. Failure to carry out this duty is accompanied by a criminal sanction.”Theeducation minister also encouraged parents to become active participants in the education of their children.“Iam encouraging our nation’s parents to become more active participants in the education of their chil dren, attend PTA meetings if you can, communicate with your children so you can have full understanding of the process and develop respectful and collabora tive relationships with their teachers and school admin istration,” she said.
Education Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin said she was pleased that teach ers reported to work. She spoke after BUT President Belinda Wilson said in a voice note sent on Sunday that teachers were review ing the final draft of their full industrial agreement and were completing a few details.Last month, Mrs Wilson told teachers to get ready to take industrial action on August 22. The announce ment came on what was the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum given to govern ment to sign off on a full industrial agreement with theSpeakingunion. to reporters yesterday on the industrial action being abandoned, the minister said: “Well, I don’t want to get into the internal politics of the union, but I know as the Minister of Education I am very pleased that teach ers will be in the classroom today. Next week, the chil dren of this nation will return to school fully faceto-face and we can begin to stabilise education in this country.”
SWIMMING
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings @ tribunemedia.net
The government recently signed a new industrial agreement with the Baha mas Educators Managerial Union and Bahamas Edu cators, Counsellors and Allied Workers Union. Asked what could be done to change the cul ture of unions waiting to sign such agreements, Ms Hanna Martin replied: “I don’t know the dynamic of what has happened in the years prior. I know that the negotiations have been ongoing; that at least two other unions have com pleted their negotiations. So, I don’t know what has led to the prolonged one with BUT in particu lar, but the bottom line is that the whole purpose of what we all are doing is to advance education in The Bahamas. Whatever we do to get there should be done expeditiously, but I certainly don’t know what the dynamics were in nego tiations over that period of years.”While revealing the progress on the industrial agreement, Mrs Wilson thanked individuals for attending eight meetings held recently as well as the approximately 800 people who showed up for one held on Sunday. “As you are aware we voted in high numbers to take industrial action tomorrow Monday, August 22, 2022 the first day of school for teachers,” she said on Sunday. “However, within the past four days having been at the table on Thursday, August 18, 2022 from 11am to 6.20pm and the numerous com munications between the government negotiators and the Bahamas Union of Teachers negotiating team, in light of the progress made, you, the members, have decided to forgo industrial action tomor row. As you are also aware, we are reviewing the final draft of our full industrial agreement and we (are) completing a few details and should be completed by (Monday) with a view to signing a new industrial agreement for all of the members of the Bahamas Union of Teachers from Grand Bahama to Inagua. We expect to sign in short order.“Don’t worry about the industrial agreement - we got it covered, but as you return to schools, be safe,” Mrs Wilson said.
LESSONS TO BE ADDED
EDUCATION Minis ter Glenys Hanna Martin stressed the importance of both parents and the government ensuring school-age students attend school.Yesterday marked the commencement of the training workshop for the newly appointed attend ance officers in the Ministry of TheEducation.programme con sisted of 25 new officers in New Providence; officers will be posted in Grand Bahama and other islands shortly.With the compulsory age of education being five to 16 years old, Ms Hanna Martin urged parents to ensure students attend school.“Itis a legal obligation under the Education Act that children of compul sory age attend school.
MINISTER CALLS ON PARENTS TO ENSURE CHILDREN ATTEND SCHOOL
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunning@tribunemedia.net from page one
EDUCATION Minis ter Glenys Hanna Martin says the government antici pates the introduction of swimming lessons into public schools this aca demic year. In view of the recent drownings over the past few weeks, Ms Hanna Martin said the government intends to enhance the physical education programme to include“Swimmingswimming.isgoing to be introduced in the physical education programme. We anticipate in this academic school year that we are going to have an enhanced physical education cur riculum, which will include swimming,” she told report ersAsyesterday.mostof the schools do not have the resources for swimming classes, she said the government is attempt ing to manage the logistics. “We are developing a programme to introduce swimming at the schools,” she said. “It’s a skill and really all of us should be able to swim in The Baha mas, but certainly the new generation emerging should be able Earlierto.” this month, 11-year-old Gerodo Atwill Taylor Jr was found dead and is suspected to have drowned in a pond near the golf academy opposite the national sports stadium. Also, the body of a juve nile male was pulled from waters near Paradise Cove, Deadman’s Reef in Grand Bahama this month. He had gone swimming at Celebrity Beach near Paradise Cove with four boys and did not return to shore when the othersAlsodid.this month, a woman drowned when she tried to assist a child who was in distress in the waters in the Staniard Creek area. Press liaison officer Chrislyn Skippings urged parents and guardians to be watchful of their chil dren and be with them at all times.“Take them to the beach, don’t send them to the beach,” she had said. “Send them with someone you know, who is responsible so that in the event that something happens, we don’t end up losing one of our darlings. You need to know where your kids are at all times, not some times, all times. You can’t allow your children to be roaming about and you don’t know where they are.”
Back to class teachersfor
Dionisio Carey, a former competitive swimmer and swim instructor at Evolve Functional Fitness, said that recent drownings and water incidents have caused a spike in people wanting to learn to “We’veswim.had a big spike in our adult learn-to-swim programmes, to the point where our adult learn-toswim classes now are pretty much filling up daily,” Mr Carey said recently. “Since the beginning of this year and toward the summer months we’ve also had an increase in our kids learn-to-swim programme as well.”
Despite active repairs on several school campuses, the minister is confident that school repairs will be completed in time for the reopening of schools on August 29. Last Friday, Belinda Wilson, president of the Bahamas Union of Teach ers, said she is not confident that school repairs will be completed in time for the upcoming school year.
“I am not confident that all the repairs will be done,” Ms Wilson said. “Every year I do my own school repairs tour and look at what is happening. We already visited T A Thomp son, which is doing massive work, but I must say, the contractor, he has a large number of workers that are there, and they are working around the “Hopefullyclock.they will have the classrooms, the restrooms – which will be the main areas for the students and teachers ready.”
THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 5
INDEPENDENCE.M AURICE TYNES
CANDLES being lit at a vigil in honour of Omar Davis Jr last night.
EDITOR, The Tribune. THE people of Fox Hill celebrated a successful Fox Hill Day on the 9th August. The celebrations were marred only by the actions of one idiot, but apart from that isolated incident it was a successful day. Fox Hill, like several other communities in New Providence, was settled by freed slaves in the early 19th Century following the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. It is named after Samuel Fox who himself was a freed slave. Fox was granted some twenty-three and a half acres of land. The estate developed by Fox is thought to have been in the vicinity of where the present St Augustine Mon astery is located. The name Fox Hill was changed to Sandilands by Governor John Greg ory in 1849 in honour of Judge Robert Sandilands. Judge Sandilands came to the Bahamas in 1830 and bought a large swathe of land, some 1,200 acres, which was the total acre age of existing Fox Hill. In 1850 Judge Sandilands was forced to sell Sandilands as he had defaulted on a loan. Before selling all the prop erty he sold a portion of the land to freed slaves for £10 or the equivalent in labour. Judge Sandilands also made provision for roads, a burial ground which is now Freedom Park, a market place thought to be located at the site of the Fox Hill Parade (round-about) and a site for a school where Sandilands Primary was built.Fox Hill was divided into four towns; Burnside Town, Nango Town, Joshua Town and Congo Town where my family’s homestead is located. These towns only exist now in the memories of the older population and in folklore. By 1888, some six hundred people were living in Fox Hill. Fox Hill Day has been celebrated in Fox Hill since 1870. It evolved because the churches in Fox Hill, particularly the Baptist churches, agitated for a day separate and apart from Emancipation day to cele brate their Sunday schools’ Party Day. There is no question regarding the non sense of the big lie that the people of Fox Hill received the news of the emancipa tion of slavery a week later than everybody else. The second Tuesday in August was chosen as the day to be celebrated as Fox HillInDay.1890 the follow ing was published in the Nassau Guardian: Fox Hill Day holiday was observed yesterday by a crowd of persons who assembled at that village from sev eral districts. They had a very bright day for their pleasure, and for a wonder escaped the rain which as a rule gives some people a drenching before they reach home on such occa sions. Carriages were plying along the streets through out the day and afternoon conveying passengers to and from Sandilands. The annual gatherings of the Sunday Schools in con nection with the Baptist Churches viz: St Mark’s, St Paul’s and Zion, took place from which great pleasure was derived by those who wereThepresent.celebratory events during Emancipation Day and Fox Hill Day were merged into the Fox Hill Festival by Eric Wilmott Sr in 1988. Eric had the vision to bring organisation to the activities of the two days and the days in between to maximise the benefits to FoxTheHillians.FoxHill Festival was established to bring some structure to the activities of the festival. Eric Wil mott was the first chairman of the committee. Plan ning the activities of the festival is a massive under taking. Provision, including financial provision, has to be made for a junkanoo parade where all of the major groups participate, an ecumenical service and a seniors’ luncheon, enter tainment for two parks for two days, including climb ing the greasy pole, plaiting the maypole, DJ and live bands electrical and other infrastructural works. These are only some of the activities.Inthe past the commit tee also organised a tour on Fox Hill Day of historical sites in Fox Hill, inclusive of visits to the Ocean Hole, Blackbeard’s Tower and the ruins of Judge Sandilands’ house. The committee also held a raffle when the grand prize was a vehicle. The committee has also spon sored contest for Miss Fox Hill, held youth debates and town hall meetings where the Member of Parliament expounded on the state of the Fox Hill community and fielded questions from residents.FoxHill Day is important as it represents probably the last repository of the culture of freed slaves. Fox Hill Day and all the activities of the Fox Hill Festival are out ward and public expressions of that culture. It is essential that Fox Hill Day in all its iterations be retained, and continually refreshed and resourced.FoxHill Day is also very important to the economy of Fox Hill. Many residents depend on the revenue they take in on Fox Hill Day. It serves as an investment in their children. The earn ings from their investment in food, fruits toys or games which they offer for sale are used to prepare their children for the school year in terms of the purchase of uniforms and other essen tial school supplies. Fox Hill Day is also a time of re-connections for the Fox Hill diaspora. Per sons who moved to other areas of New Providence and the family islands, as well as those who relo cated to the United States plan their vacations around Fox Hill Day. They use the occasion to re-acquaint with family and friends, talk about the old days while reconnecting spiritually with their ancestors. The people of Fox Hill have a rich and proud his tory. Fox Hill is the only community in the Baha mas that has celebrated the emancipation of slaves continuously since the mid1800s. It is an achievement they are justly proud of and are committed to continu ing and passing on to the next generation. I would recommend that the committee planning the activities for the 50th independence anniversary seriously consider including some aspect of the Fox Hill Day activities in the plan ning for the anniversary celebrations.Without TION there would be no AugustNassau, 22, 2022.
Mr Ingraham pointed towards issues at the National Insurance Board as one example – where the Minister of State with responsibility for NIB, Myles Laroda, has been warning that some thing must be done, such as increasing rates, with the fund due to run out in six years.And yet, despite Mr Laroda’s warn ing, no action has been taken. It is not the only area where there has been a lack of action. Also in yesterday’s Tribune, the issue of marital rape was discussed, including in the Insight section, where Malcolm Strachan noted the way marital rape legislation was being talked about “is exactly the way an issue gets discussed that a politician has no intention to do anything about”. In the same edition yesterday, activists at Equality Bahamas noted that their requests for copies of the draft legislation on marital rape and for a meeting with the Minister of Social Services had fallen on deaf ears – even as the government talked about meeting religious leaders to discuss the bill. A controversial issue? Abso lutely. And no sign of any substantive engagement or any strong push to get legislation through. How about marijuana legislation? We have been told the government is “hope ful” that legislation in that area will be presented to Parliament before the end of the year. At last report earlier this month, the legislation is at the Attorney General’s office for “fine tuning”. This is another controversial area – so progress in this area might test Mr Ingraham’s criticism of the PLP, even if such legis lation has been a long time coming and the government is still not showing its hand with regard to what we can expect exactly.Another controversial area is that of citizenship issues – which earlier this month Prime Minister Davis said remained on his administration’s legisla tive agenda. In June, Attorney General Ryan Pinder had suggested legislation on that by the end of the summer. That seems to have drifted now – but is not entirely off the radar. As you would expect, PLP chair man Fred Mitchell was quick to answer Mr Ingraham back – taking shots at the suggestion that the PLP had just been carrying out public relations. He pounced on that to say that the PLP has done more than public relations. He pointed at VAT reduction, at settling outstanding labour contracts – which it’s true is no small task. He talked of fixing the economy of Grand Bahama, though that is a long way from being fixed yet. He talked of finishing three major international airports in the country – and we’ll judge those when they are finished. But Mr Mitchell steered clear of some of those more controversial talking points. Finance and economy are one thing, and a major task for government it is true, but issues such as fixing NIB, dealing with women’s rights, legalising or decriminalising marijuana, and the citizenship issue that failed at referendum, are thornier matters.Theproof will be in the final outcome – but for the moment, the PLP does look to be keeping its hands off on some of those more controversial issues, just as Mr Ingraham says. Of course, it is simple enough for the PLP administration to prove him wrong – and the legislation they leave at the end of this term in office will be the evi dence to show how right Mr Ingraham will have been.
Ingraham stirs up the political plot
J T HUTCHINSON AugustNassau, 22, 2022. Bay parking plans
EDITOR, The Tribune.
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The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master” LEON E. H. DUPUCH, Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt . Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991 EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972Published daily Monday to Friday Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES News & General Information (242) 322-1986 Advertising Manager (242) 502-2394 Circulation Department (242) 502-2386 Nassau fax (242) 328-2398 Freeport, Grand Bahama (242)-352-6608 Freeport fax (242) 352-9348 WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK www.tribune242.com @tribune242 tribune news network PAGE 6, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
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DESPITE his absence from the frontline for many years, there is no one who can quite stir up the political scene quite like former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Like him or not, he gets people talking. In yesterday’s Tribune, we reported on his comments in which he described the Davis administration as being reluc tant to make decisions on controversial issues since being elected. He said: “They’ve not done anything major since they came in except they reduced VAT from 12 to ten percent and put it on breadbasket items… what I do know is they have been very reluctant to make decisions about anything that’s possibly controversial. As you know they can only push that back so far.”
Goodman’s
Editor, where will theyPhysicalpark? Planning just like the Sandals extension in the ‘90’s made, or required any provisions for employee parking and today Sandal’s employees block totally access to the Cable Beach Post Office, park the length of Cable Beach Manor Road, obstructing any public parking to access the publicWherebeach.will Wynn Condo/ Hotel employees park? Obviously unless on the front grass of OPM on the Goodman’s Bay eastern parking lot so every day those wishing to use the beach and walk at Good mans will not be able to Thanks, Physical Planning.Outcry there should be as again and again we see building approvals will little logic to them change of zoning from residential to commercial with zero thinking about parking and traffic flow. So where will the public park to go to the one beach or exercise that is assured by Law supposed to be accessible to them?
EMANCIPA
GOODMAN’S BAY Will the eastern park ing area be taken over by employees of the soon to be opened Wynn Condo Hotel?Went to swim early found the eastern parking area of Goodman’s full and no place to park this was 7.30am. I recall under PM Ingraham Goodman’s was put into Law as a Public Open space, but was being taken over by employees of a nearby business is sort of contrary to plans. I have a site plan from the early application days to Physical Planning...count the parking slots 67-max 70 that have to cover guests and residents. Release by Wynn confirm 200 employ ees which is at least 150 vehicles.
A SPOKESPERSON for Potter’s Cay vendors has called for reconstruction to move forward more than a year after a fire destroyed stalls at the site. Potter’s Cay Dock Fish, Fruit, and Vegeta ble Vendors Association president Ormanique Bowe said the Ministry of Works is the current road block and thinks officials need to “push it forward now”.In May, Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweet ing said vendors were provided with letters to access supplies needed for construction.MsBowe said vendors have had the letters for funding for about three months now. “Well actually my last meeting with the minister and the PS everybody has already had the okay, let ters to get their materials from FYP. We’re only wait ing on final approvals and the Ministry of Works to come out and mark,” she said.“And we’ve been wait ing for that now for the past two months. So it’s just approvals from the Ministry of Works to come out now and mark the spots for the ven dors to start, but as far as their funding the letters for funding have already been in their hands for like three months now.” In April, she said vendors were still waiting for the government to authorise the repair work to fire dam aged stalls. As for how vendors feel about the wait, she said they are “Christmas“agitate.”is coming, school is opening, they need to make money. I don’t know what is going to happen. The Minis try of Works is the hold up now and I think they need to push it forward now.”The fire back in April 2021 left six stalls com pletely burned to the ground and two others with damage. Two boats were alsoMeanwhile,destroyed. Ms Bowe said the vendors are also grappling with inflation. “Vendors are spending more than $60 per day just on gas. So when you do the calculation, they’re spend ing like $1,400 per month – that’s gas. We don’t have electricity, so they have to buy at least four to five bags of ice per day which is now $10 or $11 per day,” she said.“So when you calculate that, just on gas (for genera tors), we’re talking about over $2,000 we’re spending a month that’s just on gas. That’s not even your sup plies to sell. “I’m not open now because of the same thing – the opening and closing of the pandemic. I said you know something I’m not going to open until we have a balance, but I can imag ine talking to them, what they’re spending now and it’sSherough.”noted vendors have had to increase the prices on their menu, estimating there has been a 10 percent rise.She spoke of the chal lenges while addressing the media about the rebuilding project for the site. She added that they are seeking investors for a pri vate-public partnership, but have not approached the government yet.
‘Push forward on Potter’s Cay’ By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 7
ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE
the International
BAIL DENIED IN ROBBERY BID CASE
“Like I said we’re in the infancy stages of it. Right now, what we’re doing is just planning and putting ideas together, sharing each other’s dreams and visions of what Potter’s Cay should look like in the future,” she said.“And that is why we have this meeting today with the vendors, some of the vendors to see what they’re thinking, what their ideas are so when (we) go to (the) drawing board now it would be a cooperative.”Onboard was Marina Bland, a co-founder of a non-profit called The Global Resiliency Project whose mission is to solve all human challenges. “My mother asked me to come back to The Bahamas to be a blessing to this coun try, but she didn’t realize that my life was a little bit bigger than that. I’m trying to do what we’re doing here in The Bahamas and do it in the entire world,” she said. “I have connections eve rywhere, all over the world of people who are very interested in being a bless ing to The Bahamas. “We’ve done work already in Ragged Island. There’s no secrets. They’ve seen the work started and the plans that we’ve made for Ragged Island. We hope to replicate that same idea with this Potter’s Cay idea.”
MAN ACCUSED OF POSTING SEX VIDEO ONLINE
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A second man, Julius Rahming Jr, known as Wil liam Julius Rahming Jr, 18, also stood before Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition. Police said they found him with a black Aus tria Glock with its serial number erased and 11 unfired rounds of 9mm ammunition on August 18. He pleaded not guilty. He was also granted $8,500 bail with one or two sureties. He must sign in at Quakoo Street Police Sta tion every Tuesday by 6pm. Rahming’s trial will also start on December 29.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section
A MAN accused of film ing a woman giving him oral sex and posting the explicit content online without her consent was granted $3,500 bailTerranceyesterday.Gilbert II, 27, stood before Magistrate Shaka Serville on charges of voyeurism and libel. He is accused of recording a video of a woman performing oral sex on him without her knowledge or consent on March 22. On May 5, he alleg edly published this video on social media with the intent of defaming the complainant.Incourt, the accused pleaded not guilty to both counts. Prosecutor Sergeant Deon Barr then informed the magistrate that he had no objections to bail. During their official bail application, Gilbert’s law yers said that the charges against their client required no conditions be imposed on him. They further stated that the defendant is an active member in his church as a youth leader. In view of this, $3,500 bail was granted to the accused with one or two sureties. Magistrate Serville warned the accused not to have contact with the complain ant or any witnesses in this matter.Gilbert’s trial will start on November 29. He is represented by attorneys Alexandria Lind say-Collie and K Melvern Munroe.
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
TWO IN COURT OVER FIREARMS CHARGES
TWO men were each granted $8,500 bail in the Magistrate’s Court yester day on separate firearm and ammunition charges. Cyril McIntosh, 48, rep resented by attorney K Melvern Munroe, faced Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt on charges of possession of a prohib ited weapon and possession of Heammunition.wasallegedly found with an unlicensed Aus tria .45 Glock pistol and 13 unfired rounds of .45 ammunition on August 19. He pleaded not guilty to bothHecharges.wasgranted $8,500 bail with one or two sure ties. He is expected to sign in at East Street South Police Station every Monday and Wednesday before 6pm. His trial is set to begin on December 29.
THE POTTER’S Cay Fish, Fruit, and Vegetable Vendors Association meeting yesterday. From left, advisor Donovan Moxey, association president Ormanique Bowe, and Global Resiliency Project cofounder Marina Bland. Photo: Austin Fernander 138 (4) of Business Companies Act, 2000, (As
Amended) NOTICE is hereby given that, HARBINGER INC. is in dissolution and that the date of commencement of the dissolution is the 18th day of August A. D. 2022. ENERVO ADMINISTRATION LIMITED MontagueLIQUIDATORSterlingCentre,EastBayStreetP.O.BoxN-3924Nassau,TheBahamas LEGAL NOTICE N O T I C E
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A WOMAN was remanded yesterday after she was charged with trying to kill a man. Brittney Nelson, 22, appeared before Magistrate Shaka Serville on a charge of attempted murder.She is accused of attempting to kill Lickerson Donfred on August 16 in New Providence. She was not required to enter a plea and was informed her case would proceed by voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). Nelson is expected to return to court for mention on September 2.
A MAN was denied bail yesterday after he allegedly attempted to steal another man’s car at gunpoint. Machino McKenzie, 21, stood before Assistant Chief Magis trate Subusola Swain accused of attempted armed robbery. He is accused of attempt ing to rob Kermit Moss of his silver 2005 Honda Fit while armed with a hand gun on August 17. He was not required to enter a plea in court. He was informed his case would proceed by a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). He was told of his right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court, where his trial will be held. McKen zie’s VBI is expected to take place on November 10.
AISHA Lloyd-Minnis has found a way to turn the pain of grief into a powerful story. She has upgraded her mind set from limiting self-doubt to powerful self-confidence. She has learned to shift from a place of holding on to fear, to one of letting go and being filled with faith. Her life has completely changed because she changed her outlook on life. As her journey in self transformation continues, she is helping others to find their personal power as well. Nothing could have pre pared Aisha for the death of her grandmother, the late Geneva K Thronton, a vet eran nursing professional in The Bahamas. She was the first grandchild, and she and her grandmother were very close. It was a devastat ing loss for Aisha. She was determined to find a way to honour this woman who meant so much to so many, and had poured so much into her.On August 31, 2018, Aisha released her first book, “My Grandmother’s Keeper”: It was a way to honour her grandmother’s legacy and share her wisdom. Aisha’s grandmother taught her to live joyfully, even through heartbreaking times – a task easier said than done for many.“It was the wisdom she shared with me that helped me to be able to deal with her passing,” Aisha shared. “I used what she taught me - the life principles that she lived - to be able to make it through and to keep going. August is her birth day month, and during the first part of the month, I had finally gathered enough emotional courage to begin to sort through her belong ings. As I did, I came across one of her journals and this brought back a flood of memories, and also a sense of purpose.”From time to time throughout the years, Aisha’s grandmother would keep a journal and she would say, “One day, I am going to write a book about my life!” “At that moment, some thing in me spoke to me and I just knew I knew that I was meant to share her story, to share her lessons. I was the one who was meant to write her book. Now after this incredible sense of purpose and excitement bubbled up inside of me, about ten sec onds later my heart dropped – as I remembered that I had already tried to do this. I already tried to figure out how to write a book, and I failed.”Justover a year before she released My Grandmother’s Keeper, Aisha had a strong conviction to write a book and share the way in which she was able to transform her life from being ‘unhappy and miserable, looking externally for happiness and valida tion’ to one where she was finding and creating her own happiness.“IfIcould help just one other woman not have to struggle with internal unhap piness for as long as I did, then it would be worth me being brave enough to share my story and what I learned along the way,” Aisha said. “Even though I was nerv ous about putting pen to paper and opening up pub licly, I was more excited about the possibility that sharing what I went through could help another person. That excitement quickly faded as I tried to figure out how to actually write a book. Trying to distill everything I had gone through - the chal lenges, the triumphs, the lessons – into a book seemed overwhelming. I didn’t know what to do or where to begin. So, I just told myself that maybe this isn’t the time for this.”The moment when Aisha came across her grand mother’s journal and felt convicted to share her story was pivotal. “Why was I now being intuitively guided to write this book to share my grandmother’s story? It was one thing to let myself down and shelve my own dreams, but to feel like I was not equipped to carry the torch for my grandmother was overwhelmingly discourag ing. About ten seconds after that, I had another strong urge from within, to not only write her book, but to do so right away, and release it on her birthday which at that point was three weeks away! I was scared and somewhat defeated, but also some thing inside of me rose up. I decided that if God was clearly telling me to do this, then He would provide the way to get me through it. Bit by bit, day by day, I figured out how to write the book, and figured out how to get it published internationally. And I did it! I released the book on her birthday.”
A senior executive and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the financial ser vice industry, Aisha has had a track record of leadership in the field. But, through a pro cess of self-transformation, she has found even more God-given purpose for her ownThoughlife. she now resides in New Orleans, Lousiana, Aisha Lloyd-Minnis says she is a “born, bred, ga dead Bahamian”. Her parents, Jeffrey Lloyd and Shawn Thomas, both hail from Long Island. She followed in both of their footsteps, and attended St Augustine’s College, Nassau, where she became one of my beloved classmates. After graduating, she went on to the United States to attend university, and during that time she spent two years in the U.S. Army. She returned home to Nassau in 2001 to begin her career in accounting and finance. Today, she has more than 20 years experience in the financial services industry in The DuringBahamas.her career, she worked as an accountant with two of the Big 4 global accounting firms. After her career in public accounting, she served as head of finance for a leading commercial bank, and from there worked in financial service regula tion. During all this time, she lived and worked in The Bahamas, except for a stint from 2005-2006 in London, UK and Dublin, Ireland for the global firms. While at home, Aisha got married and gave birth to a son, Andreas. But in 2019, things changed for Aisha. With her grand mother gone, Aisha and Andreas packed up for New Orleans, Louisiana, to be with her mother, who could gain better medical treat ment there. It was not just a change of scenery for Aisha. It was a complete change of trajectory to a life of selfimprovement and inspiring others.Aisha recalls this point in her life: “By the time that the pandemic rolled around, my life was completely different – I was in a new country, new relationship, and expecting a baby! When I first moved to the United States, I decided to continue in my field, and started a tax and accounting business. While I was build ing that business, I was still also helping anyone who asked for help with writing and publishing their books.” “This all came to a sudden halt in the summer of 2020, when my 19-year-old step son tragically passed away. I focused on supporting my husband through this difficult time, and getting through the rest of my pregnancy.” “By the beginning of 2021, things were starting to settle, and I was focusing on grow ing my CPA business. People were regularly checking in to see if I was ‘ready yet’ to help them with their books. I still didn’t feel that it was the best time for me to get back into it. But once again, I felt the familiar feeling of something in my spirit and it was insist ing that I make it a point to start helping people on their journey to becoming authors onceAishaagain.”started by hosting a group programme that met twice a week for ten weeks. She took people step-by-step through the whole process of writing and self-publishing from beginning to end. This group started in March 2021 and went through to June 2021.“As I saw how well that was going,” Aisha said, “in May 2021, I opened up a Face book group ‘The Authors Lounge with Aisha Wonder full’. In this group I would do workshops, and live training sessions on topics relating to writing and self-publishing. From there, people started to inquire about my services and asked how much it would cost for me to help them. Up until this point, everything I had done was for free!
RIGHT: Aisha (centre) with her mother, Shawn, and grandmother, Geneva.
“After that, it was like I had cracked the code of fig uring out how to write and share my personal story in a way to inspire others. I then went on to finish the first book that I had originally intended to write, and pub lished “Recolour Your Life” five months later, in January 2019. I completed my 3rd book: “2020 Vision” in Feb ruary of 2021.” After Aisha published her first book, people began to ask her for advice on how to write their own books. Those inquiries began to increase during the COVID-19 pan demic and the subsequent lockdowns that came with it. She saw that the pandemic “made people reflect more on their lives, jolted them out of their day-to-day living and made them really think about their dreams and purpose for their lives”.
PAGE 8, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
ABOVE: CPA, Author and Pub lisher, Aisha Wonderfull. RIGHT: AISHA, sitting with her newborn daughter Amber, with husband Carter and their children Carter, Andreas and Autumn.
Aisha honours her grandmother and begins a brand new life
Around this time, the wife of a pastor who counseled my family during the months following my stepson’s death started saying to me, “I see you having a publishing company’. It seemed so farfetched to me, I saw myself as a CPA who was just doing this on the side, as a hobby. But as more people started to ask about my services, the pastor’s wife’s prediction started to seem more real istic and not so far-fetched; especially after my (then 11-year-old) son released his second book in June 2021! The number of people reach ing out to me for help with writing and publishing their books exploded through the roof!! I then decided to step out on a limb, to lean into what I was already doing – helping authors to share their story and impact others by writing and publishing their books – and I officially launched Universal Impact Press on July 24th, 2021. Today, Aisha is the owner and founder of Technicolor Blossom, LLC - a nextlevel strategy consulting firm, which also includes the publishing company: Uni versal Impact Press. She has led the publication of two anthologies. Yellow Elders is a collection of beautiful stories of Bahamian women that capture the essence of the resilient and spirit-filled people of these isles. Mean while, Our Fathers is about to be launched - an ode to the Bahamian man. In addi tion to the standard suite of services offered, there is another book anthology: Keep Going! which is start ing at the end of this month. In honour of Aisha’s grand mother’s upcoming birthday, Universal Impact Press is giving away a scholarship for its premium level Publishing/ Next Level Strategy Package to an aspiring Bahamian inspirational author, to help them share their story, and unleash their message to the world. For more information about the company and the scholarship, visit ties;internalway,comfortmenotlifebeginninganmother’swithinalreadyonstoryempowersageplatformtoAishaherandpersonversalimpactpress.com.www.uni“Ourvisionisthateveryhastheopportunitycouragetoachievehis/fullestDivinepotential,”said.“Assuch,ourpurposeisgivePurposefulLeadersatosharetheirmeswiththeworld,andtothemtosharetheirandmaketheimpacttheworldthattheyweredestinedtomake.”“Followingthevoicetosharemygrandstory,andbecomingauthorwastrulytheofabrand-newforme.Theroadwasalwayseasy,infact,itledcompletelyoutsideofmyzone,andalongtheIhadtoconquermanyfearsandinsecurihowever,Iamsoproud of myself for always push ing forward and deciding to keep going no matter what. Though my life is quite busy with two daughters under the age of 2, I am so excited about the work that I do. I work with authors in a very unique way – a way that I do not see anywhere else around me! Beyond just helping them write and pub lish their books, I uplift and equip authors to step into their next level of purpose, their next level of leader ship, and their next level of legacy. Many of our clients have 4 and 5-figure book launches, have been featured on major local and interna tional platforms, go on to launch professional speak ing careers, and monetize their books through courses, membership, and high-ticket coaching programmes. I am truly blessed, honoured and so excited to be living my life’s purpose of helping others make their Universal Impact.”
THE media in Britain is justly renowned for its comprehensive coverage of domestic and international news alike. As a source of reliable information, it plays a significant role in shaping public attitudes, perceptions and opinions, since what people think about events outside their own personal experience tends to be influenced by how news is reported in newspapers and on radio and television. It is interesting to reflect on this in relation to the Conservative Party’s cur rent leadership contest which, because of Britain’s standing in the world, is of interest internationally. The protracted two-month pro cess is now in its final stages. The original field of ten can didates was whittled down to the last two – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, both of whom were cabinet ministers under Boris Johnson’s premiership. The latter has now emerged as the likely overwhelm ing winner after Sunak had started off as favourite. The result is due to be announced on September 5. While it is, of course, hard to determine exactly how this turnaround hap pened, it is safe to say that the assessment of the two by some 160,000 Tory party members, who will select the winner in a postal ballot, will have been influenced by what they have been hearing and reading in the media – in addition to what they have seen of the two candidates in action debating the issues up and down the country. As each sets out their political stall publicly in press articles and during the inter minable TV debates, as well as slugging it out at the hus tings, these party members seem to have determined already that Liz Truss pos sesses the right qualities to become not only the leader of the Conservative Party but also Prime Minister. According to the latest polls, three-quarters of them have revealed they will vote for her so it looks as though she is going to win handsomely. This is not the time to examine in detail the quali ties of the two candidates. But observers now wonder whether Rishi Sunak, who is seen as responsible for the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is paying the price for his per ceived disloyalty. By contrast, after a slow start his opponent is growing in stature. It seems she is now being rewarded for her con stancy, trustworthiness and allegiance to the PM at a time when everyone else around Johnson seemed to be jumping on the bandwagon and resigning. Moreover, people close to Liz Truss speak of a combination of toughness, experience, deter mination and pragmatism – with one aide describing her as ‘focused, outcome-ori entated and visionary’. These are seen as important when, in today’s troubled times, the UK needs a cool head and strong hand in Downing Street -- a self-assured and tough leader like its famous former incumbent, Marga ret Thatcher, who is capable of standing up for Britain on the world stage. The incoming Prime Min ister will be faced with a formidable array of prob lems at home as well as dangers abroad like the Ukraine war, an increasingly hostile China and continuing disputes with Brussels - for example, over the Northern Ireland Protocol – among manyBritain’sothers. main cur rent domestic challenges include soaring inflation at a 40-year high, a deepen ing energy crisis, serious immigration problems and public services that are per forming poorly. The heavy cost-of-living increase is causing serious anxiety in UK households and it will be interesting to see how Liz Truss – if, as the front runner, she does indeed win -- will handle this as a believer in the Conservative principles of higher growth and lower taxes. As for energy, it has been reported that the new PM will be pre sented almost immediately with options to deal with this crisis which should be partially alleviated by the country’s North Sea gas reserves since the UK is not dependent on Russia as the world’s largest producer of naturalQuestionsgas. are now being asked about the wisdom of the Tory party inflicting on its members the exhaust ing drawn-out process of an extended leadership election contest while the country is in crisis. What is more, critics say the government has not been functioning effectively since the Prime Minister announced in July that he was stepping down. At the beginning of the contest many people welcomed what appeared to be an exercise in democracy with adequate time for proper scrutiny of the contenders. But the credentials of both the final candidates have been exhaustively examined and some commentators believe the process should now be stopped because it is becoming tiresome and the result is hardly in doubt. This will presumably not happen, but a Tory cabinet minister, James Cleverly, said recently that it should be completed more quickly and has called for a review. However all this is regarded – and there are still Tory members who want to bring back Boris Johnson – these are inter esting times politically in Britain. With a new face at the helm by early Septem ber, it seems that radical change is in the air, and many look forward to new beginnings with a mix ture of excitement and trepidation.
HAVING written last week about the continu ing support of Western countries for Ukraine and the danger of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, I hesitate to return to the subject today for fear of repetition. But there have been significant new developments which I hope are worth exam ining and justify further comment.First,according to a BBC report, following a telephone call from the French President Emma nuel Macron, Putin has said that UN officials will be granted permission to visit and inspect the plant which is the largest in Europe and has been occupied by the Russians since March. However, it remains to be seen whether this will happen. As I mentioned last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had warned of the real risk of a nuclear disas ter if any military firepower were directed at or from the facility, with the IAEA director calling it a “highly volatile and fragile situa tion”, with escalating fears of a nuclear catastrophe involving a major radia tion leak which could affect other countries in Europe as far away as Germany. So, allowing inspectors in looks like a positive step forward. It also comes after the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, had earlier told the BBC in an interview that military activity around the nuclear plant must end and urged Moscow to grant access to UN inspectors. This was during his visit last week to Ukraine with Turkey’s President Erdogan for talks with President Zelensky in the western city of Lviv. This meeting demon strated the seriousness of the matter and all three leaders stressed the impor tance of IAEA experts assessing the situation on the ground while Zelensky warned of the “probability of a major act of terror” at the plant being “very high”. As an example of “dou ble-think” and propaganda, Putin himself has warned of a “large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radiation contamination of vast ter ritories”. But it is his own forces that are responsible for this danger by occu pying it and putting it at risk. He claims the plant is being shelled by Ukrain ian forces while Kyiv says Russian forces are carrying out attacks as a “false flag” provocation in order to jus tify blaming Ukraine. Secondly, there was news at the weekend of the kill ing of the daughter of one of Putin’s major allies, Alexander Dugin, in a car bomb attack in the out skirts of Moscow. He is said to be Putin’s closest aide who shapes his think ing and masterminded the invasion of Ukraine, and there is speculation that the bomb was meant for Dugin himself. It is too soon to assess the effects of this assassination but it must surely be another major blow for Putin, coming as it does after the poison ing – according to Russian media reports -- of the head of the sideredwhichastatingincludingtherThereoccupiedadministrationRussian-installedinUkraine’sKhersonregion.havealsobeenfurmilitaryreverses,aseriesofdevattacksinCrimea,waspreviouslycontobebeyondthe reach of Ukrainian forces, and on Russia’s Black Sea fleet.Six months after the invasion, which Russia expected to be over in 72 hours followed by the installation of a puppet government, stiff Ukrain ian resistance has produced a wholly different situation. At this stage, international observers say that, with the aid of the West, Ukraine will continue to fight back and could ultimately suc ceed in pushing Putin’s forces out. However, an early end to the war is unlikely unless both sides accept that a stalemate has been reached and agree to negotiate a cessation of hostilities. Many consider that Putin will not use tacti cal nuclear weapons on the battlefield for fear of pro voking NATO, though the chairman of the British Par liament’s Defence Select Committee has warned that any deliberate damage to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant causing a radiation leak would also risk bring ing NATO into the war. It is surely clear by now that, after the horrors of war unleashed by Putin, his dream of taking back control over Ukraine and absorbing it into his vision of a greater Russia -- as it was in the days of the Soviet Union -- is not going to be fulfilled. But, given the patriotism and bravery of the Ukrainians and their capacity for fighting back in defence of their own land, even if a puppet govern ment had been installed early on, effective Russian occupation and control of this vast country could anyway probably not have been maintained in the longer term. RISHI SUNAK, left, and Liz Truss making their cases to be the next Conservative party leader.
AMID all the gloom and doom of international affairs, what a pleasure it was to spot the other day an uplifting BBC report about help by human beings for wildlife.Recently, a farmer in Suf folk in the east of England has been keeping some seventy containers filled with water and has distrib uted them around her land for the benefit of thirsty wildlife.Anunusually long heat wave and resultant drought in Britain has meant that ponds have dried up and rivers have run low. This is said to be the longest dry period in England since the heatwave of 1976 which is reported to have lasted for two months. So creatures living in the wild are said to be suffering from a short age of water. As a keen wildlife pho tographer, the farmer, who has also expressed concern about climate change, has taken pictures of many species - as well as filming them, apparently with hidden cameras - drinking water from the contain ers or bathing in it. These have included deer, rab bits, badgers, foxes and even a tawny owl. How fascinating it has been to watch short videos of such wildlife drinking freely, both during the day and at night, in this way in their own habitat thanks to assistance from humans. For anyone interested, a Google search will reveal all.
WILDLIFE ALSO GETS THIRSTY
NUCLEAR FEARS GROWING columnYoungPeterThe
THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 9
Battle to become Britain’s next PM nears conclusion
Haitian protests call for ouster of prime minister
NIKOPOL, AssociatedUkrainePress
“This collective crime adds to the list of victims...that has reached an alarming proportion,” the office said.Poverty also has deepened, with inflation reaching 29% and some prices of some basic goods such as rice more than quadrupling. Gasoline also remains scarce and, if available, costs $15 a gallon. “I need the gas to work,” 28-yearold moto-taxi driver Garry Larose said as he marched. “I have a family to feed, school to pay.” In one protest, people wore black T-shirts, while at another they wore red T-shirts emblazoned with the words, “RISE UP.”
Violence and kidnappings have surged in Port-au-Prince and nearby areas in recent months, with warring gangs killing hundreds of civilians in their fight over territory. They have grown more powerful since last year’s assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. In one of the most recent killings denounced by the prime minister and Haiti’s Office of Citizen Pro tection, suspected gang members killed eight people over the week end in one community, including a mother and her two daughters who were set on fire while still alive.
US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Britain, France and Ger many pleaded Sunday for Russia to end military operations so close to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant — Europe’s largest — but Nikopol came under fire three times over night from rockets and mortar shells. Houses, a kindergarten, a bus station and stores were hit, authorities said. There are widespread fears that continued shelling and fighting in the area could lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Russia has asked for an urgent meeting of the UN Secu rity Council on Tuesday.
RUSSIA’S invasion of Ukraine has already killed some 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers since it began nearly six months ago, a general said, and the fighting yesterday showed no signs that the war is abating.Ata veteran’s event, Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzh nyi, said many of Ukraine’s children need to be taken care of because “their father went to the front line and, perhaps, is one of those almost 9,000 heroes who died.”
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Rus sell said these are UN-verified figures but “we believe the number to be much higher”.
“The Second World War didn’t take away my father, but the Russian war did,” noted Pavlo Shy shkin, his son. The UN says 5,587 civilians have been killed and 7,890 wounded in the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, although the estimate is likely an undercount.
PAGE 10, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE AN INVESTIGATION is under way in Antigua and Barbuda over a Russianowned super yacht, the Alfa Nero.The vessel has been anchored in Falmouth Har bour since February - and last week a multi-agency operation saw the vessel searched.Theyacht is owned by Andrey Guryev, who is named on a sanctions list issued by the US, the UK and the European Union. Yesterday, officials issued anAntiguaupdate. and Barbuda’s Foreign Minister, E Paul “Chet” Greene said: “The investigation is continuing. It is being conducted by a multi-agency task force of local law enforcement offi cials and observed by the officers of the US Federal Bureaus of Investigation (FBI), pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request made to the Attorney-General of Antigua and Barbuda by the Competent Author ity of Government of the United States. “In order not to preju dice the investigation, or the rights of any per sons involved, no further information, concerning the investigation will be released at this time. How ever, the Foreign Ministry will provide further infor mation, as appropriate, consistent with maintaining the integrity of the matter.” In March, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government of Antigua and Barbuda advised all local companies not to transact any business with any persons, com panies, or other entities, which appear on these sanc tions’Consequently,lists. the Alfa Nero, was not provided with any fuel, except emer gency supplies to keep it secure. Therefore, it could not leave Antigua and Barbuda. UPDATE OWNEDRUSSIANONYACHT
The UN children’s agency said Monday that at least 972 Ukrainian children have been killed or injured since Russia invaded.
PEOPLE run past a burning barricade during a protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, yesterday.
Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP
“I feel hate towards Russians,” said 74-year-old Liudmyla Shy shkina, standing on the edge of her destroyed fourth-floor apartment in Nikopol that no longer has walls. She is still injured from the Aug. 10 blast that killed her 81-year-old husband, Anatoliy.
UKRAINE SAYS 9,000 OF ITS TROOPS KILLED IN WAR
The protests come days after dozens of demonstrators staged a sit-in in front of Henry’s official residence and demanded that he resign.OnMonday, police clashed with demonstrators in some areas, firing tear gas to break up the crowd as burning tires blocked roads.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Associated Press THOUSANDS of protesters in Haiti’s capital and other major cities blocked roads, shut down businesses and marched through the streets yesterday to demand that Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down and to call for a better quality of Associatedlife. Press journalists observed an unidentified man fatally shoot a demonstrator in Port-au-Prince and then flee in a car as the crowd temporarily scattered. Demonstrator Lionel JeanPierre, who witnessed the shooting, said things in Haiti have gotten out of “Familiescontrol. don’t know what to do,” he said as the crowd around him chanted: “If Ariel doesn’t leave, we’re going to die!”
In Nikopol, across the river from Ukraine’s main nuclear power plant, Russian shelling wounded four people yesterday, an offi cial said. The city on the Dnieper River has faced relentless pound ing since July 12 that has damaged 850 buildings and sent about half its population of 100,000 fleeing.
BAHAMASWITHPLEASEDARCHERPRESIDENTBAAATEAM
DRUMECO ARCHER
By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
Patrick Cantlay wins another thriller at BMW Championship
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune ReporterFreeport dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
This looked to be headed that way when Cantlay and Stallings were tied down the stretch, with Masters cham pion Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele lurking. Tied with two holes to play, Cantlay took an aggressive line to cut off the corner of a dogleg and figured he was headed for a cluster of bunkers. But the ball landed short of the last bunker, took a big hop over the sand, and tumbled into the first cut and rolled out to the fairway, just 64 yards from the hole. “I thought hitting it on that line, it would for sure be in a bunker,” he said. “Got an excellent break — maybe one of the best breaks I’ve gotten coming down the stretch — and when you get a break like that you need to pay it off.” That he did, hitting a spinner with a wedge that skipped and stopped 5 feet behind the hole for birdie and a one-shot lead. Stall ings in the group ahead narrowly missed a birdie putt from just inside 10 feet on the last hole for a 69. Cantlay needed par to win and fanned his drive
DETROIT Tigers’ Javier Baez scores past Cleveland Guard ians catcher Austin Hedges on a ball hit by Harold Castro, while home plate umpire Lance Barksdale watches. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
SEE 16
SPORTS PAGE 15 TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama — Drumeco Archer, president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), was extremely pleased with Team Baha mas’ performance at the NACAC Open Champion ships in Grand Bahama. Among those highlighted was Grand Bahama’s very own Tynia Gaither, who won the silver medal in the women’s 200-metre final, clocking a time of 22.35 seconds.And, Donald Thomas captured the bronze in the men’s high jump. Also, the gold medal win by Olym pic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who set a new NACAC record in the women’s final of the 400m. “I am happy, I have seen improvements across the entire spectrum of our programme at every international event we have gone to and we have been increasing the medal count,” Archer said on the final day of competition at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on Sunday. “Today, we had Tynia, in addition to Donald Thomas - the ageless wonder - get ting a bronze medal in the high jump. Then, we had Devynne Charlton placing second in the 100 metres hurdles and we also had the incredible Shaunae Miller-Uibo winning a gold medal, and then we came back with Tynia Gaither running a personal best of 22.35 and getting the silver medal - you couldn’t ask for more than that with Team Bahamas.”“Ithink the champion ships went pretty well when you look at the quality of performances and the qual ity of athletes that have participated at these games, he said. I don’t know if we could have expected more. “GB is elated. This is really a stimulus for them in terms of track and field, but also an economic boom,”
By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — One good break. One great shot. That’s what it took Sunday for Patrick Cantlay to win the BMW Championship for the second straight time with a finish that was nothing like last year except for his clutchOnemoments.other difference: The victory didn’t give him the No. 1 seed going into the FedEx Cup finale next week at East Lake in Atlanta. That was of little concern to Cantlay after his birdie-par finish for a 2-under 69, giving him a one-shot victory over Scott Stallings at Wilmington Country Club. “I was glad not to go six holes in a play off,” Cantlay said, referring to his unlikely playoff win last year at Caves Valley over Bryson DeChambeau.
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All eyes on mural of our top athletes
Photo by Samora J St Rose/Tribune Staff
SEE PAGE 16
SEE PAGE 16
PATRICK Cantlay celebrates after winning the BMW Cham pionship golf tournament. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Plate discipline: MLB umpires crack down on blocking home
PHOENIX (AP) — The rough-and-tumble days of Pete Rose bowl ing over Ray Fosse at home plate of the 1970 All-Star Game are long gone.Most believe that’s a change for the better. “It’s not a football game,” D-backs man ager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve got to make sure guys stay safe.” But the drama — and sometimes controversy — surrounding plays at the plate are still around more than 50 years later. Two MLB games over the past 10 days were partially decided after video replay overturned plays at the plate, favour ing baserunners over the catcher. The first was in Washington’s 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres and the other was in Detroit’s 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians. The plays were strik ingly similar: Cleveland’s Austin Hedges and San Diego’s Austin Nola each tagged out a runner at the plate, but on review, it was ruled that the catch ers failed to give a clear
STARSTRUCK: It’s not everyday that you go to get your car fixed and you bump into a two-time Olympic champion and an Olympic and World champion. Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner - doing a photoshoot yesterday outside Muffler World in front of a mural of themselves on the side of the building - take pictures with employees, fans and passersby on Monday afternoon. The presence of the athletes created quite a stir on the Mackey Street roadside as people came up asking to take selfies and photographs with the two star athletes.
Archer added. Archer stated that they are happy about having the event in Grand Bahama. “I think by all accounts everybody seems very satisfied, he said.The event attracted 400 athletes from North America, Central Amer ica and the Caribbean. He thanked Mike Sands, president of the NACAC, for bringing the event to the Bahamas, particularly GrandSandsBahama.took ill while attending the event and is under“Presidentobservation.Sands is con valescing. He is under observance,” Archer said. “I have spoken with him. He is in great spirits, and he says he feels great.” Conditions were very hot over the three days of competition.“Itwasincredibly hot, and I think it took its toll on many athletes,” Archer said. “But, it cooled down on the final day of compe tition and you could not complain anymore about theWhenheat.” organising the schedule, he explained that the technical director would have considered the question of light conditions in time for the event. “And out of an abun dance of caution, we decided in the event that lamps were not installed at the time of the event, then at least, we would have full daylight for the event.” “Well, we got full light and a wonderful facility for nighttime competition. Unfortunately, it was too late to change the sched ule,” he Archerstated.isconfident that other events would be held in Grand Bahama. He noted that whether government or privately funded, they will push and continue to market the Bahamas as a track and field and tourist des tination. “Our push and mandate is to create more content for track and field in the Bahamas, both in GB and NP,” Archer said. He thanked the entire organising committee for doing such a huge job in executing and pulling off the event and delivering a world-class competition. “I want to say a spe cial thanks to Chevonia McBride and Perez Cooper who were co-chair per sons for the event, and Norris Bain, deputy man aging director, and others, including Deon Britton (hotel accommodations); Dr Cecil Thompson (trans portation); Sophia Higgs (volunteer section); Laura Pratt Charlton, (competi tion manager) supported by her husband David Charlton (the competition director). General-Sec retary Keith Joseph and Mabelene Miller CEO for BAAA (responsibility for accreditation),” Archer summed up.
GRAND Bahamian sprinter Tynia Gaither won the silver medal in the women’s 200-metre final, clocking a time of 22.35 seconds, at the NACAC Open Championships in Grand Bahama.
Shortly after making his remarks during the open ing ceremonies on Friday at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex, Sands returned to the VIP stand where he had a dizzy spell. He was treated on site and then taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital where it was determined he will be kept in for a few days for“I’mobservation.thankful for the support during my down time,” he said. “I had the best of care from the doctors, nurses and personnel at the Rand and the support from the Minister of Grand Bahama, Ginger Moxey. It was 24-7 care. I’m very happy with that.“I was able to watch the live stream from my bed and so I was very happy with what I saw. But I’m very happy that I was able to come out here for the closing of the champion ships. I’m still not 100 percent, but I’m in a better place right now.”
MLB FROM PAGE 15
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstiubbs@tribunemedia.net lane for the runner to score and the call was over turned. Hedges and Nola were both stunned. Hedges was particularly angry, calling the reversal “embar rassing.” The Padres and Guardians are both fighting for playoff spots. “I thought I did everything the way we practice: Step back, give him a lane, not throw the knee in front,” Nola said. So are the catchers right? As with many things, it’s complicated.MLBrules state that “unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score.” Sounds simple enough. The problem is the catcher is trying to get in good position to field the ball, adjusting to the trajectory of the throw. Many times, that means the catcher moves a foot in front or on top of the plate. Even if the plate isn’t completely blocked, it makes for a more difficult sliding target for the baserunner. At that point, it becomes a judgment call. The rule has been around for several years: It was changed in 2014 and is col loquially called the “Buster Posey rule” after the AllStar catcher suffered a broken ankle on a play at the plate. But umpires’ will ingness to rule in favour of baserunners is arguably a newDiamondbacksdevelopment. catcher Carson Kelly said he under stands both sides of the debate.“You’ve got to be con scious of what you’re doing, where you’re positioned,” Kelly said. “But ultimately, we’ve got to be able to go get the Diamondbacksball.” manager Torey Lovullo agreed that the rule is simple, even if the interpretation is not. He added that plays at the plate happen in a hurry and there’s a lot of moving parts in a couple seconds.
Team Bahamas brings home seven medalsmost ever in history
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama — It turned out to be an historic event, not just for the Bahamas, but the North American, Central American and Caribbean region at the 2022 Anita Doherty Open Championships.Andeventhough he spent the majority of his time recuperating in the Rand Memorial Hospital, NACAC president Mike Sands said he was still pleased how the event was staged in Grand Bahama, despite complaints by some of the countries about the living conditions in the games village at Our Lucaya Resort.
While everybody was making their way out of Grand Bahama on Monday, Sands will remain for a few more days to complete his evaluation before he is given the green light to travel. But he said he is optimistic that once the results are completed, he will be able to return home.Sands, however, said he is grateful that despite being hospitalised, he was able to watch as everybody stepped in and made sure that the championships turned out to be one that everybody will remember. The championships, which has not been given a location for the fifth edition as yet, was held in honour of the late Anita Doherty, a prominent sportswoman, educator, administrator and philanthropist who passed away on March 28.
As the fourth edition of the three-day event came to a close on Sunday night at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex, Team Bahamas produced its largest medal total ever with seven, including the gold medal from Shaunae Miller-Uibo in a champion ship record in the women’s 400Teammetres.Bahamas, man aged by Renee ‘Sunshine’ Davis with Ronald Cart wright as the head coach, assisted by Tito Moss, Robert Ayton, Jason Larimore and Corrington Maycock, also collected two silver from Tynia Gaither in the women’s 200m and the women’s 4 x 100m team of Printassia Johnson, Anthonique Stra chan, Devynne Charlton andTheGaither.team also produced four bronze from Charl ton in the women’s 100m hurdles, Donald Thomas in the men’s high jump, Rhema Otabor in the women’s javelin, and the men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Kinard Rolle, Alonzo Russell, Shakeem Smith and Wendell Miller. The Bahamas didn’t participate in the initial championships in El Salvador in 2007, but made its debut in 2015 in Costa Rica, bringing home two silver and three bronze before going to Toronto, Canada in 2018 where the Bahamas collected two bronze.Atthe end of the meet, a total of 22 champion ship records were broken, one shy of the most ever posted in Toronto where the record stands at 23. The United States of America, in a dominat ing fashion that included a sweep of all five relays con tested, including the mixed 4 x 400m and both the men and women 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m relays, carted off a total of 63 medals with 29 gold, 22 silver and 12 bronze.Jamaica came second with six gold, nine silver and nine bronze for their total of 24, while Canada got third with 14 medals, including two gold, three silver and nine bronze. Cuba and Guatemala both got two gold to beat out the Bahamas in the gold rush for fourth and fifth, but only had six and three medals in total respectively. As he stood in the VIP stands watching the final day of competition on Sunday, Sands is still of the opinion that hosting the event in Grand Bahama was the right decision by NACAC.“Ithink we made the right decision. We got the support that we needed and I’m very, very pleased with the results,” Sands said.“We saw a number of championship records broken and that is a tes timony of the calibre of event we had and as testi mony to the facility at this track and its surface. “I’m just thankful for all of the support that we received from the member associations, who all came and participated, not with standing the support of the Bahamas Government, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Minis try of Grand Bahama and our many partners and sponsors.”Despite the bump in the road, as it pertains to the accommodations at Our Lucaya, Sands said they were able to iron out and correct the deficiencies and it ended up being a great championship.“It’snothow you start, but how you finish,” he said.
PAGE 16, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
BAHAMAS men’s 4 x 400 metre relay team, from left to right, of Shakeem Smith, Kinard Rolle, Alonzo Russell and Wendall Miller. Photo: Derek Carroll into a bunker, the ball above his feet, 158 yards to pin on a steeply pitched green.“Itried to slice an 8-iron about as hard as I could and went to about where I thought I could get it, and it was one of the best shots I hit all week,” he said. His putt caught the lip of the cup, leaving him a tapin, about the easiest shot he had all Cantlay,day.who finished at 14-under 270, became the first player to win the BMW Championship in consecutive years since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. No one has ever repeated in any of the playoff events. The victory, his second of the year, moved him to No. 3 in the world. He played all four rounds with Schauffele, and only later did he real ise he could have used a little help from his best friend on tour. Schauf fele (71) missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would given him third place and moved Scheffler to Thatfourth.would have made Cantlay the No. 1 seed, which comes with a twoshot lead before the Tour Championship begins. Now he will start two shots behind Scheffler, who had missed a short par putt on the last hole that ulti mately didn’t cost him in the FedEx Cup. Stallings has gone 238 starts since his last victory eight years ago at Torrey Pines, and he played like that drought might end. But he missed four birdie chances inside 18 feet at the end, the last one from just inside 10 feet. The consolation prize is his first trip to the Tour Championship.“Thatwasthe biggest goal of the year,” Stallings said. “Better late than never.”Stallings wasn’t alone. Adam Scott is making his way back to East Lake. He was at No. 77 in the FedEx Cup when the postseason started and a tie for fifth last week moved him to No.Scott45. made eagle on the 12th hole and hit some superb lag putts on firm, crispy greens at Wilming ton for a 71 to tie for fifth. Needing a par on the last hole, Scott tugged his tee shot to the edge of a bunker, meaning he had to stand in the sand and try to hit out of a sticky first cut with the golf ball about thigh-high. He pulled that into a bunker, then hit a splendid shot to tap-in ran. “I guess that’s the beauty of the FedEx Cup playoffs the way they are. You can scratch it around a lot for the year and have a couple good weeks and get heavily rewarded by getting to East Lake and being in that top 30 and all the perks that come with it,” Scott said. Aaron Wise had a 73 and earned the 30th spot. He was among four play ers who moved into the top 30 who are eligible for the Tour Championship. The others were Stallings, Scott, Aaron Wise and K.H. Lee, who had a 65 on Sunday to tie for fifth.
CANTLAY FROM PAGE 15 ARCHER FROM PAGE 15
XANDER Schauffele reacts after making a birdie putt on the ninth hole during the final round of the BMW Champi onship golf tournament at Wilmington Country Club on Sunday.(AP Photo/Nick Wass)
“The timing of sports in slow motion sometimes looks so different than what actually happens in front of you when you’re doing it,” Lovullo said. “I don’t think anyone is maliciously acting out to break the rules.” 700 CLUB? If this is it for Albert Pujols, the 11-time All-Star is closing his career with quite a flourish. The 42-year-old Pujols blasted two more homers on Saturday, pushing his career total to 692. He’s now just four homers shy of Alex Rodriguez for the No. 4 spot in MLB history. Now the question is this: Can the three-time MVP get to That700?seemed like a extreme longshot just a few weeks ago, but the way he’s hitting these days, nothing seems impossible. About 40 games are left in the regular season, which Pujols says will be his last.
HillsCentreAL6-7.30pmMoss,ConryRobertdiner,Bethel,Edgecombe,Chiacchiari,JordanKristanKaiCurtis,Ferguson,eronTobyJohnson,thecoach,KempKevinNeslyphysiotherapist.medicalSandeepisegation.the8AugustQualifiers.ChampionshipsTheeventwillbeheld30toSeptemberinBradenton,Florida.BruceSwanwillbeheadofthedelThemanagerDariaAdderleyandGoudisthedoctorandTheteam,coachedbyJean,assistedbyDavieswithAveryasthegoalkeeperiscomprisedoffollowingplayers:JamesKing,NahumDylanArcher,Cartwright,CamPratt,DeronClaudiusShmaadSmith,Perez,JackMassey,Watchorn,Cheetham,LucaReubenJaxonWilliamGarMatthewHolst,Holcombe,RaineandAtarriThesquadtrainsdailyattheRoscowDaviesSoccerattheBaillouSportingComplex. FOUR-MAN BOXING TEAM SET FOR HIGH SCHOOL/JR CHAMPIONSHIPS
PHOTOSHOOT: Two-time Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Olympic and World champion Steven Gardiner, while doing a photoshoot yesterday outside Muffler World in front of a mural of themselves on the side of the building, take pictures with employees, fans and passersby on Monday afternoon. The presence of the athletes created quite a stir on the Mackey Street roadside as people came up asking to take selfies and photographs with the two star athletes. Photos by Samora J St Rose/Tribune Staff
“Our senior boxers, who competed at the Common wealth Games, Carl Hield and Rashield Williams, hadn’t competed in about 10 months and that really paid a major disadvantage,” he“Sosaid.if you don’t compete, it will be a struggle against the teams who are compet ing on a regular basis.” After a two-year hiatus of taking a junior team off to compete, Strachan said this will be a good indication of where the programme is and what they need to do to improve on the per formances of the boxers as they look ahead to the future.While the team is sched uled to leave at 7am Wednesday on Bahamasair and make a stopover in Trinidad before heading to Guyana, Strachan said they will return with a stopover in Trinidad & Tobago. The team will split up with those heading to Miami and the rest going through Cuba before coming home. AFTER a thorough evaluation period by the coaches and the Technical Department, the Bahamas Football Association has selected its national team to compete at the CON CACAF 2022 Under-17 Boys
BFA QUALIFIERSCHAMPSU-17CONCACAFTEAMNATIONALSELECTSFORBOYS THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 17
THE Boxing Federation of the Bahamas, in its bid to expose the next generation of amateur boxers to inter national competition, will be taking a four-man team to the High cialisStrachanCOVID-19ponedcategory.BahamianSmith,Florida,125lbs,oldinYoung,119-lbs;NewCurtis,poundsfighting17-year-oldcountryInagua.Vincentteam.aswillinthepointingboxermostgetseverycialthetheyAugusttitionWednesdayStrachan,erationTown,ChampionshipsSchool/JuniorinGeorgeGuyana.Theteam,headedbyfedpresidentVincentwillbeleavingonforthecompethatwillrunthrough29.However,Strachansaidarestillappealingtopublicfortheirfinansupporttoensurethatmemberoftheteamtotravel.CarlHield,thecountry’sseasonedamateurcomingoffadisapfirstroundTKOatCommonwealthGamesBirmingham,England,bemakinghisdebuttheheadcoachoftheHewillbeassistedbyDeleveauxoutofSelectedtorepresenttheareKeanoCox,aoutofInagua,outofthe132-category;Andrewa15-year-oldfromProvidenceinthebrothersJaidena17-year-oldoldthe141-lbsand15-year-JailenYounginthebothoutofTampa,alongwithElijaha17-year-oldGrandinthe217-lbsTheeventwasposttwoyearsduetothepandemic,butsaidthefederationstillappealingforfinanassistancetodefraythe cost for the team because of their long stopovers and night over in Trinidad, in addition to other factors associated with team travel. “We are just waiting on some financial assistance from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to assist us,” Strachan said. “The initial situation we were faced with is one of the boxers didn’t have a visa.“The team won’t be able to come back through Miami, so it’s easier to come back through Cuba,” Strachan“Threesaid.members of the team, brothers Jaiden and Jailen and Carl Hield, will be returning to Miami.” Strachan said he’s con fident that the team will do very well. “The only team I think we will have problems with is the host country, Guyana,” he said. “They have been training and competing in-house with boxing matches every two weeks. That is what we were not having. “But we are going there with confidence and I believe we will do very well. We have very high hopes for the two boxers in Tampa because although they are very young, they are elite boxers, so we’re looking forward to their transition to the senior team, at least one of them next year. We are excited about the prospect of what is to Rightcome.”after this event, Strachan said the federa tion has three more events to send teams off to com pete. He noted that if they can secure the funding for the teams to travel, it would bode well for the future development of the teams.
HEAD coach Carl Hield is flanked by boxers Jalen Young and Jaiden Young.
IN GUYANA
Bumping into our championsOlympic
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
KEYSHAWN Strachan had another national record-breaking performance in the men’s javelin at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Open Championships at the Grand Ba hama Sports Complex. However, his heave of 248-feet, 9-inches or 75.83 metres left him shy of a spot on the podium with fourth place.
Colebrooke didn’t advance out of the semi-finals of the men’s 100m after he clocked 11.71 for seventh in his heat and 22nd overall. He too was coming off an injury and didn’t want to reagitate it any further so as a precautionary measure, he didn’t want to tighten up so he just cruised through the finish line. “The plan was just to come in and see where we were going,” he said. “There were a lot of hiccups early in the season with a lot of transitions. So me and my coach were trying to get me prepared to come home (to“Icompete).didn’twant to leave, but I wanted to see what I could do. No regrets. I haven’t ran on home soil, but I just hope to get back strong for next year, make these teams and do better.”
PAGE 18, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
“I hope to throw around 85 metres or better.” Shakeem Smith, compet ing in the final of the men’s 400m hurdles, raced out of lane one to eighth place in 52.49 as he got caught and passed at the tape by Haiti’s Joshua Adhemar in seventh in “I52.48.kind of knew what was going to happen, but I still tried my best,” said Smith, who noted that he suffered a slight right ham string injury during the warm up and he didn’t want to agitate it any further. “I still ran on my leg because I really wanted to get the experience.”Aftertherace, Smith said he almost came to tears when he stepped out on the track to run because he was just delighted to be able to represent the Bahamas in theKinardevent. Rolle, who had predicted that he would run something fast after he advanced out of the semifinal of the men’s 400m, got off to a great start in the final, but didn’t have any thing left to contend with the rest of the field coming off the final curve, finishing the race in 48.23 seconds for sixth place. “I was not that pleased with the results, As you can see, I executed the first part of the race, but I let the second part get away from me,” he Jamaicasaid.got a 1-2 punch as Christopher Taylor took the gold in 44.63 with Nathon Allen getting the silver in 45.04 and Ameri can Bryce Deadmon the bronze in 45.06. Rolle said he wanted to give the Bahamian people “something to cheer for, make it worth their while, let them see a show,” but it didn’t work out as he fal tered down the stretch. There’s still hope for Rolle for the future. He indicated that he will go back to the drawing board with his coach and try to devise a plan for his return nextXavieryear. Coakley, coming off an injury that required surgery a year ago this same time, was also sixth in the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.85.The USA got the top two spots with Freddie Crit tenden getting the gold in 13.00 and Jamal Britt the silver in 13.08, while Jamai ca’s Orlando Bennett won the bronze in 13.18. “To make it back is a great feeling,” said Coakley of his comeback from the injury he sustained after he completed his senior year at the University of Miami. “I think this will only motivate me to come back stronger for next Samsonyear.”
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
The second title, the men’s open doubles, was captured by presi dent Perry Newton and Donte Armbrister, who won over Ken Kerr and Bjorn Ferguson 6-2 6-0. Armbrister and Newton matched up for the first time in doubles and had great results. Donte and Perry advanced to the finals with a win over Godfrey Virgil and Kevin Major Sr 6-1, 6,1. Armbrister and Newton dis played a dominant performance, not dropping a set all tournament long.Three more titles are wait ing to be claimed. The men’s jr vets singles will be decided in the final match between Scott Red dick and Harrington Saunders on Thursday.Themen’s open singles and junior vets doubles are currently underway.OnSaturday, Tshaka Symonette won 6-0, 6-4 over Ken Kerr in the men’s singles and Timothy Dames and Eugene Gibson advanced in jr vets doubles over Julian Rob inson and Chigoze Ijeoma in a walkover. In the men’s singles quarterfinals, Bobby Chen will take on Donovan Ingraham, Scott Reddick will face Tshaka Symon ette, Dentry Mortimer will take on Ryan Fox and Anthony Mun nings will face Nkosi Symonette. The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) extends con gratulations to all the champions, runners up and participants. The tournament referee is Mickey Williams, assisted by Everette Munroe.
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama — For most of the young Bahamian athletes, whether they made it to the final of their event or not, the 2022 North Ameri can, Central American and Caribbean Open Champi onships turned out to be a learning experience. One of them was Key shawn Strachan, the Bahamian national record holder in the men’s javelin. He came into the cham pionships having won a bronze medal at the World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia. But he knew this was a much higher level and although he did his best, his heave of 248-feet, 9-inches or 75.83 metres left him shy of a spot on the podium with fourth However,place.itwas another national Maycock).withgoingAuburnhasStStrachan,legehisseason,performanceentered.”becausewasreallying“NextonshipsWorldmedalismeet,”good(81.43m).gotAmericanwithWalcottdad276-4sonpostedofpassedperformancerecord-breakingashesurhispreviousmark236-7(72.13m)thatheinCalilastmonth.AmericanCurtisThomptookthegoldwith(84.23m)withTrini&Tobago’sKeshorngettingthesilver275-4(83.94m)andEthanDabbsthebronzewith267-2“MyperformancewasinmyfirstseniorsaidStrachan,whocomingoffabronzeperformanceattheUnder-20ChampiinCali,Colombia.season,I’mexpectsomebigthings.“Thecompetitionwastough.IknewitgoingtobetoughofthecompetitorsLookingbackathisoverallthisStrachansaiditwasbestever.“I’mnotgoingtocoluntilJanuary,”saidagraduateofJohn’sCollegewhosignedtocompeteforUniversity.“SoI’mtocontinuewithworkmycoach(Corrington
For most of our young athletes, NACAC Open
TWO championship matches were held this weekend as the 28th annual AID Clay Court Championships concluded at the Gym Tennis Centre, with two teams reigning supreme. The first title, the mixed doubles was claimed by Tom McDermott and Sh’Ron Saunders who triumphed over the number one seeds, Bjorn Ferguson and Richette Percentie. The match went the distance 0-6, 6-4, 12-10. In their road to the finals, Saunders and McDermott won 6-3, 6-3 over Stafford Armbrister and Valorie Rees. Saunders and McDermott won the champion ship match after roaring back to win in an epic battle and a thrill ing match tiebreak.
28TH ANNUAL AID CLAY COURT CHAMPIONSHIPS
TRACK athletes Jahmaal Wilson and Denisha Cartwright.
Printassia Johnson, also entered in the 100m semifinals, was sixth in her heat in 11.66 for 11th overall. “I was just focusing on my phases. That is all,” she pointed out. “The race was okay.”After taking a six-year hiatus, Johnson returned to competition last year under coach Ednal Rolle. She said they still have a lot more work to do, but it was good for them to see exactly where she is against the top-notch competition. Sprinter Denisha Cart wright got to compete in her specialty in the wom en’s 100m hurdles after she got her senior international debut in both the 100 and 200m at the Common wealth Games. She didn’t advance with Devynne Charlton out of the semi-finals of the hur dles after she placed sixth in her heat in 13.56 for eighth overall, but lost out on a spot in the final by another automatic qualifier. “I felt it wasn’t too good for me. I didn’t get to execute the way I wanted to, but it was all good,” she said. “The hurdles is my best race and I feel more comfortable with it. I just wanted to see where I am rightShenow.”noted that it was certainly an eye opener for her and she is more deter mined to get back to her next major international competition.Andre Colebrooke closed out his season with a fourth place finish in the semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles in 53.27 for ninth place overall as he watched Shakeem Smith advance to the final with his fourth place in the other heat in 50.55 for seventh place.“It was good. It was my meet for the season, so I just wanted to go out there and try to make it to the final,” he “Overallsaid.I made some mistakes. I should have taken it out a little harder, but maybe next time.” Colebrooke, however, admitted that he was dis appointed that he didn’t run faster and advised the media to “look out for me.” Championships was a learning experience
KINARD Rolle speaks with the media in the mixed zone.
Anthonique Strachan got fourth in her heat of the women’s 100m in 11.48, but it left her as the ninth qualifier, one spot shy of returning for the final that was won by her training partner Shericka Jackson of Jamaica in a championship record time of 10.83. “It wasn’t a great execu tion because I am still a little scared of my leg after I got hurt at the World Championship,” she said. “It was a quad injury. I got a third degree strain and I sort of rushed it to com pete at NACAC because I wanted to compete at home, especially because it was in Freeport. “I rushed my recovery to come here. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it’s a mental mindset.”
FROM PAGE A24 extent possible, increasing the burden of taxation on Bahamians. Moreover, the Government is of the view that it would be desirable to implement reductions in customs tariffs going for ward, especially in respect of capital “Accordingly,goods. in order to lighten the burden of taxes, emphasis is being placed on measures that will signifi cantly improve collections of existing taxes, especially in the areas of real property tax, VAT, Customs duties and excise taxes. It has long been acknowledged that important gaps do exist between the amount of taxes that should be paid and the amount actually collected in the above areas. “These gaps and arrears can be bridged through actions to improve the operational efficiency of the major tax agencies, facilitate compliance by taxpayers and reduce outright tax eva sion and non-compliance,” the Ministry of Finance continued.“Concrete action beyond the vague promises of the past is urgently required and the Government is determined to do so. To that end, the existing tax laws will be reviewed to determine opportunities for modernisation and simpli fication of tax legislation, having regard to efficiency, fairness and stability of taxes, and to achieve con formity with best practices. “As well, a compre hensive review of the Government’s tax con cessions regime will be conducted with a view to reducing the quantum of revenue foregone across sectors and in line with international standards. Such as review will also include the introduction of a monitoring and evaluation framework to ensure value forThemoney.”Davis administra tion confirmed its ambitions to develop the Revenue Enhancement Unit (REU) into “a world-class tax compliance organisation” that will clamp down on tax dodgers and close rev enue gaps. “The REU has been tasked with adopting, testing and refining best practices that can be scaled to Inland Revenue, Cus toms and other government entities,” the Ministry of Finance said. “In the area of Business Licence and VAT, the REU seeks to introduce efficient desk and entity audits, as well as arrears collec tion and enforcement. For real property tax, it will accelerate the impact of the 2022 reassessments, iden tify unregistered properties, target reassessments of high-potential Family Island properties and identify miscategorised properties.
NOTICE
NOTICE
Insurer eyes expansion into ‘big boys’ territory’
“That would represent a 0.6 percentage point improvement from the ratio of 1.4 per cent in 2021-2022. Based on the successes to date of the Tyler work, it may be well within the realm of the possible to do even better than 2 per cent of GDP over the next four years.”Acknowledging the need to strengthen and stabilise the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR), the Davis administration lashed out at its Minnis predecessor for ignoring it staffing chal lenges. “The department has 214 employees of which only 52 are permanent and 49 are seconded from other departments; 54 per cent of the officers are on contract, the vast majority of which have expired,” the Ministry of Finance said. “The last person to hold the post of controller of the department retired in 2017. Since that time no one has either been appointed to the post or chosen to act in the capacity of controller. There have also been no appoint ments (even on an acting basis) to the posts of deputy or assistant controller. “Since 2017, the depart ment has also experienced a very high turnover of staff resulting in the suspension of critical functions such as audits. Bahamian tax payers have consequently experienced delays in the processing of Business Licence applications, VAT refunds and the resolu tion of real property tax matters.”
Turning to real prop erty tax, the Ministry of Finance added: “As part of the project to improve the collection of real property tax, Tyler Technologies has completed the update of the real property tax roll and assessment of New Provi dence properties, thereby identifying an additional $100m in real property tax revenue. Similar work is commencing on other islands and is expected to secure additional revenues.
NOTICE is hereby given that CHANDELINE ARISTILE of East Street, New Providence, 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 23rd day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
PAGE 20, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE few domestic economic sec tors to expand beyond this country’s borders, but such moves to-date have been confined to the wider Carib bean. RoyalStar, if it moves to execute on its strategic plans, would be the first local underwriter to seek to break into the US property and casualty market. “It has gone better than we expected so far. So far, so good,” Mr Saunders told Tribune Business of an expansion strategy that has seen the general insurer penetrate the Cayman Islands, US Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Anguilla. “For Anguilla and the BVI, it’s a British legal system, so our learning curve was quick. “The US Virgin Islands was the first jurisdiction we went to with a different legal system. We are learning, and are still on a learning curve there. We learn from our mistakes, but we are better off there than we were two years ago. We did it because we wanted to diversify from The Bahamas. We wanted to have a taste of the US.
NOTICE is hereby given that VEONICA VERSANE of Key West Street, New Providence, 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 23rd day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
“For Customs, the REU will focus on world class best practice such as riskbased inspections of air freight and containers, ana lytics-based post-clearance audits and enhance client service. To date, a one-time $500m revenue boost has been identified from just six selected initiatives. Over time, the activities of the REU are expected to yield an ongoing annual revenue increase of some $200m.”
NOTICE is hereby given that NELSON JEAN-LOUIS of Treasure Cay, Abaco, 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 shouldregistration/naturalizationnotbegranted,should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 23rd day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
“If there’s any chance in the near future, the next five years, that we want to ven ture into other US territories we have the experience, we understand the pitfalls, the venture and the opportuni ties. We’ll determine in the next five years if we want to venture into big boys’ terri tory,” he “That’scontinued.ourfive-year goal we’ve set for ourselves. That’s our five-year strategic thinking. We will take what we learned in the US Virgin Islands and go into some states in the US. We cannot sit on our laurels. There’s not much further expan sion for us in the Caribbean. There’s probably one more move we’ll make and then five years from now do our strategic plan. We’ll be thinking more that way than theMrCaribbean.”Saunders declined to say where RoyalStar’s “one more move” in the Caribbean will be, although he said it will likely occur within the next two years. “We’ll sort that out, finish that one and then look stra tegically at what we do with this company,” he added, pointing to “the knowledge and opportunity” gleaned from operating in the US Virgin“TheIslands.Bahamas is more a mature market. There are opportunities that exist out there, but for us if our agents have organic growth we’re happy with that, and if they get an opportunis tic piece of business we’ll help them. This is a mature market, and the challenge has always been between us and Florida when it comes to reinsurance capac ity. We cannot do anything without the support of our reinsurers.”Bahamian property and casualty insurers, in particu lar, have viewed Caribbean expansion as a means of diversification and risk man agement. Focusing solely on The Bahamas leaves them exposed to huge annual multi-million dollar blows from hurricanes, which have increased in frequency and intensity as shown by Dorian, whereas having operations in multiple terri tories means all are unlikely to be hit at once or in the same year. Mr Saunders said Roy alStar was “close” to its target 60/40 business split between The Bahamas and wider Caribbean. While The Bahamas would have the majority, he indicated the insurer may be writing just 55 percent of its over all business in this nation by 2023.“At the end of this year we will probably be around 65/35, and by next year at 55/45,” he told Tribune Business. “We’re bringing it down. We have the diver sification, but you also have to remember all the territo ries we are in are subject to catastrophe perils. That is the same for all Caribbean companies. All of us are in that“Weset. are on target with our 2022 budget. This is the peak of our exposure where hurricanes in the next two months will determine if the wind blows or doesn’t blow. That’s the business we are in.” Apart from storms, Mr Saunders said the only other uncertainty relates to government taxation of the sector.The Davis administra tion moved to replace the 3 percent premium tax with a 2.25 percent Busi ness Licence fee levied on “turnover” in the Budget, but insurers say the latter’s
NOTICE
definition and how it is cal culated - whether based on gross written premi ums, net premiums or some other indicator - is critical to determining the impact on the industry and its consumers.“Theonly unknown we have is what the Govern ment is proposing to be taxed with the new taxa tion they are trying to implement,” the Royal Star chief explained. “The Bahamas Insurance Asso ciation (BIA) has agreed to a meeting with the min ister. That meeting will be held on August 31. The minister, Minister Halkitis, has obliged us with a meet ing and I would not wish to pre-empt what the BIA will present.“We’ll see how it goes. I’m sure that we can hope fully come to some credible working arrangement on this matter so that the Gov ernment gets what it wants revenue wise without dis rupting the whole business model. We have our pro posals that, hopefully, we believe they will listen to.” A. M. Best has affirmed RoyalStar’s financial strength rating of A (excellent) and long-term issuer credit rating of ‘a’ (excellent), assigning a ‘stable’ outlook to both. Mr Saunders said the Bahamian underwriter is just one of five entities in the Carib bean to enjoy these ratings. “The ratings reflect RoyalStar’s balance sheet strength, which A. M. Best assesses as strongest, as well as its strong operat ing performance, limited business profile and appro priate enterprise risk management,” the assess ment“RoyalStar’ssaid. balance sheet strength is derived from its strongest riskadjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), strategically conservative investment portfolio and comprehensive reinsurance programme.“These strengths are offset partially by Roy alStar’s exposure to weather-related catastrophe events, given its geographic concentration of business in the Caribbean, and its high reliance on reinsurance to protect its balance sheet and surplus from catastrophe events.”
“An in-depth analyti cal assessment of the real property tax system was undertaken a few years ago but its main conclu sions generally remain valid today. The study found sig nificant gaps in the system in the areas of coverage, valuation and collection with the implication that real property revenues could readily be boosted to 2 per cent of GDP.
GOV’T TARGETS $500M ‘ONE-TIME TAX BOOST’ FROM PAGE A24 MONDAY, 22 AUGUST 2022 CLOSECHANGE%CHANGEYTDYTD% BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: 2609.990.700.03381.7517.13 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI52WK LOWSECURITY SYMBOLLAST CLOSECLOSECHANGE VOLUMEEPS$DIV$P/E YIELD 6.985.30 AML Foods Limited AML 6.98 6.980.00 0.2390.17029.22.44% 53.0033.80 APD Limited APD 39.95 39.950.00 0.9321.26042.93.15% 2.761.60Benchmark BBL 2.76 2.760.00 0.0000.020N/M0.72% 2.612.20Bahamas First Holdings Limited BFH 2.46 2.460.00 0.1400.08017.63.25% 2.601.30Bank of Bahamas BOB 2.51 2.510.00 0.0700.000N/M0.00% 6.205.75Bahamas Property Fund BPF 6.20 6.200.00 5,0001.7600.000N/M0.00% 10.057.50Bahamas Waste BWL 9.75 9.750.00 0.3690.26026.42.67% 4.152.82Cable Bahamas CAB 3.91 3.910.00 -0.4380.000-8.9 0.00% 10.655.40Commonwealth Brewery CBB 10.15 10.150.00 0.1400.00072.50.00% 3.652.27Commonwealth Bank CBL 3.45 3.450.00 0.1840.12018.83.48% 8.255.29Colina Holdings CHL 8.16 8.230.07 5,3000.4490.22018.32.67% 17.509.80CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank CIB 16.00 16.000.00 0.7220.72022.24.50% 3.131.99Consolidated Water BDRs CWCB 3.18 3.200.02 0.1020.43431.413.56% 11.288.25Doctor's Hospital DHS 10.26 10.260.00 0.4670.06022.00.58% 11.6711.25Emera Incorporated EMAB 11.83 11.72 (0.11) 0.6460.32818.12.80% 10.8510.00Famguard FAM 10.85 10.850.00 0.7280.24014.92.21% 18.3014.05Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited FBB 18.30 18.300.00 0.8160.54022.42.95% 4.003.50Focol FCL 3.90 3.900.00 0.2030.12019.23.08% 11.008.20Finco FIN 11.00 11.000.00 1,0000.9390.20011.71.82% 16.5015.50J. S. Johnson JSJ 15.50 15.500.00 0.6310.61024.63.94% PREFERENCE SHARES 1.001.00Bahamas First Holdings PreferenceBFHP 1.00 1.000.00 0.0000.0000.0000.00% 1000.001000.00 Cable Bahamas Series 6 CAB6 1000.001000.000.00 0.0000.0000.0000.00% 1000.001000.00 Cable Bahamas Series 9 CAB9 1000.001000.000.00 0.0000.0000.0000.00% 1.001.00Colina Holdings Class A CHLA 1.00 1.000.00 0.0000.0000.0006.25% 10.0010.00Fidelity Bank Bahamas Class A FBBA 10.0010.000.00 0.0000.0000.0007.00% 1.001.00Focol Class B FCLB 1.00 1.000.00 0.0000.0000.0006.50% CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI52WK LOWSECURITY SYMBOLLAST SALECLOSECHANGEVOLUME 100.00100.00Fidelity Bank (Note 22 Series B+)FBB22 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00Bahamas First Holdings LimitedBFHB 100.00100.000.00 BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92104.79Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BAH29 107.31107.310.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2014-12-7Y BG0107 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-1-7Y BG0207 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2014-12-30Y BG0130 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-1-30Y BG0230 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-6-7Y BG0307 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-6-30Y BG0330 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-10-7Y BG0407 100.00100.000.00 101.5599.72BGRS FX BGR124228 BSBGR1242282101.55101.550.00 100.2299.98BGRS FL BGRS99032 BSBGRS990326100.50100.500.00 100.4399.96BGRS FL BGRS97033 BSBGRS970336100.09100.090.00 100.43100.43BGRS FL BGRS75022 BSBGRS750225100.54100.540.00 100.34100.04BGRS FL BGRS81037 BSBGRS810375100.34100.340.00 100.23100.00BGRS FL BGRS88028 BSBGRS880287100.00100.000.00 100.0089.62BGRS FX BGR129249 BSBGR129249389.6289.620.00 100.0089.00BGRS FX BGR131249 BSBGR1312499100.00100.000.00 100.9890.24BGRS FX BGR132249 BSBGR1322498100.00100.000.00 100.0090.73BGRS FX BGR136150 BSBGR1361504100.00100.000.00 MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI52WK LOW NAV YTD%12 MTH% 2.522.11 2.520.99%4.22% 4.693.30 4.690.36%5.78% 2.221.68 2.210.67%2.74% 207.86164.74 197.44-2.97%-2.35% 212.41116.70 202.39-4.72%6.04% 1.741.69 1.741.37%3.03% 1.841.75 1.841.19%5.23% 1.831.76 1.831.62%4.13% 1.030.97 0.97-5.25%-6.07% 9.376.41 9.37-0.02%10.36% 11.837.62 11.79-0.33%18.23% 7.545.66 7.540.22%3.05% 16.648.65 15.94-3.89%14.76% 12.8410.54 12.47-1.04%-2.57% 10.779.57 10.740.81%4.20% 10.009.88 N/AN/AN/A 10.438.45 10.433.00%25.60% 14.8911.20 14.897.90%48.70% MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week Change - Change in closing price from day to day EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today NAV - Net Asset Value DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months N/M - Not Meaningful P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | CORALISLE 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333 5.55%4.33%4.31%4.30% 15-Apr-204926-Jul-202817-Apr-203323-Sep-20324.87%4.43% 26-Jul-20377-Sep-2022 6.25% 31-Mar-202230-Sep-2025FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund 4.25%6.25%4.50%6.25% NAV Date 4.66%5.69%5.65% 31-May-202231-May-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-May-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-Mar-202115-Oct-204913-Jul-202821-Apr-205025-Mar-202215-Oct-202226-Jun-204526-Jun-202230-Jul-204515-Dec-204430-Jul-202215-Dec-2021 INTEREST Prime + 1.75% MARKET REPORT 31-Mar-202131-Mar-2021 MATURITY 31-Mar-202231-Mar-202220-Nov-202919-Oct-20224.50%6.95% 31-May-202231-Mar-2022 5.60%6.25%4.50% 15-Jul-2049 Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Financial Conservative Fund Leno Financial Aggressive Fund Leno Financial Balanced Fund Leno Financial Global Bond Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Equities Sub Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - High Yield Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Alternative Strategies Fund (242)323 2330 (242) 323 2320 www.bisxbahamas.com
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INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL PUBLIC NOTICE
NOTICE Blazing SpeedLimitedInvestments
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NOTICECoconutNOTICEPalmInvestmentLimitedISHEREBYGIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Coconut Palm Investment Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 27th day of June, 2022.
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THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 21
DELCO INVESTMENTS LIMITED Liquidator Legal Notice
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Old Naval Yard Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 22nd day of July, 2022.
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NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of YABO INC. has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 7th day of June, 2022.
The Public is hereby advised that I, SHERDIAMOND QUEENY OUTTEN of #15 Ringwood Drive, Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, intend to change my name to SHERDIAMOND ALICIA QUEENIE ABIGAIL JOHNSON If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.
YABONOTICEINC.
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NOTICEInvestmentsSmallNOTICEFestivalLtd.ISHEREBYGIVENthat pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Small Festival Investments Ltd. has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 22nd day of July, 2022.
Baird One LiquidatorLimited NOTICE is hereby given that JUNIOR JEAN-LOUIS of Treasure Cay, Abaco, 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 shouldregistration/naturalizationnotbegranted,should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 23rd day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
OldNOTICENavalYardLimited
Using current and real GDP figures from the Government’s Budget for 2022-2023, that 7.4 per centage gap translates into $981.53m and $824.36m respectively. The deficit for the current fiscal year is projected to be $564m or equal to 4.3 percent of GDP, a somewhat lower amount, but there can be no denying the existence of a structural fiscalTheimbalance.Ministryof Finance, meanwhile, argued that the Government’s current and projected spending levels “are nowhere near to being excessive internationally”, pointing to GDP ratios that are in the low to mid-30 percent ranges in Trinidad & Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and St Kitts and Nevis; 27 percent in Barbados; 25 percent in St Lucia; and 22 percent in Grenada. Adding in capital spend ing equal to 3.5 percent of GDP would take the Gov ernment’s total spending over the medium to a sum equivalent to 23.5 percent of GDP, the Ministry of Finance added. “The sensi ble way forward is through a combination of spend ing restraint and revenue enhancement, and this is the cornerstone of the Government’s mediumterm fiscal strategy,” it said. “On one hand, the plan is not to cut the level of recurrent spending but, rather, to constrain its rate of growth such that its ratio to GDP declines over time to a more sustainable level of 20 per cent. Reforms and enhanced efficiencies in government operations will contribute to this goal. “Reallocations will also be implemented to align spending to core govern ment priorities as set out in the Blueprint for Change These focused actions on recurrent spending will also facilitate a much-needed, sustained boost in capital expenditure to 3.5 per cent of GDP. The latter will be critical in underpinning the stronger long-term growth of our Describingeconomy.”the 25 percent revenue-to-GDP target as “the appropriate counterbalance” to this level of spending, the Ministry of Finance said achieving it would also restore the fiscal headroom necessary to cope with post-hurricane rebuilding and other cli mate change-influenced disasters.“At25 per cent, the yield of the revenue system will be sufficient to fully finance both recurrent and capi tal expenditure while also leading to the gradual elim ination of the annual deficit. Fiscal headroom will also be provided through which the Government can deal with unforeseen eventuali ties,” it “Whileadded.vital within the context of the Govern ment’s fiscal strategy, a revenue-to-GDP rev enue ratio of 25 per cent is not unreasonable in and of itself or when viewed internationally. Within the advanced G-7 nations, the revenue ratio amounts to some 36 per cent; in the Euro area it averages roughly 46 per cent. Latin American and Caribbean countries post an average ratio of 27 per cent with regional rates of 30-31 per cent in Jamaica, Barbados and Belize.”
NOTICEBoater’sNOTICEParadiseHoldingsLimitedISHEREBYGIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Boater’s Paradise Holdings Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 22nd day of July, 2022.
NOTICECompassNOTICEStarHoldingsCorporationISHEREBYGIVEN
revealed that revenues must increase by $1.3bn over the next four fiscal years - a jump of 55.7 percent - to achieve 2024-2025’s Budget surplus of Referring$71.9m.to its elec tion campaign promises to deliver “big and transform ative change”, the Ministry of Finance paper said: “If the Government is to be successful in achieving this new direction and securing better economic outcomes for all Bahamians, specifi cally in terms of jobs and standard of living, it is undeniable that it must as a priority restore the fiscal health of the nation. “Running never-end ing deficits, one piling up on top of another, to the point that the amount of debt owed by the Govern ment exceeds the size of the domestic economy is a prescription for fiscal and economic calamity. This fiscal insanity must end, and the Government that was elected last September is doggedly determined to do just that as a vital founda tion for its transformative Blueprint for Change.”
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NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Blazing Speed Investments Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 22nd day of July, 2022.
that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Narrow Sea Holdings Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 27th day of June, 2022.
Gov’t promises to ‘end fiscal insanity’ FROM PAGE A24
The Bahamas has never run an annual fiscal sur plus since Independence, and the Davis administra tion’s paper made clear its view that responsibility for this lies largely on the revenue side. To make its case, it noted how revenues equivalent to 20.2 percent of GDP in the 2021-2022 fiscal year were dwarfed by spending that was equal to 27.6 percent of economic output.“The fundamental fiscal problem in The Bahamas is that government revenue, at 20.2 per cent of GDP in 2021-2022, comes nowhere close to being adequate to sensibly finance Govern ment spending,” it added. “At an aggregate level, then, we face a structural imbalance between spend ing and revenue amounting to some 7.4 percentage points of GDP. Such a gap is clearly untenable and, if allowed to persist, could well lead to dire and painful consequences.”Likelyseeking to headoff counter arguments that wasteful spending, inef ficiency and corruption under multiple adminis trations are equally, if not more, to blame for The Bahamas’ fiscal woe, the Ministry of Finance quickly added: “That is not to say that public expenditure is immune from review and assessment.“Indeed, as explained in the Fiscal Strategy Report, the Government is determined to imple ment targeted reforms to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending.” However, it made clear that increasing annual revenues is the main focus and priority in the Davis administration’s bid to eliminate the fiscal deficit by the 2024-2025 fiscal year. “How best to address this fiscal conundrum?” the paper asked. “One option would be to simply raise the amount of revenue col lected from Bahamians to the full extent needed to finance the current level of government spending. That would entail a roughly 37 per cent increase in the tax take which, in and of itself, would evidently be highly counter-productive to the Government’s criti cal objective of significantly bolstering the rate of eco nomic growth and job creation.“Analternative solution would be to simply shred government spending to the point that it matches the current level of rev enue. It is evident that such an approach would readily have severe and deleterious effects on Baha mian society, in terms of access to vital government programmes and services such as health care and education, to name only two..... Quite obviously, simple solutions are to be eschewed.”Itisunclear why the Gov ernment has focused on the 2021-2022 fiscal year to bolster its case given that this was still a period when The Bahamas was grap pling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and other restrictions still cur tailed economic activity and government revenue, while social assistance spending was still elevated, mean ing that the 7.4 percentage point gap between expend iture and revenue was higher than normal.
that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Compass Star Holdings Corporation has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 18th day of February, 2022.
DELCO INVESTMENTS LIMITED Liquidator Legal Notice
NOTICE
“The work scheduled to be carried out over the next 12 months will bring to life the vision we had for the transformation of this cruise port,” he added. “Once we complete this exciting project, I believe it will showcase to global cruise industry stakeholders our capabilities to transform an important cruise port into an iconic cruise port destination.“Inthefourth quarter of the reporting period, Nassau welcomed 333 cruise ship calls, a 5 percent increase from the 316 calls in the same period of 2019.” Global Ports itself added: “Nassau Cruise Port was particularly strong, benefit ing from its close proximity to the world’s largest sourc ing market and the key Florida homeports in the US, reporting adjusted rev enue of $12.2m. “On a number of days, the port hosted six cruise ships simultaneously during the main winter season 2021-2022, utilising the new berthing capacity that has been recently added as part of our significant invest ment into this port. Our significant investment plans for our Nassau Cruise Port continued in the reporting period, with $89.6m invested in the port infrastructure.” This continued through the three months to endJune, with Global Ports hailing the “strong volumes at Nassau” for driving its group-wide cruise ship call volumes to 114 percent of 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, meaning that berthings now exceed those experienced before COVID.
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CRUISE PORT TARGETING $40M YEARLY REVENUE FROM PAGE A24 Legal
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Green OrchidLimitedCompany
Nassau Cruise Port’s annual oper ating revenue targets were disclosed in the recentlyreleased annual results announcement by its 49 per cent controlling shareholder, Global Ports Holding. “The first phase of the construction has started in November 2020 and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022,” Global Ports said in relation to Nassau Cruise Port. “The second phase of the con struction is expected to be completed by the end of the upcoming reporting period [March 2023]. Once construction has been com pleted total revenues are expected to be in the range of $35-$40m per annum.” The cruise port opera tor affirmed it is currently paying the Government a $2m “minimum fixed fee” annually until construction work finishes next year. This fee then increases to a mini mum annual USD $2.5m for the 25-year duration of Global Ports Holding’s con cessionCruiseagreement.passengers are effectively The Baha mas’ volume tourism business, with land-based stopover visitors represent ing the higher-yield variety by virtue of their per capita spending. Many observ ers will be doubtless be watching keenly to see how many cruise visitors disem bark their vessels while in Nassau once construction on the new port is completed, and if this translates into
greater passenger spending and benefits for Bahamian entrepreneurs and their staff alike.While describing Nassau as “the busiest cruise port” in the Caribbean region, Mr Maura said the postCOVID recovery on Bay Street and in surrounding areas of downtown Nassau has yet to complete. “We still have some room to go,” he acknowledged. “From a retail perspective, those I spoke to felt they were at about 80 percent of pre-pan demic“Onlevels.thelabour front, and I didn’t speak to everyone, but everyone I talked to said they do not have employ ment at the same level as 2019. Because business was not back to 2019, labour was not either. In conversations with hotel properties, they see their group business as very strong. The hotel sector is quite bullish, and Lynden Pindling International Air port has also been doing well. Obviously the air side of our tourism has recov ered faster than cruise.” Nassau Cruise Port’s importance to Global Ports Holding was highlighted by the latter’s annual results for the year to end-March 2022. Nassau accounted for 38.5 percent, or $12.2m, of the total $31.7m in adjusted cruise revenue produced by the group’s 14 ports. And it also generated 1.29m, or 53.5 percent, of the total 2.41m passengers catered to by Global Ports Holding over that 12-month period. Mehmet Kutman, Global Ports’ chairman and chief executive, told shareholders that almost $90m had been invested in Nassau Cruise Port’s transformation during that time. Some $110m was raised from US-based investors in three tranches between June and Novem ber 2021 to help complete the construction financing.
Shifting CloudLimitedInvestments
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NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Shifting Cloud Investments Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 27th day of June, 2022.
PAGE 22, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 THE TRIBUNE off their review they identi fied the US CPI number at 6.8 percent. As of January 1, 2023, the $8.50 number will be increased by 6.8 percent. “Taking that, and con sidering our passenger forecasts are good for 2023, being in excess of 4m pas sengers, I would say it’s [$35m-$40m] an accurate estimate. We anticipate, and I think we could even exceed that 4m number based on the number of ships and occupancy levels. We’re already at 105 percent occupancy today for those ships coming in, and if you look at Nassau for 2019, the average occupancy for the year was 112 percent. We’re quite confident.” Mr Maura revealed that Nassau Cruise Port is cur rently projecting that it will handle 1,285 vessel calls in 2023, a 6.6 percent increase compared to the 1,206 ships received in the last preCOVID year of 2019. More significantly, it is forecast ing a near-500,000 increase in total passengers to 4.3m compared to 3.85m in 2019, which amounts to an almost12 percent increase over that present annual record.
“By the end of the 2023 reporting period, our $250m investment into Nassau Cruise Port will be near completion. As our vision for this port becomes a real ity, we believe it will stand as a blueprint for future cruise port investment and will position the group well for further cruise port expan sion,” Global Ports added. Notice
“We’ve already seen better ship bookings for 2023 than we had in 2019,” he affirmed. “A lot of that has been facilitated by the investment we’ve made in the piers to accommo date larger ships as well as the upland construction of the food and beverage, entertainment and retail components that will drive passenger flows. “And that $39m does not include ancillary revenues, which would be the rents. We’ll have retail, we’ll have food and beverage, and entertainment. That will be the icing on top of the cake. That’s not only driving cruise passengers. It’s expected to be pulling Atlantis and Baha Mar guests, and Bahamians, downtown.“Wehope the retail and food and beverage tenants will be doing well. There’s a revenue sharing component in that, so the better they do, the better we do.”
NOTICENEBULANOTICECOMPANYLIMITEDISHEREBYGIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of NEBULA COMPANY LIMITED has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 27th day of June, 2022.
NOTICE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Green Orchid Company Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register with effect from the 27th day of June, 2022.
Baird One LiquidatorLimited
THE TRIBUNE Tuesday, August 23, 2022, PAGE 23 tripled by the Govern ment which ended up issuing nearly 600 and satu rated the market. He added that there are now too many plates in the hands of new drivers, leaving the union struggling to help people who use taxi plates to sup plement their income. “We have the elderly walking in our office every day, asking us to take their plate from them, but we can’t because we have no resources to alleviate their burden and pay them for it,” the union chief said. The BTCU had a practice of using old plates as a revenue stream for itself as well as to assist retirees with making anMrincome.Ferguson said: “The minister decided to go ahead and tell the people that it is illegal to lease their plates. Then she said that they should come to the union and we should take the plates from them. But when the union takes the plate from someone, we need to pay them for the plate, and the union actually needs to purchase a car and put it on the road so we can hire a driver to drive that particular vehicle.
0.7
“Any time the Controller of Road Traffic can revoke that plate,” Mr Ferguson said.“She [the minister] has not dealt with any of this yet, and all it is is that you can come to her and ask for a taxi plate and you get one, notwithstanding all of the unnecessary plates that are out there that were sold from the Road Traffic Department.”
marine Forecast WINDS WAVES VISIBILITY WATER TEMPS. ABACO Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 2 4 Feet 6 Miles 86° F Wednesday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 9 Miles 87° F ANDROS Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 0 1 Feet 7 Miles 87° F Wednesday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 7 Miles 87° F CAT ISLAND Today: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 85° F Wednesday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 86° F CROOKED ISLAND Today: E at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 85° F Wednesday: ESE at 8 16 Knots 1 3 Feet 9 Miles 85° F ELEUTHERA Today: ESE at 6 12 Knots 2 4 Feet 7 Miles 86° F Wednesday: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 87° F FREEPORT Today: SE at 4 8 Knots 1 2 Feet 7 Miles 87° F Wednesday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 8 Miles 88° F GREAT EXUMA Today: E at 6 12 Knots 0 1 Feet 6 Miles 87° F Wednesday: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 9 Miles 87° F GREAT INAGUA Today: E at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 9 Miles 85° F Wednesday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 10 Miles 85° F LONG ISLAND Today: E at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 86° F Wednesday: ESE at 7 14 Knots 1 3 Feet 10 Miles 86° F MAYAGUANA Today: ESE at 6 12 Knots 2 4 Feet 8 Miles 85° F Wednesday: SE at 8 16 Knots 2 4 Feet 10 Miles 85° F NASSAU Today: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 6 Miles 86° F Wednesday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 5 Miles 87° F RAGGED ISLAND Today: E at 7 14 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 86° F Wednesday: SE at 7 14 Knots 1 3 Feet 10 Miles 86° F SAN SALVADOR Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 7 Miles 85° F Wednesday: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 10 Miles 86° F uV inDex toDay The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 tracking map Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. NS EW S 4 8 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots NSW E 6 12 knots NSW E 6 12 knots NSW E 7 14 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots | Go to AccuWeather.com
Taxi union chief threatens arbitrary 30% fare increase FROM PAGE A24
“So instead of just leas ing out the plate, we just give a driver a car to drive for the union where the owner could get paid, the union gets something and the driver can take care of his family. That has not happened, so the union just cannot take over 400 plates with nothing and just decide to have the plates in our storage.”
Share your news Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Low:ORLANDO77°F/25° C High: 93° F/34° C Low:TAMPA79°F/26° C High: 92° F/33° C WEST PALM BEACH Low: 81° F/27° C High: 92° F/33° C FT.High:Low:LAUDERDALE82°F/28°C91°F/33°C KEY WEST Low: 83° F/28° C High: 89° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C High: 90° F/32° C Low:ABACO81°F/27° C High: 89° F/32° C High:Low:ELEUTHERA79°F/26°C89°F/32°C RAGGED ISLAND Low: 79° F/26° C High: 87° F/31° C GREAT EXUMA Low: 80° F/27° C High: 87° F/31° C CAT ISLAND Low: 79° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C SANHigh:Low:SALVADOR78°F/26°C88°F/31°C CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS Low: 79° F/26° C High: 87° F/31° C LONG ISLAND Low: 79° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C MAYAGUANALow:81°F/27°CHigh:88°F/31°C GREAT INAGUA Low: 79° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C Low:ANDROS80°F/27° C High: 90° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C High: 90° F/32° C FREEPORT NASSAULow: 81° F/27° C High: 92° F/33° C MIAMI THE WEATHER REPORT 5-Day Forecast A t‑storm in spots in the afternoon High: 90° AccuWeather RealFeel 102° F The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day. Partly cloudy Low: 79° AccuWeather RealFeel 89° F Clouds and sun with a stray t‑storm High: 91° AccuWeather RealFeel Low: 78° 102°-86° F A passingshowermorning High: 92° AccuWeather RealFeel Low: 79° 103°-87° F Showers around in the a.m.; cloudy High: 90° AccuWeather RealFeel Low: 78° 99°-86° F A morning shower; mostly cloudy High: 91° AccuWeather99°-86°RealFeelF Low: 79° TODAY TONIGHT WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY almanac High 88° F/31° C Low 81° F/27° C Normal high 89° F/32° C Normal low 76° F/24° C Last year’s high 91° F/33° C Last year’s low 78° F/25° C As of 2 p.m. yesterday 0.01” Year to date 39.02” Normal year to date 23.49” Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday PrecipitationTemperature sun anD moon tiDes For nassau Aug.New27 Sep.First3 Sep.Full10 Sep.Last17 Sunrise 6:47 a.m. Sunset 7:38 p.m. Moonrise 3:17 a.m. Moonset 5:33 p.m. FridayThursdayWednesdayToday High Ht.(ft.) Low Ht.(ft.) 5:47
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The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news in their neighbourhoods. Perhaps you are raising funds for a good cause, campaigning for improvements in the area or have won an award. If so, call us on 322-1986 and share your story. a.m. 12:04 a.m. 6:19 p.m. 11:50 a.m. 6:34 a.m. 12:49 a.m. 7:02 p.m. 12:37 p.m. 7:17 a.m. 2.6 1:29 a.m. 0.9 7:42 p.m. 3.2 1:20 p.m. 7:57 a.m. 2.8 2:07 a.m. 0.8 8:19 p.m. 3.3 2:01 p.m. 0.6 8:35 a.m. 2.9 2:42 a.m. 0.7 8:55 p.m. 3.3 2:41 p.m. 0.6 9:13 a.m. 3.0 3:16 a.m. 0.6 9:31 p.m. 3.3 3:21 p.m. 0.6 9:51 a.m. 3.1 3:50 a.m. 0.6 10:07 p.m. 3.2 4:01 p.m. 0.6
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Further complicating the situation are legacy issues where taxi plates are part of a person’s estate. The driv ers neither own the taxi plates nor the business license for the taxi company, and are just using someone else’s plate to make money.
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business over $9 via back to 80% pre-COVID five-year goal
to penetrate mainland US • Managing director asserts: ‘We can’t rest on laurels’ • But industry’s Budget tax switch still not resolved SEE PAGE A20 $6.63 $6.63 $6.66 $6.30
Gov’t promises to ‘end fiscal insanity’
By HARTNELL
inflation tweak • Downtown Nassau
THE Ministry of Finance last night said it is targeting a “one-time $500m revenue boost” from a limited menu of enforce ment and compliance initiatives while pledging to minimise any increase in the tax burden faced by Bahamians. The Davis administration, outlining the measures that will drive tax revenues to 25 percent of economic output by the 2025-2026 fiscal year, added that an extra $100m in annual real property tax revenues had been identified via the revaluation exercise undertaken by its consultant, Tyler Technologies. And it voiced optimism that it could exceed its target of driving real property tax revenues to 2 percent of GDP within the next four years, something that would involve an annual increase of between $68m-$80m in income from this levy. Using 2021-2022, a period when the Government’s tax revenues were equal to 20.2 percent of GDP, as a base, the Ministry of Finance said it is targeting a 4.8 percentage point increase in this ratio over the next four years. Using real and current GDP figures for 2022-2023 of $11.142bn and $13.264bn, this implies a revenue increase of between $534.72m and $636.6782m on an annual basis. Acknowledging that “vague promises” of crackdowns on tax cheats and evad ers will no longer cut it, the ministry said in a paper: “The Government has been clear that its priority is to avoid, to the
Insurer eyes expansion into ‘big boys’ territory’
Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SEE PAGE A22 Cruise port targeting $40m yearly revenue
THE Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s (BTCU) president yes terday threatened to tell his members to arbitrarily raise their fares by 30 percent despite not having obtained government or Parliament’s approval for such a move.Wesley Ferguson told Tribune Business he had become frus trated over the lack of progress in negotiations for a fare increase that would offset the impact of high fuel prices for his members. He asserted that JoBeth ColebyDavis, minister of transport and housing, seemed to be treating the situation “as if the union is sup posed to march to her beat. She needs a lesson”. The minister could not be reached for comment, but Mr Fer guson said: “I want to send her a message that if she doesn’t alert us on what her intentions are as it pertains to this fare rise then I, as the union president, will set my own precedent and instruct the taxi drivers on what they should charge.“Idon’t need the minister to tell the union when they could get a rise or not. We negotiated for 30 percent and we would have set tled for 20 percent. But now the whole point is I will tell them to go up by 30 percent.”
By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net
THE Davis administra tion last night admitted that the decades-old “structural imbalance” in the Govern ment’s finances is a recipe for “economic calamity”, and pledged: “This fiscal insanity must end.” The Ministry of Finance, seeking to justify increas ing government revenues to a sum equal to 25 per cent of Bahamian economic output, warned that “dire and painful consequences” will follow if public spend ing continues to exceed tax income by hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis. With the $12bn national debt still matching, or close to, the economy’s overall size, the Government said relying solely on new and/or increased taxes to eliminate the fiscal deficit - which was equivalent to 7.4 percent of gross domestic prod uct (GDP) in 2021-2022 - would require “a roughly 37 percent increase in the tax take” from households andAcknowledgingbusinesses. that an increase of this magnitude would likely plunge the Bahamian economy into recession, and be coun ter-productive to the job creating expansion it is seeking, the Davis admin istration confirmed its medium-term fiscal strat egy will combine spending restraint - bringing fixedcost public spending down to 20 percent of GDPwith tax enforcement and enhancement measures. Conceding the existence of an annual “gap” between taxes that are collected and what should be paid, the Government reiterated that a combined $840m is owed to the Public Treasury in unpaid VAT, Business Licence fees and real prop erty taxes. However, the Fiscal Strategy Report unveiled earlier this year
Taxi union chief threatens arbitrary 30% fare increase
NASSAU Cruise Port will generate up to $40m in annual operating revenues from 2023 onwards, it has been revealed, with next year’s passenger volumes forecast to hit a record high by breaching the four mil lionMichaelmark. Maura, its chief executive, yester day voiced optimism to Tribune Business that the financial forecast by con trolling shareholder, Global Ports Holding, will be met with help from a 6.8 percent increase to the present $8.50 passenger and port facility fee charged to every Prince George Wharf user. The increase to $9.08 per passenger, which will take effect from January 1 next year, results from this fee being tied directly to infla tion as measured by the US consumer price index (CPI). Mr Maura revealed that projections of 4.3m total cruise visitors for 2023, a 12 percent increase upon 2019’s pre-COVID record of 3.85m, place Nassau Cruise Port’s likely annual revenues from the passen ger charge alone at just over $39m - at the top end of the target $35m-$40m range. “As per the concession agreement, we have a com bined port facility charge and passenger facility charge of $8.50 that increases by the US CPI each year,” the Nassau Cruise Port chief explained to this newspa per. “The US CPI feature not only increases the com bination of the port facility charge and passenger facil ity charge, but also increases the concession lease fees that the cruise port will be paying to the Government.” Mr Maura did not disclose the likely lease payment increase, but added in relation to the passenger user fee: “The Ministry of Finance have reviewed the US CPI. This goes back to late December/early Janu ary of this year, and based
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Government sets taxi fares in the Taxi Cab Act and regulations, and for there to be any change an amendment must be made to the Act via Parlia ment. It would thus seem that they cannot legally be increased in the manner that Mr Ferguson is suggesting.But,arguing that Mrs ColebyDavis did not consult with the union on the amount of taxi plates her ministry was going to issue when the moratorium was lifted, the taxi union president blasted: “You can’t give those plates out like candy bags at a party and now the union is suffering. We were already on life support.” Mr Ferguson said there are now too many taxi plates on the streets. The 200 that the union had requested, he added, was
NEIL
SEE PAGE A20 SEE PAGE A23
Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net WESLEY FERGUSON NASSAU CRUISE PORT • Eyes 2023 record with arrivals to beat 4m • Passenger fee to
SEE PAGE A21
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Gov’t targets $500m ‘one-time tax boost’
Anton Saunders, Royal Star Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Busi ness that limited growth opportunities in The Baha mas and wider Caribbean meant it was eyeing expan sion into several US states as a critical element in its medium to long-term busi nessSpeakingstrategy. after the property and casualty underwriter saw its top “financial strength” and credit rating affirmed by A. M. Best, the global insurance rating agency, he explained that RoyalStar plans to leverage its expe rience in the US Virgin Islands - and experience gained in operating under the American legal systemif it decides to proceed with its ambition to penetrate the US mainland. Mr Saunders also dis closed to this newspaper that, three months after the 2022-2023 Budget was unveiled and nearly two months after it was passed by Parliament, the Gov ernment and insurance industry have yet to address the latter’s concerns and unanswered questions about the taxation switch. The Budget saw the Government abandon the 3 percent premium tax in favour of reverting to a 2.25 percent Business Licence levy, and Mr Saun ders disclosed the sector is now set to meet Michael Halkitis, minister of eco nomic affairs, next week on August 31 in a bid to resolve issues such as the definition of “turnover” that the Government plans to employ in calculating its taxTheliability.Bahamian insurance industry has been one of the
• RoyalStar’s
business@tribunemedia.net TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
A BAHAMIAN insurer yesterday said it will decide within the next five years whether “to venture into big boys’ territory” via US expansion, saying: “We cannot rest on our laurels.”
