10262022 NEWS, SPORT AND BUSINESS

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

A HAITIAN mother who is a resident of the United States is call ing on the government to release her children who were allegedly taken into custody by the Depart ment of Immigration while they were attempting to travel to America in what was a suspected smuggling operation.

In a letter addressed to Labour and Immigra tion Minister Keith Bell on Monday, the attorney

for Clairnise Louis, the mother of two children of Haitian descent called for the Department of Immi gration to release her two girls into the custody of relatives in The Baha mas as there is no one to receive them in Haiti should they be deported.

The children are 11 and nine years old and were born in The Bahamas to Ms Louis and Haitian fathers.

Ms Louis was also born in this country to Haitian parents.

THE Progressive Lib eral Party released a copy of a $24,000 cheque to the Public Treasury it said reflected payment from the organisation for Prime Min ister Philip “Brave” Davis’s recent trip to Bermuda. The FirstCaribbean International Bank cheque is dated October 21, 2022 in the amount of $24,750.

This comes amid con troversy and after calls

from the official opposition for the government to be transparent and reveal the documentation that shows who paid for the October 19 trip. Mr Davis left Ber muda on October 20. In a brief statement issued last night, the PLP said it wanted to make the payment public and added that it will “con tinue to share records of the

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE high inflation that has left many Bahami ans scraping to make ends meet, people are still gam bling, said one pioneer of the gaming industry.

Craig Flowers, FML Group of Companies owner, told The Tribune yesterday that the gaming industry is one of the last industries he believes will feel the impact of inflation. Mr Flowers explained that gaming is a form of entertainment for many people who need an escape.

“Inflation is directed mostly towards people not being able to find the nec essary funds for their basic needs. So, when we have this type of situation that exists, gaming is another form of entertainment,” he told this newspaper.

“It’s very difficult for people to compromise, the one thing that they look for ward to, at the end of any week, or any hard day at work. The average person wants to go and cut back on

Commercial Enterprises Act ‘has to be repealed’

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR and Immigration Minister Keith Bell said the Com mercial Enterprises Act has to be repealed, adding that he has spoken with Attorney General Ryan Pinder about it.

The Commercial Enterprises Act liberalises the granting of work permits to an enterprise that wishes to establish itself in the Bahamas, and requires work permits for its management team and key personnel. The legislation enables a ‘specified commercial enterprise’ to obtain an Invest ments Board certificate granting it a specific number of work permits for certain positions.

The certificate allows key personnel to set up the com pany’s physical operations in the Bahamas before they obtain a work permit. Such a permit must be applied for within 30 days of their entry, and the Act mandates the Director of Immigration to make a decision on approval within 14 days of receiving the application.

The current minister raised con cerns about the 14-day timeline.

“Now, based on all of the comments made in the media recently about there being a crisis in the Abacos and in The Bahamas, I would submit that the problem of immigration is an age old problem. We all know that we have our challenges and our concerns.

“But in the face of all of this, we have had the former admin istration pass the Commercial Enterprises Act in 2017, which mandated that in 14 days of the date of an application, the work permit will be issued, regardless of due diligence,” he said.

“I know having sat in the chair of now, as the Minister of

Immigration, that it is almost an impossibility for an application to be submitted today and within 14 days, that we would have done, Immigration Department, have done its due diligence.

“But it has always been a policy of immigration and certainly this government, that when a person applies for a work permit, we have to ensure that they have a medical record. We have to make sure they have a police record. We have to ensure that a labour

certificate is issued, we have to make sure that the documents issued are not fraudulent. We have to check with the country from which the individual came, how could that possibly take two weeks to do? But this Act is tell ing the Bahamian people that in 14 days, if the application is not approved, that it will automati cally be approved. And so to me, I think it’s one of hypocrisy.”

Asked if the law is going to be repealed, he answered: “Yes, it

has to be repealed. And I have spoken with the attorney general on it, but the Act is still in force.”

When asked how soon can the public see it being repealed, he replied: “Well, I cannot answer that. It is again before the Office of the Attorney General. What I will tell the Bahamian public is as Minister of Labour and Immi gration I will not be following this particular thing. There will be due diligence under this admin istration in respect of all of the

applications.”

Asked what was a reasonable time for businesses and individu als to expect their persons vetted, Mr Bell compared the number of permits issued versus applications.

“In my estimation, I would say between six and 12 weeks,” he said, adding that the government issues approximately 15,000 work permits per year.

He said the department goes through approximately 30,000 applications a year.

FOUR ACCUSED OVER FATAL DOG MAULING OF HOMELESS MAN

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

THREE men and a woman were charged with manslaughter in the Mag istrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the fatal dog mauling of a homeless man in late August.

Elvontae Richards, 20, Rashad Timothy, 28, Von Johnson, 37, and Vanria Richards, 39, all of Palm Tree Avenue and rep resented by attorney K Melvern Rolle stood before Senior Magistrate Der ence A Rolle Davis. All four were charged with manslaughter.

It is alleged that in the early morning hours of August 27 in the area of East Street near the defend ants’ residence, 61-year-old Anthony Swann was killed in a dog attack. The dogs involved in this incident are two black pit-bulls, one brown pit-bull and a brown potcake that the accused allegedly neglected to have properly contained on their premises.

Reports indicate that the homeless victim in this

matter died of exsanguina tion (blood loss) and had injuries consistent with bite marks on his body.

While the accused faced an additional four charges relating to their alleged failure to keep their aggres sive dogs contained on their property or licensed in accordance with the Fero cious Dog Act, these charges were stood down for another time.

None of the accused was required to enter a plea in court. They were informed that this matter would be fast tracked to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The accused were further told that as the magistrate lacked the jurisdiction to grant them bail, they had the right to apply for it in the Supreme Court. Mr Rolle said he intended to make an emergency bail application on behalf of his clients. Until bail is granted, the accused will be remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correc tional Services. The VBIs are set for service on Janu ary 18, 2023.

LABOUR and Immigration Minister Keith Bell yesterday.

Photo: Moise Amisial

‘Don’t deport my children to Haiti’

“We are instructed that both children’s fathers live, work and reside in The Bahamas and that there is no one to receive and care for the children in the Republic of Haiti should they be deported,” the mother’s attorney wrote in a letter obtained by The Tribune

“We submit and invite you to accept that our client is a fit and proper person and we request that the children be released into the custody of our client.”

According to the letter,

on October 19 Ms Louis was advised that her chil dren were taken into custody while attempting to travel to the US. The letter noted that Ms Louis made

arrangements to return to The Bahamas once she was advised of the circum stances surrounding her children.

The letter continued, “On our client’s arrival in The Bahamas, she (Ms Louis) made inquiries at the Immi gration Department and was advised that her chil dren were in fact taken into custody while attempting to travel to America.

“Our client instructs that she has no idea how her children were placed in the position in which they found themselves when they were taken into cus tody. Our client denies

any involvement in the attempted smuggling.

“This matter is of seri ous concern to our client because she was making excellent progress with the American officials in acquiring status for her children.”

For her children, Ms Louis is willing to pre sent herself to both the Bahamas Department of Immigration and the Royal Bahamas Police Force to be interviewed, said the letter.

According to the letter, Ms Louis’s children were staying with her brother in The Bahamas, while she resided and worked in

the US.

“We are advised that our client, a legal resident of the United States of America, relocated to America some seven years ago and left her children in the custody of her biological brother.”

The letter continues, “We are instructed our client travels to The Baha mas every two to three months to visit with her children and has applied to the American authorities for status for her children to have her children live and reside with her in America.”

According to documen tation provided to this

newspaper, Ms Louis was born in The Bahamas to Haitian parents.

Attempts to reach Mr Bell for comment on the matter were unsuccessful up to press time.

This newspaper also tied to contact Ms Louis, how ever she was not available for an interview.

This matter comes one week after Haitian Chargé d‘affaires Louis Harold Joseph gave more insight into the social and criminal element in Haiti, which he said now has a 60 percent unemployment rate, caus ing much of the country’s problems.

PLP SHOWS CHEQUE FOR BERMUDA TRIP PAYMENT

reconciliation of any addi tional associated costs and payments.”

Communications director in the Office of the Prime Minister Latrae Rahming said on Friday the travel costs were covered by the Progressive Liberal Party, adding any further ques tions should be directed there.

However, on the week end Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said the trip was a stand ard official visit to another country at the invitation of the Premier of Ber muda E David Burt, who is also leader of Bermu da’s Progressive Labour Party.

“The standard procedure is for most, if not all, flights of the prime minister to be arranged through the Office of the Prime Minister,” Mr Mitchell said.

“When settlement of expenses are done, there is a reckoning as between per sonal expenses and public expenses.

“That procedure was fol lowed in this case and there is nothing unusual about it.”

This week, Free National Movement Leader Michael Pintard highlighted the “conflict” in the two men’s state ments on the trip and called for transparency.

Yesterday, FNM chair man Dr Duane Sands also waded into the debate and said the details around the trip were “smudgy”.

He released a voice note on the issue before the PLP’s statement was issued.

Dr Sands said: “Was it a government trip or a PLP political trip? Or both, or neither? It seems that the primary mission was to get mixed up in the internal political affairs of another country. And as the facts emerged, the Office of the Prime Minister, Cabi net ministers and others started explaining, except, yup the stories didn’t line up.

“The PLP and the gov ernment have dug in, it seems, as the stories they have told can’t all be true so now the chair man of the PLP is saying

they finish with that. No, sir, the Bahamian people aren’t finished yet, they want you to come clean for a change.”

He said people want to know whether the large delegation “of ministers, civil servants and politi cal hangers on” met with the opposition party in

Bermuda as well as the gov erning party.

He said people also need an explanation on why Mr Davis spoke at a partisan, political rally in Bermuda and questioned if he would be speaking next at a Republican rally in the US or a Labour Party event in the United Kingdom.

MAN IN HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTING

A 43-YEAR-OLD man is in hospital after he was shot on Monday, police said.

The incident took place after 11pm. Police said the Moncur Alley resident was robbed by three men, one of whom had a handgun.

The thieves took an

undisclosed amount of cash and shot the victim who is in stable condition in hospital.

Police are also looking for five men who robbed an East Street business on Monday. Shortly after 3pm the suspects, two of whom

were armed with handguns, entered the business and demanded cash.

The culprits robbed the establishment and a patron of an undisclosed amount of cash, and while leaving, gun butted a male employee in his chest, police said.

SUSPECTED DROWNING IN ELEUTHERA

A MAN reportedly drowned while swimming in Eleuthera on Monday, police said.

The 60-year-old man was swimming in waters at

Rock Sound when onlook ers lost sight of him around 4.30pm.

Moments later, the victim was seen floating. He was retrieved from

the water by police and later pronounced dead by the local doctor.

At present, foul play is not suspected, but the investigation continues.

DR DUANE SANDS, FNM chairman, called the details of the Bermuda trip “smudgy”, while the PLP released an image of the cheque that reportedly paid for the trip, pictured top.

Activist: Bishop’s statement important

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A LOCAL activ ist says the Anglican Diocese’s support towards the amendments to the Sexual Offences Act, which will make marital rape a crime, is important, as many denominations have failed to publicly do the same.

When stating the support for the legislation, Bishop Laish Boyd said last week this is a “simple and nobrainer” step in pursuit of justice and basic human rights for all parties.

“This is important as many denominations have failed to be publicly vocal in their support, and many others have chosen to, instead, support rapists,” Equality Bahamas director

BISHOP LAISH BOYD

Alicia Wallace said when contacted for comment yes terday about Bishop Boyd’s statements.

“When ‘the church’ is dis cussed in public discourse, particularly in reference to human rights, it is seen as a barrier to the progress we need to make as a coun try, both in law and in our

beliefs and behaviour.

“It is important for rights-minded people and institutions to be heard, especially in the midst of a false debate about bodily autonomy and the defini tion of rape.

“Boyd clearly stated that rape is violence and the right to protection from vio lence is not lost as a result of marriage,” Ms Wallace said.

During the opening ser vice of the 119th Session of the Synod at Christ Church Cathedral on October 19 Bishop Boyd said the Anglican Diocese “whole heartedly” supported the proposed amendments to the Sexual Offences Act so that “wherever rape hap pens it is called rape”.

The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of The

Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands argued that no individual, whether single or married, should be subject to such degrading behaviour.

Ms Wallace has previ ously called on religious leaders to speak up in terms of women’s rights and to support the draft amend ment to Sexual Offences Act that seeks to redefine rape and consent.

Under the proposed bill, rape is redefined as “the act of any person not under fourteen years of age having sexual inter course with another person without the consent of that person where he knows that person does not consent or is reckless as to whether the person consents.”

Initially, the draft amend ment to the Sexual Offences

Act had mixed reactions from religious leaders when it was released last month.

One pastor referred to the draft legislation as being “the wickedest and most demonic” bill in the country’s history.

Yesterday, Ms Wallace urged political leaders to stop relying on the church to craft policy and to instead honour the coun try’s commitment to the people and international treaties.

“Religious leaders have the obligation to guide their members to act and speak with love and concern for one another. Wom en’s rights advocate have assumed the responsibil ity of centering people in situations of vulnerability and demanding action to end gender-based violence

against women,” Ms Wal lace said yesterday.

She continued: “We must all be clear in our messaging — rape is rape, consent is mandatory, and marriage is not a defense for rape. We demand that the govern ment cease the false debate and act with integrity by discussing marital rape as an issue of human rights rather than one of opinion.

“We call on the govern ment to end its reliance on ‘the church’ and to prioritise meeting its com mitment to the people of The Bahamas, affirmed by its ratification of various international mechanisms including CEDAW. We encourage people in posi tions of power, including religious leaders, to join the #Strike5ive campaign.”

OLDER MEN LESS LIKELY TO WANT MARITAL RAPE OUTLAWED

OLDER Bahamian men are less inclined than younger people to believe in the existence of marital rape - and also less likely to believe that it should be outlawed.

Despite this, according to a study in the International Journal of Bahamian Stud ies which saw 2,845 people interviewed in the Spring of this year, overall there was support — over 50 percent — for outlawing spousal rape.

Other findings from the study show that 15 percent of ever married women were raped; 14 percent had consented to unwanted sexual inter course with their partners, and those who consented to unwanted intercourse were 11.1 percent more likely to have also been raped when compared to those who had not consented to unwanted sex.

“A Preliminary Study on Unwanted Sexual

Intercourse within Longterm Relationships in The Bahamas” was presented at the University of The Bahamas yesterday and gave further insight into how spousal sexual abuse is perceived among certain demographics.

The Tribune had pre viously reported early findings from this report which found that one in 12, or an estimated 4,000 married women, have been raped by their husbands.

The study suggested that around 6,000 wives claimed being victims of sexual abuse. This would be any sexual activity that occurs without consent and refers to a sexual assault or sexual violence, including unwanted sexual touching, forced oral sex, and rape, among other sexual acts.

Yesterday, William Field ing, adjunct faculty member of University of The Baha mas, said the study looked particularly at relationships

that lasted for one year or more.

“Relationships aren’t static. You have rela tionships that look like marriage even though they haven’t actually signed on the dotted line and what we’re trying to do in this piece of research is avoid the casual relationships and any possibility of date rape,” he said.

He also said: “The group of people who are the least likely to agree that marital rape can occur and least likely to feel that marital rape should be outlawed is this male group aged 55 and over and the importance of this group, of course, is its going to encapsulate the group of males, that group who have the power to change the law, I won’t say anything more about that and, of course, when we look outside of the state administration the other people that are vocal on this issue on the religious

side they tend to males of the older age group.

“So when we are hearing these voices that are cast ing doubt upon marital rape in fact these are the voices that are very much typical from what we would find from the data.

“What is interesting is that in the other age groups, male and female, there is far more support for outlawing marital rape. So, overall the data does support that there is a clear support to outlaw marital rape and a clear acknowledgement that rape can occur within marriage however you want to call it, which sug gests that even if the law is not changed immediately as those younger people age and they’re replaced by other people who will be wanting to think in a simi lar way that change is going to occur later rather than sooner.”

Closer analysis of the findings show that 63.5

percent of men in the 18 to 24 age group and 72.1 per cent of women agreed that a husband can rape his wife.

However in the 55 and over age group, this fell to 45.1 percent, while 61.2 per cent of women in the same age group believe this.

While most females — 69 percent — had not been hit by their long-term partner, were not fearful of their partner and had not had sex with their partner against their will, four percent of females had suffered from all of these concerning issues.

“While these percentages may not seem large, they potentially indicate that based upon the 2010 census, around 7,300 of women may fall into this group. Fur ther, this figure represents a relatively large percent age of those who suffer just one of these issues, except the hit by partner group, and demonstrates the cooccurrence of these matters

in the lives of women who have experienced long-term relationships,” the report noted. “We can also note that when women are sub ject to physical violence, they have almost a 50 per cent chance of being subject to other behaviours of concern.”

The report said the results from this study are in broad agreement with the estimates for marital rape reported from the USA.

“We should note that this study gives estimates of the lifetime experience of rape within long-term relation ships; it does not attempt to estimate the occurrence of rape of women only within marriage. However, our estimate of between about 15-30 percent of women being victims of rape in their long-term relation ships demonstrates that women need protection from harm even within stable relationships.”

SURVEY SHOWS THOSE WHO FAVOUR COPORAL PUNISHMENT

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

PEOPLE in The Baha mas influenced by biblical teachings were found to be most likely to support the use of corporal punishment

on their children, according to a study in the Interna tional Journal of Bahamian studies.

Given that 90 percent of the population in The Baha mas identifies as Christian, any attempts by the state to regulate the practice of

corporal punishment will need to be promoted by pastors to make messages on non-violent discipline of children acceptable to their parishioners, researchers found.

The study by William Fielding and Virginia

Balance of University of The Bahamas used the responses of 1,570 participants.

Of that number, 1,295 respondents or 58.8 percent thought that it would be in the best interests of their child to be disciplined using

corporal punishment, and 9.6 percent indicated that they would use an object to inflict the punishment.

Most of the respondents were female or 68 percent and the modal age group was 18-24.

Most participants believed in the Lord God of the Bible - 91.8 per cent of 1,524 respondents, and 84.8 percent of 1,570 respondents identified with a Christian denomination.

About 62.7 respond ents said when they were children they experienced corporal punishment, but it had a positive impact on them. However 78.1 per cent said that they “turned out all right”.

Another 24.5 percent said they’d consider corpo ral punishment on them as child abuse, while 6.2 per cent said they had to get treatment for physical inju ries and 10.9 percent said they had got treatment for mental injuries.

A small number, 8.9 per cent, strongly agreed that it should be illegal for parents to use corporal punish ment on children and 11.7 percent were of the view that corporal punishment is violent.

When Christians and non-Christians’ views were looked at, Christians - 52.2 percent - agreed that it was acceptable for children to be physically punished by their parents, while 48.2 percent of non-Christians had the same views. Fiftyfive percent of Christians disagreed that it should be illegal for parents to use corporal punishment.

“This study reminds us that corporal punishment to discipline children is a commonly-used method to modify their behaviour,” the report said. “Conse quently, these findings repeat those in the 1960s study from Andros that belief in a supernatural being was linked to the jus tification to use corporal punishment on children.

“Its use is of greater concern with the rearing of boys than girls, due to the fact that boys are at a higher risk of being abused through being hit with an object; it is this normality of discipline which borders on abuse, due to common

use of objects, which we can assume informs, knowingly or otherwise, the views of respondents.

“This is exemplified by the attitude that ‘I was beaten as a child and I turned out all right,’ although this is an untest able viewpoint.”

It continued: “However, we note that the attitude, ‘I was beaten as a child and I turned out all right’ was not associated with the group of participants who thought that they were abused through corporal punishment.

“This may suggest that further research is required to objectively assess the prevalence of child abuse arising from excessive pun ishment, rather than relying on self-reports. The results of our study again indicate that some four percent of children probably suf fered severe abuse as they required assistance for their mental and physical harm, a figure consistent with other research.

“The implications of child abuse on child devel opment are well known. Although participants agreed that everyone has a right to live without fear of violence, this attitude does not seem to apply to children because partici pants did not view corporal punishment as a form of violence.

“Participants indicated that they did not sup port making corporal punishment illegal. This view seems in tension with the fact that exposure to corporal punishment as a child is linked to a life of victimisation, including workplace bullying.”

Moreover, it was found that in The Bahamas there is considerable disagree ment as to whether anyone has the right to tell a parent how to raise their chil dren, a matter raised by policymakers.

The report noted that this suggests that participants feel that society should not intrude upon what happens in the home.

However, media reports of child abuse, which can even result in death, sug gest that this attitude is not without risk to children.

Halkitis: I’m still waiting for ideas from retailers over price controls

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC Affairs

Minister Michael Halkitis said he is awaiting sugges tions from retailers about the government’s expanded price control list.

He noted that beginning November 1, the govern ment anticipates that the new margins will be in effect in the retail pharma cies as well as retail stores.

“Well, I wouldn’t style it as negotiations because you know, we have amended the orders, and what we have done is not gone to full enforcement of the new orders yet, because in our meeting with the retail grocers last week Monday, and as well, we had a meeting with pharmacy retailers and as well as pharmaceutical wholesal ers this past Friday, where they expressed similar sen timents about notice and being given an opportunity to make the adjustment. Of course, they did not agree

with the new margins,” he said yesterday. “But we stress to them that this is a temporary measure in the first instance that we will review after wards. And we committed to look at some other things that impact their business. So what we have agreed the retailers did ask for an extension to the 28th, which is this Friday, in order to get us some sug gestions on how we can,

you know, achieve what we’re trying to achieve, ie bringing down prices, and minimise the impact — (I am) waiting to receive that, as of now I haven’t received it as yet.”

He added: “So what we indicated was that, you know, Friday’s the 28th, what we will do is we will give until November 1. And beginning November 1, we will expect that the new margins will be in effect

in the retail pharmacies as well as retail stores.”

The Ministry of Eco nomic Affairs, in a statement issued on Friday, confirmed that food retail ers and wholesalers, plus their pharmaceutical coun terparts, have until October 31, 2022, to complete the transition to the new pricecontrolled margins and mark-ups - effectively granting them a week’s extension. Price control inspectors will not begin enforcement of these changes, whatever they ultimately may be, until November 1.

Asked about penal ties for those who do not comply with the impending changes, Mr Halkitis said the government wants to ensure the regulations are being met.

The minister explained: “There are various pen alties within the law but what we want to do is have an opportunity to have people comply, and failure to comply, then there are other monetary penalties.

But the idea is that, you know, we’re not coming down with a heavy hand, so to speak or sledge hammer, but we just want to ensure that the regulations are being met.

“And we think that this time, you know, it will be approximately two weeks since the amendments were made, that we will be doing the enforcement and we think that’s ade quate time to make the adjustment. And as we said, in the first instance, it’s a temporary measure, we understand everything that the businesses have told us about the poten tial impact on their bottom line and the cost and how it’s affecting everybody. But what we stressed as well, is that the govern ment has made some efforts on its behalf.

“And this is an effort to ensure that, you know, the things that we’re doing trickle down and reach the actual consumer who is the target.”

Mr Halkitis had

previously said that he hoped that all issues between the government and retailers would have been resolved by October 21. He also made it clear that officials were “not delaying the roll out at all”.

Asked if this will be the last extension granted, he answered: “Well, I think subsequent to when I spoke to you last I must have that is when they actually wrote to us and we agreed. So we’ve sent out a state ment - it’s November 1. We wanted to be able to say that we gave time for the adjustment. Ideally, the businesses requested, you know, there’ll be consulta tion beforehand but, you know, we think that this is an adequate adjustment period.”

The government is plan ning to limit the wholesale and retail markup on items like diapers and food including chicken, eggs, bread, bananas, apples, oranges, broccoli, onions, and potatoes.

MONTH OF EVENTS TO CELEBRATE SMALL BUSINESSES

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Eco nomic Affairs yesterday announced the launch of various events and initia tives for November, which was declared National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Month to recognise and honour Bahamian small businesses.

The Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Affairs will oversee the exe cution of this month-long celebration.

Economic Affairs Min ister Michael Halkitis expressed his anticipation

of the month-long celebra tion of MSMEs, as he and representatives from the SBDC, who will be spear heading the initiative, were present at the Office of The Prime Minister yesterday for the launch announcement.

“It is well established that micro, small and medium enterprises are the life blood of any economy and therefore it is incumbent upon the government to promote an environment in which MSMEs can thrive and go on to become large businesses,” he said.

“To that end, the gov ernment of The Bahamas is committed to supporting the various organisations

and entities whose mission it is to promote and support MSMEs.”

He added, “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Month will provide an opportunity for all stake holders to take stock of the current environment for MSMEs and discuss and formulate new strategies to support and promote those businesses. We look forward to a fruit ful and productive MSME Month.”

Samantha L Rolle, SBDC interim executive director, said after months of advo cating for this initiative she is elated to see it come to pass. “In the face of the

COVID-19 pandemic and given the present signs of recovery in the Bahamian economy, the government of The Bahamas believes it is timely to highlight and recognise MSMEs and their invaluable contribu tion to our communities and the economy at large,” she said.

She added: “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen a 40 percent uptick in our total number of funded cli ents. Year to date, we have received over 600 requests between funding pro grammes, advisory services and mentorship opportu nities throughout seven islands.

“As we seek to expand our presence in the Family Islands and by enhanc ing our service offering, streamlining processes and continuing to forge strategic partnerships, we anticipate the exponential increase in our client base.”

MSME month stake holders include the Small Business Development Centre, The Bahamas Development Bank (BDB), The Venture Capital Fund, BAIC, BAMSI and the government through its procurement practices, said Mr Halkitis.

On November 5, there will be a brunch and busi ness series in Andros. On November 9, there will be

another event in Eleuthera.

On November 10, there will be a mix and mingle event for small business owners and entrepreneurs. On November 17, there will be the Long Island Business Outlook and the next day, there will be a mix, mingle and market series in Abaco.

On November 22, there will be an all-access business forum at the Warwick Hotel on Paradise Island. The annual small business show case will be on November 26, followed by the Grand Bahama business expo on November 28- 29. The month will conclude with an honorary celebration in New Providence on November 30.

MINISTER of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis yesterday.

Photo: Moise Amisial

PICTURE OF THE

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Doctors say ‘fossil fuel addiction’ kills, starves millions

EXTREME weather from climate change triggered hunger in nearly 100 million people and increased heat deaths by 68 percent in vulnerable populations worldwide as the world’s “fossil fuel addiction” degrades public health each year, doctors reported in a new study.

Worldwide the burning of coal, oil, natural gas and biomass forms air pollu tion that kills 1.2 million people a year, including 11,800 in the United States, according to a report yesterday in the prestigious medical journal Lancet.

“Our health is at the mercy of fossil fuels,” said University College of London health and climate researcher Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown. “We’re seeing a persistent addiction to fossil fuels that is not only amplifying the health impacts of climate change, but which is also now at this point compounding with other concurrent crises that we’re globally facing, including the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, energy crisis and food crisis that were triggered after the war in Ukraine.”

In the annual Lancet Countdown, which looks at climate change and health, nearly 100 researchers across the globe highlighted 43 indicators where climate change is making people sicker or weaker, with a new look at hunger added this year.

“And the health impacts of cli mate change are rapidly increasing,” Romanello said.

In praising the report, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put it even more bluntly than the doc tors: “The climate crisis is killing us.”

New analysis in the report blamed 98 million more cases of self-reported hunger around the world in 2020, com pared to 1981-2010, on “days of extreme heat increasing in frequency and inten sity due to climate change.”

Researchers looked at 103 countries and found that 26.4 percent of the popu lation experienced what scientists call “food insecurity” and in a simulated world without climate change’s effects that would have only been 22.7 percent, Romanello said.

“Can I say that every bit of food insecurity is due to climate change? Of course not. But we think that in this complex web of causes, it is a very sig nificant contributor and it’s only going to get worse,” said pediatrician Dr Anthony Costello, Lancet Countdown co-chair and head of the University College of London’s Global Health Institute.

Computerised epidemiology models also show an increase in annual heat related deaths from 187,000 a year from 2000 to 2004 to an annual aver age of 312,000 a year the last five years, Romanello said.

When there’s a heat wave, like the record-shattering 2020 one in the Pacific Northwest or this summer’s English heat wave, emergency room doctors know when they go to the hospital “we’re in for a challenging shift,” said study co-author Dr. Renee Salas, a Boston emergency room physician and pro fessor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The air pollution from burning coal, oil and gas also pollutes the air, causing about 1.2 million deaths a year world wide from small particles in the air, the scientists and report said. The 1.2 million figure is based on “immense sci entific evidence,” Harvard’s Salas said.

“Burning gas in cars or coal in elec tricity plants have been found to cause asthma in children and cause heart problems,” Salas said.

“Prescribing an inhaler isn’t going to fix the cause of an asthma attack for a young boy living next to a highway where cars are producing dangerous pollutants and climate change is driving increases in wildfire smoke, pollen and ozone pollution,” Salas said.

Both air pollution and heat deaths are bigger problems for the elderly and the very young and especially the poor, said University of Louisville environmental health professor Natasha DeJarnett, a study co-author.

Sacoby Wilson, a professor of envi ronmental health at the University of Maryland who wasn’t part of the report, said the Lancet study makes sense and frames climate change’s effects on health in a powerful way.

“People are dying now as we speak. Droughts, desertification, not having food, flooding, tsunamis,” Wilson said. “We’re seeing what happened in Pakistan. What you see happening in Nigeria. “

Both Wilson and emergency room physician and professor of medicine at the University of Calgary Dr. Courtney Howard, who wasn’t part of the study, said report authors are correct to call the problem an addiction to fossil fuels, similar to being addicted to harmful drugs.

The Lancet report shows the increas ing deaths from air pollution and heat yet people are “continuing in habit ual behavior despite known harms,” which is the definition of addiction, Howard said. “Thus far our treatment of our fossil fuel addiction has been ineffective.”

“This isn’t a rare cancer that we don’t have a treatment for,” Salas said. “We know the treatment we need. We just need the willpower from all of us and our leaders to make it happen.”

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

The history of cricket in The Bahamas

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE purpose of this letter is to seek the assis tance of those influential Bahamians, who have either played cricket, were fans or were involved to prevail on persons planning our 50th Independence Anniversary in 2023 to include cricket on the Sports Agenda.

My information from a very reliable source is that persons on an organising committee do not wish to include cricket as they con sider it to be a foreigners sport, played by foreigners. Cricket is the Caribbean’s leading sport. The West Indies Cricket Team were World Champions for dec ades. Geographically, we may not be a part of the Caribbean, but we are a member of CARICOM and we participate in the CARIFTA GAMES and CARIFESTA. Cricket is the oldest competitive sport played in The Bahamas.

It was started in Harbour Island in 1883. Its popular ity grew in New Providence during the world wars when there were British troops here. The Bahamas Cricket Association led by President The Hon A.F. Adderley, with Secre tary Sir Orville Turnquest organised cricket competi tions and cricket became the most popular specta tor sport in our country for several decades and continues uninterrupted. Following in brief are cricket’s accomplishments and its contribution to our country. I submit, that when compared with sev eral other sports it takes its place at the top.

Cricket is the second larg est spectator sport in the world. Soccer is the largest. World cricket is under the control of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The Bahamas is a member and receives financial and technical support from the ICC. In fact there is an ICC coach here at present coaching in the schools and at playing fields.

The Bahamas partici pates in Cricket World Cup tournaments. We play against teams in the region, that includes; the USA, The Caymans, Turks & Caicos and Panama. Our national teams have not reached any of the finals, but we have eliminated some of our opponents. Some finances for travel, etc, are provided by the ICC. We obtain funds from our Ministry of Sports and we host fund raising events.

During the decades of the fifties and sixties Mr Percy Munnings, an ardent cricket lover took a Bahamas team to Jamaica each year and teams from Jamaica visited us in New Providence.

Commonwealth Wander ers Cricket Club emerged in the late sixties. The club consisted of Bahamian and foreign cricketers, led by a Bahamian President and Vice President. The Wan derers took teams on tour annually to multiple cities in the USA and Canada, the Caribbean, South America and Panama. In 1976 the wanderers was the first Bahamian team to tour England. The Min istry of Tourism provided some funding and used the tours to advertise The Bahamas. We took Videos and Handouts we used to publicise The Baha mas. On two occasions we were accompanied by Miss Bahamas and were greeted by Mayors in several cities.

Police Legend Edmund Lewis and his daughter, a police woman conducted traffic on the streets of Detroit and Chicago in the Bahamas Police uniform.

There were interviews by television and radio. The publicity arranged by the Ministry of Tourism was first class.

In England we had a bus with a Ministry of Tourism designed banner adver tising The Bahamas. The

publicity derived from our cricket teams trave ling abroad was very well known. New Providence became a popular desti nation for visiting cricket teams. Teams from the USA, Canada, Australia, the West Indies and Eng land have played in New Providence and at the Lucaya Cricket Club in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Our local teams have been competitive in matches against the visitors. We hosted cricket festivals.

One of our major achieve ments was the building of the now world famous Cricket Club, that houses the restau rant at Haynes Oval. It was the brainchild of BCA Presi dent Sidney Deveaux and Irving Taylor (BCA Treas urer). The late politicians Peter Bethel (played cricket with St Bernards) and Dr Norman Gay, both of whom were Cabinet Ministers got permission for the BCA to use land at Haynes oval for the construction. The Ministry of works designed and provided the plan. We solicited sponsors, donors, workers and some financ ing from Geoffrey Sadler, Lyford Cay resident, who financed a loan from Bar clays Bank to complete and furnish the building. Other notable donors were; Percy Munnings, George Myers, Theophilus Fritz, Sir Orville Turnquest, Gerald Dean, Gerald Bartlette and those, who physically provided some of the labour on the site. Today the restaurant is advertised by the Ministry of Tourism and/regularly frequented by residents of Lyford Cay.

Cricket is a part of Baha mian history and continues to be a prominent sport in The Bahamas and as such should be recognised during the 50th Anniver sary Celebrations. It is hoped that influential per sons will use that influence to make it happen.

PAUL THOMPSON, Sr Nassau, October 24, 2022.

After the voting is done

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I HAVE been surveying globally the way politicians and its leadership have been behaving and as I begin to move things around, lumping together the simi larities surprisingly, I have found a common thread pointing generally deceitful posturing, more or less? The promises made during the campaign trails, connoting the initiatives, programmes intended to pursue on behalf of constit uents, but in actuality what have we seen?

For one, the humility disappeared, people that were usually associated with the now political, were nowhere to be found during the previous party govern ment ship, why? What we suspect the reason to be, they have resurfaced look ing for contracts and God

knows what else?

Well, and many have asked, don’t they know that the people, in the case of The Bahamas, we the locals are able to see through this deception and never enough of the handouts, why?

Another point of con tention is the numbers of consultants hired to provide technical assistance, but haven’t they said that the previous government was incompetent, but they have all of the answers.

To provide that they had the answers, a slate of can didates were compiled with the necessary skills they said, but if so, how come all of these other hirings with expertise to help them undertake their mandate?...

Now, what is wrong with this kind of posturing?

Fundamentally, and by its very nature, amounts, as my

grandmother used to say... was all a lie in the begin ning and if it was a lie then, it will be more of a lie later, quote/end quote?

But who suffers for the incompetence of the pow ers-that-be? Obviously, we the people, the Citizens of this Commonwealth Of The Bahamas, and all of the following does have a place in the whole scheme of things... why, how, what, who, when, must be responded to, otherwise?

Also, coming out of this disrespectful contemp tuous underpinning is a callousness, total lack of compassion especially for the poor Bahamian people, needs relief, from yester day, will we see the change, or what is the answer? How do you bring order to disor der and an already lawless group of global leaders?

If I had had

superintendence over a group, a political party, the bottom line of how I would marshal my people, goes thus?

We are here to serve the people, anything that is not yours, you will leave alone, corruption is taboo, there is to be no money exchanges under the table for services owned by the people, there is no place for stealing in this party, the constituents comes first, all about the people to whom you scorn to serve, time must be found to answer questions that reporters have, because they were instead of the citi zens who could not attend, there is no place for haughty minded mortals, after all, the power belong to the people, you serve at the behest of the people, the people pays the salaries of politicians, the day you feel too big and important for the people is

the day that I will require your resignation.

And as for the coun try’s finances, you will give frequent accounting and anytime there is a large or important undertaking requiring large sums... we must and will seek clearance from the people... editor, these things are common all across the global political landscapes, which I find very interesting... accordingly, it is a human failing at the heart of the problems, no matter where in the world we look... of mention what has happened in the United Kingdom where in a very short time, they have can celled three Prime Ministers simply because there were ideological differences, sys temic contrapolations that were at odds to theirs, but don’t they know that no two humans were alike and no humans were perfect, so

since they are looking for perfect, we will continue to see replacements after replacements, I surmised? I think?

Finally, editor, politi cians must retool, must refocus, and fashion their behaviors after the Ten Commandments, that way they would have arrived on the highroad, otherwise? And when history is written what will it say about their performances, will it be exhilarating, or poor?

Thank you editor for the space and notice that I have called no names, not have I pointed the finger... remarks were general and decent proposition, if fol lowed, I think?

Submitted with love and for what it is worth.

FRANK GILBERT Nassau,

A CAMEL herder is silhouetted against a partial solar eclipse in Pushkar, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, yesterday.

Photo: Deepak Sharma/AP

Tough times - but people still gambling

other (things) means they will cut back on their lunch, they will cut back on other things.

“Therefore, the gaming industry is always the last to experience any mid-major impact by way of the econ omy,” Mr Flowers said.

The stigma against the gaming industry has resulted in some arguing the sector does more harm than good to Bahamians.

In 2019, Free National Movement chairman Dr Duane Sands described the problem of gambling

as an “emerging public health challenge”, adding the American Psychiatric Association has recently classified this issue as an official disorder.

Dr Sands previously noted the APA suggested that problem gambling shares similar hallucino genic characteristics with substance disorders such as cocaine and heroin abuse.

Even with the arguments against the gaming indus try Mr Flowers said there are people who still support and patronise it.

“So that’s where the gaming industry gets most

of its support from. And that is because it is now being legalised and it has this stigma removed from it. That people find themselves certainly partic ipating in and entertaining themselves.”

He also said: “The indus try, like I said before, would be the last to recognise any major influx by way of recessions or type of restraints being imposed on our financial situation here in The Bahamas.”

When asked how his com pany planned to manage in view of the government’s recent announcement of the

increase in the minimum wage from $210 to $260 per week, Mr Flowers said this will have little impact on his company, adding more than 99 percent of his staff make more than the new mini mum wage requirement.

“I could say 99 percent of our staff is well above mini mum wage in our industry,” he said.

Additionally, the govern ment has revealed there will be upcoming increases in Bahamas Power and Light electricity bills.

Those with a current monthly bill of $182 or less would see an increase to

OPERATIONS BACK AT ABACO BIG BIRD

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING a 3,000-product loss in July, an Abaco Big Bird poultry operations manager says the company resumed oper ations last week despite ongoing challenges.

In July, the company’s incoming shipment of 5,200 live broiler chicks was reduced to just 1,339 chicks, as the cargo was left at Miami International Air port in 99 degree heat.

This loss cost the local market some 16,000 to 20,000 pounds of chicken.

Lance Pinder previously told this newspaper the company was expecting

to temporarily suspend operations until it found an alternative broiler supplier, which Mr Pinder said will result in some 13 employees “losing at least two weeks’ work” and another ten full and part-time workers being laid-off until the situ ation is resolved.

“It’s been tough because we went like almost a month without any product to sell,” Mr Pinder told The Tribune yesterday. “We had product available last week for the first time in over a month, but that’s gone, but we have some more packaging to do next week so we are trying to catch ourselves.

“The processing crew would’ve been off the

THREE YEARS IN PRISON OVER $3.8M DRUG HAUL

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to three years in prison yes terday in connection with a $3.8m marijuana drug bust off Andros in 2018.

Patrick Bain, 40, of Grand Bahama, repre sented by attorney Ian Cargill, stood before Magis trate Samuel McKinney for the conclusion of his trial on a charge of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

On October 25, 2018, Bain being concerned with two other males, was found with over 3,000 lbs of Indian hemp.

Shortly after 3pm, Drug Enforcement Unit offic ers, assisted by Marine Support officers, US Drug Enforcement agents and the US Coast Guard, intercepted a 32ft mid night express go-fast boat in waters off South Andros, with Bain and two others onboard.

Officers conducted a

search of the vessel and recovered 84 bags of mari juana, weighing 3,870 pounds and yielding an esti mated value of $3,870,000.

Throughout his trial, Bain maintained his posi tion of innocence.

After the prosecution and defence presented their cases, upon review ing the evidence Magistrate McKinney found Bain guilty.

After citing that his client works as a fisherman and in construction, Mr Car gill asked that the court be as lenient as possible in its sentencing.

Before sentencing, Mag istrate McKinney cited the potential risk these drugs would have had on the community if they hadn’t been seized by police.

As such and in view of the substantial number of drugs involved, the magistrate sentenced Bain to serve a three-year sentence at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

The drugs were ordered to be destroyed.

45-YEAR-OLD ACCUSED OF SEX WITH HIS SISTER

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN faced court yes terday on a charge of incest against his sister.

The 45-year-old man, whose name is being with held to protect the identity of the complainant, stood before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of incest.

It is alleged that the accused had unlawful sexual intercourse with his sister against her will on October 15.

Due to the gravity of the offence, the accused was

not required to enter a plea in court.

He was informed that his matter would proceed to the Supreme Court by way of a voluntary bill of indict ment (VBI).

As the magistrate lacked the jurisdiction to grant him bail, the accused was told of his right to apply for pretrial release in the higher court.

Until bail is granted, the accused will be remanded to the Bahamas Depart ment of Correctional Services.

The VBI is set for service on December 9.

MAN ACCUSED OF SLAPPING 18-YEAR-OLD’S BUTTOCKS

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted bail in Magistrate’s Court after allegedly slapping an 18-year-old woman’s but tocks twice last month.

Kendal Brooks, 62, stood before Senior Magistrate Derence A Rolle Davis on two counts of indecent assault.

On October 20 and 21 in New Providence, the 18-year-old complainant alleges that the defendant, who is an associate of her aunt, spanked her on her buttocks on two occasions resulting in her discomfort.

In court, Brooks pleaded not guilty. He was granted bail at $5,000 with one or two sureties.

The trial is set for Decem ber 19–20.

whole six weeks, so they had some work last week, and then some other staff took vacation and different things like that we did..... That kind of thing to make it through,” he added.

The loss of the chicks was the latest challenge for the company, following devas tation by Hurricane Dorian and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Pinder reiterated that he was unable to receive specifics on what transpired as he had only received third-party information.

He said: “I never found out all the details of exactly what happened because you know it seemed like it was about three or four companies mixed all up.

Obviously, everyone blames somebody else when some thing like that happens, so I never really got to the bottom of it.”

He said the company was able to get “credit” from the hatchery.

According to interna tional reports, Abaco Big Bird’s live chick shipment came from a company called Welp Hatchery.

Although the company is faced with challenges, Mr Pinder revealed that they are seeking various alternatives to “avoid” problems such as this in the future.

“We’re just trying to move ahead,” he told The Tribune yesterday.

“We’re looking at maybe

about $20 per month or two cents per kilowatt hours of electricity used.

Those with higher bills will pay almost double that amount at 4.3 cents per kil owatt hour.

The rate increase is set to be reflected in consumers’ electricity bills beginning next month and is expected to come down over the next 12 to 18 months.

When asked about the anticipated BPL fuel charge, Mr Flowers said it will definitely affect his business, noting they will have to make adjustments to cope with the increase.

“No longer will we be able to set the thermostat to lower or higher tempera tures during the night when the stores are closed.

“We may have to resort now to turning the thermo stats completely off. And going into stores and start ing up half an hour early.”

He added: “We can no longer leave tempera ture control in most of the spaces because they are large and that’s one of the ways that we’re certainly planning on introducing a means of reducing our con sumption at this time and there are others.”

establishing our own breeder flock here in the country so we can avoid a lot of this problem going forward — we’re exploring those options.”

Mr Pinder assured the public that the company is aware of the demand, therefore they are actively seeking various avenues to meet it.

FREE range birds pictured in February at the Abaco Big Bird site in this image posted to Facebook.

How many of the warning signs of fascism do you see?

LAST week, a disturb ing event dominated the media and public discourse for days. A group of people, who claimed they were not protesting, went to Par liament Squares where they said they wanted to deliver letters to Members of Parliament. When it was blocking access to Parlia ment, the group was told to move to Rawson Square and it refused. As a result, a number of its members were arrested.

It was reported that the group wants the gov ernment to pass a law to prevent children born in The Bahamas with undoc umented migrant parents from accessing Bahamian citizenship. The same group has been targeting Haitian migrants with its hateful, violent rhetoric for months, at the very least.

Over the past few years, an image listing 14 early signs of fascism has made the rounds in viral spurts, underscoring the state of the world as we see seem ingly dramatic swings to the political right. While we know the current state of affairs is not good and the trajectory is one that causes great concern, there is something about seeing the list which comes from a piece hanging in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. It, more than our experience, suggests a knowing and threatens to be a foretelling.

If these conditions are our reality, we are in trou ble. That is what the list, and all of the captions when it is shared, says to us.

By Alicia Wallace

The early warning signs of fascism are:

1. Powerful and continu ing nationalism

Disdain for human rights

Identification of ene mies as a unifying cause

Supremacy of the military

Rampant sexism

Controlled mass media

Obsession with national security

Religion and govern ment intertwined

Corporate power

Labour power

Disdain for intellectu als and the arts

Obsession with crime and punishment

Rampant cronyism and corruption

Fraudulent elections

many of the above do you recognise as descriptors of our current circumstance? How many of them, while not true to today, seem quite probable, given what is true?

How many people do you know who are not only okay with the ones you immediately recognise as our current circumstance, but speak and act in sup port of them? How many of them have you bought into? How many of them have

your active participation?

All 14 of the signs are reprehensible and danger ous. I can point to specific examples for too many of them. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them.

“Powerful and continuing nationalism” is no stran ger to us. Nationalism is the idea that this country is superior to all others. This, of course, means all countries are inferior to this one, and this is often the basis for fascist sentiments and actions. In many con versations, The Bahamas is presented as superior within a particular group of countries, usually in the Caribbean region and always including Haiti.

Fascists claim we are inherently better than eve ryone else, and they use the superior-inferior dichotomy to create a them-versus-us imperative. Their message is that we must oppose all others.

They try to convince the masses that, because of the perceived gap in value, assets, and ethnicity, we are under the constant threat of being robbed and over thrown. “They” must want what “we” have. “We” must take action, how ever unscrupulous, to stop “them”.

Fascism calls on people to

direct their energy — all of their negative emotions and harmful action — toward the target, even though it has been deemed inferior. It is irrational, and it is, as we all know, popular. This is demonstrated in the way many Bahamians talk about Haitian migrants, espe cially when population is discussed, and the prevail ing fear that they will “take over”.

“Disdain for human rights” is not unusual in The Bahamas. People think they can pick and choose when human rights apply and that they can make assessments about who “deserves” to access their human rights. Human rights, however, are not earned. They are not subject to the whims, beliefs, or frustrations of other people.

Under fascism, it is prom ulgated that human rights must not get in the way of “sovereignty” which is con flated with the protection of a perceived superiority coupled with the inferiority — which fascists are willing to manufacture — of the other. This is how we get to the place where a “leader” pulls a stunt in Parliament Square and says that deny ing a particular group of children the right to citizen ship should be law.

This comes at a time where we are discussing the gender unequal citizenship laws and the ways it vio lates human rights that The Bahamas has internation ally acknowledged through its ratification of various international mechanisms including the Convention

on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The suggestion that we legally lock children out of citizenship directly opposes the obligation The Baha mas has to ensure that no one is stateless.

Fascism does not care about people. Even the lan guage used by its operatives focuses on the inanimate State and its dominance. To whose benefit? Be clear. Fascism only serves the dictator. The other is a group that only gets larger, expanding to include anyone who challenges dic tatorial power.

“Identification of ene mies as a unifying cause” is obviously present and accounted for here. The supposed enemy was recog nised a long time ago.

The idea that it is us against Haitians has been nurtured for a long time. Jobs and land have long been hot button issues, but they generally are not invoked by foreign investors, expatriates, or second-home owners. They do not come up when we talk about the white or the wealthy.

Jobs and land come up just about any time we talk about the people we choose to call “migrants” (as well as much worse terms I will not use here).

The black people, the people looking for eco nomic opportunities, the people fleeing crisis beyond our imagination, the people who survived the Transat lantic slave trade along with us, the people who fought to retain African culture, the people whose ances tors are the reason for our

freedom. Those are the people who are pointed out and labeled enemies. Is it because of their history of survival? Is it because they are, today, because of their circumstances, perceived to be weak? Is it because we expect that we must some day suffer the consequences of our refusal to embrace them as our people, and prefer it not be at their hands? Why have they been made the enemy?

We must be careful in the way we create and sup port narratives. We need to think and use discern ment. There is nothing funny about what happened last week. It is a sign that danger is ahead. It gave us a glimpse at people’s true beliefs and the lengths they will go to for media atten tion and narrative weaving.

We are responsible for what we allow to go unchal lenged. Likewise, the government is responsible for its own silence. That it has not made a state ment in support of human rights, has not discouraged attempts to dehumanise people, has not reaffirmed its commitments to protect and uphold human rights is not a good sign.

At the very least, the government ought to have acknowledged its human rights obligations and, given the history of the group ref erenced, cautioned against any violations of human rights.

The duty of the govern ment extends beyond the Bahamian people to include all people in the country. We need to know to hear it, know it, understand it, and expect to see it in action. Fascism must not win.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Both memoir and poetry, this book is as compel ling for adults as it is for its intended middle grade audience. This is an excel lent book for parents to read with their children. It is sure to spark conversa tion about life in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly for Black people in the US, and the stark difference between South Carolina and New York. There is family, friendship, religion, and the writer’s own desire to write and the comfort she finds in stories. If you have never read a book written in verse, let this be the first.

2. And That’s Why We Drink. Halloween is coming up, and many are on the search for all things spooky. This comedy pod cast, hosted by friends Em Schulz (they/them) and Christine Schiefer (she/ her) is fun to listen to as they fill each other in on true-crime stories and par anormal elements. Popular stories they covered in the

first hundred episodes include the Jonestown massacre, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping, and the Zodiac killer. There are hundreds of episodes to choose from — more than enough for constant listening over the week end. It is quite strange to listen to very real stories, sometimes with new infor mation, and you may want to skip that part. It is still worth the click if you are interested in paranormal stories and concepts such as the tooth fairy, numerol ogy, and ouija boards.

3. NE10: Mercy at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. The tenth national exhibition opened on October 6 and will remain up until January 6, 2023. Curated by John Cox, it includes Melissa Alcena, Chantal Bethel, Carla Campbell, Cydne Coleby, June Collie, Jodi Minnis, Gia Swaby, and Ange lika Wallace-Whitfield. Admission is always free for residents on Sundays, and the gallery is closed on Mondays.

THE GATHERING outside Parliament on Wednesday. of last week, which saw a group trying to put forward laws targeting the children of migrants.

Photo: Moise Amisial

RENTERS FACE CHARGING DILEMMA AS US CITIES MOVE TOWARD EV’S

By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Stephanie Terrell was excited to join the wave of drivers adopting electric vehi cles when she bought a used Nissan Leaf this fall.

But Terrell encountered a bump in the road on her journey to clean driving: As a renter, she doesn’t have a place to plug in overnight, and the public charging sta tions near her are often in use. The 23-year-old nearly ran out of power on the freeway recently because a charging station she was counting on was busy.

“It was really scary and I was really worried I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “I feel better about it than buying gas, but there are problems I didn’t really anticipate.”

The transition to elec tric vehicles is underway for homeowners who can power up in their own garage, but for millions of renters, access to charging remains a signifi cant barrier. Now, cities across the U.S. are trying to come up with innovative public charg ing solutions as drivers string power cords across sidewalks, erect private charging stations on city right-of-ways and queue at public facilities.

The Biden administration last month approved plans from all 50 states to roll out a network of high-speed charg ers along interstate highways using $5 billion in federal funding over the next five years. But states must wait to apply for an additional $2.5 billion in local grants to fill in charging gaps, including in

dense urban areas.

“We have a really large challenge right now with making it easy for people to charge who live in apart ments,” said Jeff Allen, executive director of Forth, a nonprofit that advocates for equity in electric vehicle own ership and charging access.

Cities have to understand that “promoting electric cars is also part of their sustain able transportation strategy. Once they make that mental shift, there’s a whole bunch of very tangible things they can — and should — be doing.”

Fast chargers, also known as DC Fast, can fill up a car in 45 minutes or less. But slower Level 2 chargers, which take several hours, still outnum ber DC fast chargers nearly four to one. Charging on a standard residential outlet, or Level 1 charger, isn’t prac tical unless you drive little or can leave the car plugged in overnight.

Nationwide, there are about 120,000 public charging ports featuring Level 2 charg ing or above, and nearly 1.5 million electric vehicles regis tered in the U.S. — a ratio of just over one charger per 12 cars nationally, according to the latest U.S. Department of Energy data.

A briefing prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy last year by the Pacific North west National Laboratory forecasts a total of just under 19 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030, with a pro jected need for an extra 9.6 million charging stations.

In Los Angeles, for exam ple, nearly one-quarter of all new vehicles registered in July were plug-in. The city

estimates in the next two decades, it must expand its distribution capacity any where from 25% to 50%, with roughly two-thirds of the increased demand coming from EVs, said Yamen Nanne, manager of Los Ange les Department of Water and Power’s transportation elec trification programme.

Amid the boom, dense city neighbourhoods are rapidly becoming pressure points.

In Los Angeles, the city has installed over 500 polemounted EV chargers — 450 on street lights and 50 on power poles — and wants to add 200 more per year, Nanne said.

Similar initiatives to install pole-mounted chargers are in place or being consid ered from New York City to Charlotte, N.C. to Kansas City, Missouri. The utility Seattle City Light is also in the early stages of a pilot project to install chargers in

neighbourhoods with limited private parking.

Other cities want to amend building codes for the elec tric transition. Portland is considering a proposal that would require 50% of parking spaces in most new apartment complexes to have an elec trical conduit; in complexes with six or fewer spaces, all of them would be EV-ready.

Such policies are critical to widespread EV adoption because with tax incentives and an emerging used-EV market, zero-emissions cars are finally within reach for more Americans, said Ingrid Fish, who is in charge of Portland’s transportation decarbonisation programme.

The initiatives mimic those that have already been deployed in other nations that are further along in EV adoption.

London, for example, has 4,000 public chargers on street lights. That’s much cheaper

— just a third the cost of wiring a charging station into the sidewalk, said Vis hant Kothari, manager of the electric mobility team at the World Resources Institute.

But London and Los Ange les have an advantage over many U.S. cities: Their street lights operate on 240 volts, better for EV charging. Most American city street lights use 120 volts, which takes hours to charge a vehicle, said Kothari, who co-authored a study on the potential for pole-mounted charging in U.S. cities.

So cities must use a mix of solutions, from zoning changes to policies that encourage workplace fast-charging.

Changes can’t come fast enough for renters who already own electric vehicles.

Rebecca DeWhitt and her partner string an exten sion cord from an outlet near their rental home’s front door, down a path and to their new Hyundai Kona in the driveway. Off the standard outlet, it takes up to two days and lots of planning to fully charge their EV for a trip.

“It’s inconvenient,” DeWhitt said. “And if we didn’t value having an electric vehicle so much, we wouldn’t put up with the pain of it.”

HYUNDAI BREAKS GROUND ON $5.5B ELECTRIC CAR PLANT IN

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press

ELLABELL, Ga. (AP)

A robotic dog delivered a champagne toast and Geor gia’s governor and junior U.S. senator shared a brief bipartisan celebration ahead of high-stakes elections as Hyundai Motor Group broke ground Tuesday on its first U.S. plant dedicated to making electric vehicles.

Just five months after Hyundai announced the $5.5 billion manufacturing plant in Bryan County west of Savannah, vast areas of the site have already been cleared of trees. Euisun Chung, executive chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, said the plant will be the envy of the industry.

The South Korean com pany plans to open the factory in 2025, with at least 8,100 employees produc ing up to 300,000 electric vehicles per year. Georgia officials say it’s the largest economic development pro ject the state has ever seen.

“This is transformational for the region, not just for people’s children now, but for their grandchildren,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “This is going to be a project that will resonate for generations to come.”

The timing couldn’t have been better for Kemp, a Republican, and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. The groundbreaking ceremony was held two weeks before the Nov. 8 election in which both men face formidable challengers at the top of the ballot.

After a yellow-and-black robotic dog delivered cham pagne flutes for Kemp and top Hyundai executives to make a celebratory toast, the officials joined other digni taries in picking up shoves to turn ceremonial scoops of dirt. Afterward, Kemp and Warnock shared a brief handshake.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India launched a rocket carrying 36 private internet sat ellites on early Sunday, stepping in to keep the orbital constellation growing after a monthslong interruption related to the war in Ukraine.

The liftoff from southern India was the first launch for London-based OneWeb since breaking with the Russian Space Agency in March because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We have accomplished the orbit very accurately, now the rocket is in its intended orbit,” said S. Somanath, the chairperson of India’s space agency. He said 16 satellites were put into orbit and expressed optimism that “the remaining 20 satellites will get separated as safely as the first of the 16.”

OneWeb now has 462 satellites flying — more than 70% of what the company said it needs to provide broadband ser vices around the world.

Despite this year’s disruption, OneWeb said it remains on track to activate global coverage next year with a planned con stellation of 648 satellites.

It’s already providing service in the

northernmost latitudes.

Each OneWeb satellite weighs about 330 pounds (150 kilogrammes).

It was the 14th launch of OneWeb satellites and relied on India’s heaviest rocket, normally reserved for govern ment spacecraft.

All of the previous OneWeb flights were on Russian rockets; the first was in 2019.

The launch is important for India and reflects the gradual opening of its space agency to private customers, said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a director specialising in space and security at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

Rajagopalan said India is an expert at launching smaller satellites and has been trying to corner this market, pitching itself as a satellite launch facility.

With the war in Ukraine still raging, it could open an opportunity for India as many countries shun Russian launch services.

“It could spur that trend in a big way,” she said.

“I’d like to see more of this kind of collaboration, quite frankly,” said Warnock, whose race with Republican Herschel Walker will help determine which party con trols the U.S. Senate. “At the end of the day, we want to see more jobs in Georgia.”

ABOVE: STEPHANIE TER RELL, a Portland, Ore., renter who owns a used electric car, charges it at a public charging station in a grocery store parking lot.

(AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

REBECCA DeWhitt charges her electric vehicle in the driveway of the Portland, Ore., home she rents.

(AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

HAITIAN JOURNALIST HOSPITALISED AFTER ASSASSINATION BID

Press

A WELL-KNOWN Hai tian journalist survived an assassination attempt yesterday that left his car riddled with bullets in the capital of Port-au-Prince, officials said.

Roberson Alphonse, who works at the daily news paper Le Nouvelliste and at radio station Magik9, is hospitalised but is expected to recover, according to Frantz Duval, chief editor for both media. He said Alphonse has undergone two operations so far.

Also yesterday, authori ties found the body of another journalist who had been missing for several days. Garry Tess used to host a political talk show in the southern city of Les Cayes, according to the government’s Office of Citi zen Protection, which said it was extremely worried about the security of jour nalists in Haiti and urged they be protected.

No one has been arrested in either case, although journalists in Haiti have long been the target of

warring gangs who have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Duval thanked an uni dentified person he said rescued Alphonse and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before medical help arrived.

Duval noted the car had more than ten bullet holes, adding that neither Alphonse nor any of his colleagues were available

for comment.

“Health is the absolute priority,” he wrote. “Thank you to everyone for your understanding.”

Haiti’s Ministry of Cul ture and Communication said it learned “with horror the news of the assassina tion attempt” that occurred in the Delmas neighbor hood as Alphonse headed to the radio station for work.

“His rigor, his effort to

be impartial, and his sense of perfection make him a model for the profes sion,” the ministry said in a statement.

Many colleagues echoed the sentiment, including Widlore Mérancourt of the online news site AyiboPost.

“My friend, Roberson Alphonse could be anything he wants anywhere in the world. He picked Haiti. He also could’ve (made) mil lions selling his platforms. He opted for integrity and independence. I love him and I wish him well,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the president of Haiti’s Senate, Joseph Lambert, demanded a judi cial investigation.

The attack comes more than a month after two other journalists identi fied as Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles were fatally shot and their bodies set on fire while reporting in a slum controlled by gangs.

In January, gang mem bers killed two other journalists who were reporting in Laboule, a community south of Port-au-Prince.

The Miami-based Inter

American Press Associa tion has said this year has been one of the most vio lent for the press since record-keeping began in 1987.

Journalists also are still seeking justice in the March 2018 disappearance of freelance photographer Vladjimir Legagneur, who was last seen in Port-auPrince’s Grand Ravine area, one of the poorest and most dangerous.

The attack on Alphonse comes just weeks after Haitian leaders requested the immediate deploy ment of foreign troops as the country faces an unprecedented crisis.

One of Haiti’s most pow erful gangs surrounded a main fuel terminal more than a month ago, demanding the resigna tion of Prime Minister Ariel Henry as they pre vent the distribution of petroleum. Gas stations have shut down, banks and grocery stores are operating on limited hours and potable water is becoming scarce as the country battles a chol era breakout that has

killed at least 40 people, with more than 1,750 sus pected cases so far.

UNICEF warned on Monday that the actual number is likely much higher given under-report ing. The agency noted that it has only been able to find a third of the 70,000 gal lons of fuel needed to serve more than half of 16 chol era treatment centers in Port-au-Prince.

Yesterday, the European Union said it was extremely concerned about the deteri oration of Haiti’s situation, adding that it has reached unsustainable levels.

“The EU regrets that as a humanitarian catastro phe unfolds and protests have been co-opted by gangs, escalating into violence, looting and ter ritorial gains for armed gangs, political actors have so far failed failed to find a political solution to the crisis,” it said. “The EU therefore urges all politi cal actors to ...engage in constructive negotiations to overcome the cur rent political crisis and its security and humanitarian consequences.”

Adidas kicks out Ye

NEW YORK Associated Press

ADIDAS ended a part nership that helped make the artist formerly known as Kanye West a billion aire and lent the German sportswear an edgy appeal, but ultimately couldn’t sur vive a mounting outcry over the rapper’s offensive and antisemitic remarks.

The split will leave Adidas searching for another transcendent celeb rity to help it compete with ever-larger rival Nike, but will likely prove even cost lier for Ye, as the rapper is now known. The sneaker giant became the latest company to cut ties with Ye, whose music career has been in decline as he courted controversy.

Adidas said it expected to take a hit of up to 250 mil lion euros ($246m) to its net income this year from the decision to immedi ately stop production of its line of Yeezy products and stop payments to Ye and his companies. Its shares closed down more than two per cent on Tuesday.

“Adidas does not toler ate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a state ment yesterday. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hate ful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

For weeks, Ye has made antisemitic comments in interviews and social media,

including a Twitter post earlier this month that he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to the US defence readiness condition scale known as DEFCON. He was sus pended from both Twitter and Instagram.

Ye expressed some regret in an interview with pod caster Lex Fridman posted online Monday, in which he characterised his ini tial tweet as a mistake and apologised to “the Jewish community”. An email message sent to a repre sentative for Ye was not immediately returned.

Adidas has stuck with Ye through other controver sies over his remarks about slavery and COVID-19 vac cines. But Ye’s antisemitic comments stirred up the company’s own past ties

with the Nazi regime that the company had worked to leave behind. The World Jewish Congress noted that during World War II, Adidas factories “produced supplies and weapons for the Nazi regime, using slave labour”.

Jewish groups said the decision to drop Ye was overdue.

“I would have liked a clear stance earlier from a German company that also was entangled with the Nazi regime,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the main Jewish group in the country where Adidas is headquartered.

Adidas, whose CEO Kasper Rorsted is step ping down next year, said it reached its decision after conducting a “thorough review” of its partnership

with Ye, whose talent agency, CAA, as well as Balenciaga fashion house had already dropped the rapper. In the hours before the announcement, some Adidas employees in the US had spoken out on social media about the com pany’s inaction.

Despite the growing con troversy, Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce, believes that Adidas’ delayed response was “understandable”.

“The positives are so substantial in terms of the audience it appeals to — younger, urban, trend setters, the size of the business,” Adamson said. “I’m sure they were hoping against hope that he would apologise and try to make this right.”

Adidas doesn’t break out Yeezy sales numbers, but the impact will be more severe than expected given that the brand has ended production of all Yeezy products and ceased roy alty payments, according to Morningstar analyst David Swartz in a note published Tuesday.

Swartz projects overall Adidas revenues to reach $23.2 billion euros ($23.1 billion) this year, with the Yeezy brand generating 1.5 billion to 2 billion euros ($1.99 billion), or nearly 10% of the total. The pricy brand accounts for up to 15% of the company’s net income, Swartz said.

Forbes estimated that Adidas accounted for $1.5 billion of Ye’s net worth

and without the deal, it will fall to $400m, includ ing his music catalog, real estate, cash and a stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear company Skims.

Forbes said it will no longer include Ye on its list of bil lionaires, though the rapper has long insisted the maga zine underestimates his wealth.

Ye has alienated even ardent fans in recent years. Those close to him, like Kardashian and her family, have ceased publicly defending him after the couple’s bitter divorce and his unsettling posts about her recent relationship with comedian Pete Davidson.

Carl Lamarre, Bill board’s deputy director of R&B/Hip Hop, said many Ye fans have been disap pointed by him, but the implosion of his business endeavors was difficult to watch for those who admired the rapper’s abil ity to reach new heights of success beyond hip-hop.

“This is someone who potentially laid down the blueprint for a lot of musi cians coming up,” Lamarre said. “When you see some one graduate to his level of superstardom and tran scend into business, into fashion and touches that billionaire point, for our community, for hip-hop, for African Americans, that’s very aspirational.

“But the same kids, even myself who were once super-fans, you try to defend him but every day he gives you a reason not to be able to,” Lamarre added.

The rapper, who has won 24 Grammy Awards, has been steadily losing audi ence on the radio and even his streaming numbers have declined slightly over the last month. According to data provided by Luminate, an entertainment data and insights company whose data powers the Billboard music charts, his airplay audience has slipped from 8 million in the week ending Sept. 22, to 5.4 million in the week ending on Oct. 20. The popularity of his songs on streaming on demand also went down in the same period, from 97 million to 88.2 million, about a 9% drop.

Ye has earned more of a reputation for stirring up controversy since 2016, when he was hospitalised in Los Angeles because of what his team called stress and exhaustion. It was later revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

He has suggested slav ery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast,” among other comments. He also was criticised earlier this month during Paris Fashion Week for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to the show and putting models in the same design. After he was suspended from Twitter and Facebook, Ye offered to buy Parler, a conserva tive social network with no gatekeeper.

The fashion, music and apparel world continued to distance themselves from Ye yesterday.

BULLET holes cover the windshield of journalist Roberson Al phonse’s car after he was attacked in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, yes terday.

Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP

A SIGN advertises Yeezy shoes made by Adidas at Kickclusive, a sneaker resale store, in Paramus, New Jersey, yesterday. Adidas has ended its partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West over his offensive and antisemitic remarks, the latest company to cut ties with Ye and a decision that the German sportswear company said would hit its bottom line.

Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

YE, formerly known as Kanye West, pictured in March.

Hitmen victorious

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With the addi tion of veteran Edney “The Heat” Bethel to their line-up, the C&S Hitmen picked up where they left off in 2019, winning the New Providence Softball Association 2022 men’s championship title.

It came down to a sixth inning drama for the Hitmen as they came from behind for a hard-fought 5-2 victory over the Cyber Tech Blue Marlins last night in front of a jammed packed crowd of specta tors in the Bankers Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

With the win, the Hitmen joined the Sunshine Auto Wildcats, who a week ago captured the ladies’ crown

DEANDRE AYTON AND SUNS TOP WARRIORS, KLAY THOMPSON EJECTED

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker scored 34 points, Deandre Ayton added 16 points and 14 rebounds and the Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors 134-105 last night in a game that featured Klay Thompson’s first career ejection and seven techni cal fouls.

Both teams lost their cool at various times during the third quarter, with all of the technical fouls called in less than six minutes. Thompson received two quick technicals and was ejected after having words with Booker, who also received a technical because of the exchange. Thompson finished with two points on 1-for-8 shooting, includ ing 0 of 5 from 3-point range. It was the five-time All-Star’s first career ejection in 651 regular season games.

Golden State’s Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr, along with Phoenix players Chris Paul and Ayton also were whistled for technicals for various outbursts in the third, with most of that ire directed at the offi cials. While the techs were piling up, so was the Suns’ lead, which grew to 105-86 by the end of the third. With out Thompson, the defending NBA champs were never able to mount a rally and the Suns kept a comfortable lead for most of the fourth.

Booker shot 10 of 19 from the field and 11 of 14 on free throws. The twotime All-Star added seven assists. Steph Curry led the Warriors with 21 points.

with a three-game sweep over the R&B Lady Opera tors behind most valuable player Ciera Bowe, who batted .714 after going 5-for-7 with four RBI and five runs scored.

“I want to thank Jeho vah firstly for allowing us to be here in person and to be able to get this victory,” said Hitmen’s manager Darren Stevens. “It was a full team effort today. Eve rybody had to chip in and we got the job done.

“Hats off to the Mar lins. They played a hell of a game. Thomas was very stingy throughout the series, but somehow, we managed to muster up enough runs down the stretch to come out on top.”

Bethel, pitching four games in the series for a 3-1 win-loss record, had a total

MESSI STARS, PSG AMONG FOUR TEAMS ADVANCING IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer

HIS first goal was a non chalant, outside-of-the-foot finish. His second was pretty much his trademark — fast feet outside the area and then a precise curler into the corner.

Lionel Messi kept up his stellar pre-World Cup form to help rampant Paris Saint-Germain become one of four teams to advance to the last 16 of the Cham pions League yesterday, along with Chelsea, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund.

That’s more than half of the round of 16 lineup con firmed now — five clubs had already gone through — and PSG will be one of the teams its rivals are look ing to avoid, especially with Messi in this mood. Kylian Mbappe, too.

At opposite ends of their careers, the two superstar forwards are tasked with guiding the French cham pions to a first Champions

Cup

By IHITHISHAM KAMARDEEN Associated Press

PERTH, Australia (AP)

— Marcus Stoinis hit Aus tralia’s fastest T20 fifty off just 17 balls to propel the defending champion to a seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka at the Twenty20 World Cup yesterday.

Australia scored 158-3 in the Super 12 game in response to Sri Lanka’s 157-6 to win with 21 balls to spare.

Australia overcame a spot of bother at 89-3 in the 13th over as Stoinis came to the rescue with 59 not out — including six sixes and four fours — off just 18 balls.

He shared an undefeated 69-run stand for the fourth wicket with skipper Aaron Finch (31 not out).

Stoinis humbled the much-vaunted Sri Lankan spin attack with legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga con ceding five sixes and costing 53 runs in three overs.

Stoinis did not spare offspinner Mahesh Theek shana either. Theekshana conceded three runs in two overs in picking off opener David Warner (11) but Stoinis hit three sixes in the space of four balls to bring up the record-breaking half century.

He hit two successive sixes off Theekshana, and after the strike was rotated Stoinis lifted a full toss straight over the bowler’s head and into the seats as the crowd of 25,061 erupted.

“It wasn’t long enough to feel like batting … it was good slogging,” Stoinis said. “I was quite nervous to be

honest. The intention was to have a big impact on the game and provide a bit of energy for the boys.”

It was a brilliant display of power hitting by the

Australians after an

thrashing by New Zealand in the tournament opener. Australia will now play rival England in a crucial game on Friday.

QATAR’S EMIR LASHES OUT AT CRITICISM AHEAD OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP

DOHA, Qatar (AP)

— Qatar’s ruling emir yesterday lashed out at criticism of his coun try over its hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, describing it as an “unprecedented cam paign” targeting the first Arab nation to hold the tournament.

Since winning host ing rights for the World Cup over a decade ago, Qatar has faced scrutiny and criticism for its treat ment of migrant workers and the gay community, among other issues.

The alleged abuses affecting legions of lowpaid labourers who power Qatar’s economy and who built its gleaming World Cup stadiums have been

a lighting rod for protest around the world, espe cially in Europe.

Qatar has repeatedly pushed back, insisting the country has improved protections for migrant workers and claiming the criticism is outdated.

In a televised speech before the emirate’s leg islative body yesterday, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said Qatar “has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign that no host country has ever faced.”

“The campaign tends to continue and expand to include fabrications and double standards that were so ferocious that it

PAT CUMMINS,

Mendis of Sri Lanka during the T20 World Cup cricket match against Sri Lanka in Perth, Australia, yesterday.

(Richard Wainwright/AAPImage via AP)

FINLEY MCKINNEY-LAMBERT, 12, was awarded the title of overall winner at this year’s prestigious Cecil G. Cooke Memorial Junior Regatta hosted at The Nassau Yacht Club October 22-23. This annual event has become one of the most popular multi-class junior championships in The Bahamas.

Photo: Robert Dunkley

STORY

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: The C&S Hitmen softball team can be seen after defeating the Cyber Tech Blue Marlins 5-2 in their fifth and deciding game last night to win the New Providence Softball Association’s 2022 men’s championship title in the Bankers Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

Photo: Austin Fernander/Tribune Staff

New champions crowned

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter

THREE new champi ons dethroned the Temple Christian Academy Suns as the week-long Temple Christian Academy primary school basketball tourna ment came to a close on Friday at the Temple Chris tian Academy Gymnasium.

In the mini division, the Kingsway Academy Saints knocked off the Temple Christian Academy Suns 13-8, Teleos Christian School Cherubims dou bled up Temple Christian Academy 20-10 for the junior girls’ crown and the Freedom Baptist Warriors won the junior boys’ title 31-6 over Temple Christian Academy.

Nekeno ‘Keno’ Demeritte, the tournament organiser, said after putting on their first tournament since the COVID-19 pan demic broke in 2020, he was pleased with how things turned out.

“The tournament was a very successful one,” he said. “Every game from day one to day five was exciting. We saw a lot of things that the kids have to work on

with their court awareness and stuff like that.

“There’s a lot of things we have to go back over with the kids, but all in all, the tournament was really good. It wasn’t dis appointing that we lost our championship titles. It just opened up our eyes to what we have to work on through the upcoming season.”

Demeritte, however, commended Kingsway Academy, Teleos Academy and Freedom Baptist Acad emy, who emerged as the three new champions this year. He also commended

the Jordan Prince Williams High Falcons for making their presence felt in the tournament.

Josiah ‘Ziah’ Major, coach of Freedom Baptist Academy, said his boys did what they had to do to become the new champions.

“I know we had the talent,” Major said. “The boys did exceptionally well. They played defence and they executed their offence. I give God all the glory.”

It was the first champi onship win for Freeport Baptist boys’ team in the tournament.

Caleb Russell carted off the most valuable player award in leading the War riors to victory.

“Our girls had the talent too, but two of our best players got sick, so unfortu nately we were not able to go all the way missing those girls,” Major added. “But we came in third place, so we are happy for that.”

Yves Pierre, the coach of Teleos Christian School, said it was a great feeling for his Cherubims to claim one of the titles in the tour nament. “After being away from basketball for the

BAHAMAS LAWN TENNIS

NATIONALS

AFTER a week of great competition, the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) con cluded its Senior Nationals in grand fashion.

The finalists took to the courts all vying to be named national champions.

Both men and women participated in singles and doubles categories in their various age divisions.

The title sponsor of the event was Fidelity Bank Bahamas Limited.

The federation com mended Cory Francis, who was the only participant in the tournament to advance to three finals.

Francis took home two championship titles and a runner-up placement.

The sportsmanship tro phies (male and female) were determined by the players themselves and were awarded based on the highest vote-getters in the tournament.

Patrick Fernander and Esther Newton captured the male and female awards respectively.

The double crown winners include Tara Mactaggart, Stephen Thompson, Alexander Murbach and Ivan Hooper.

The Senior Nationals Champions and RunnersUp are as follows:

Women’s 35 - Champion: Sh’Ron Saunders.

Runner Up: Esther Newton.

Men’s 35 - Champion: Alexander Murbach.

Runner Up: Bjorn Ferguson.

Men’s 45 - Champion: Ivan Hooper.

Runner Up: Shaun Mahelis. Men’s 55 - Cham pion: Cory Francis. Runner Up: Ken Kerr.

Mixed Doubles - Cham pions: Neil and Tara Mactaggart. Runners Up: Chigoze Ijeoma and Marsha Williams.

Women’s DoublesChampions: Sarah Beukes and Tara Mactaggart.

Runners Up: Sh’Ron Saunders and Ellie Brown.

Men’s Doubles 35Champions: Ivan Hooper and Alexander Murbach. Runners Up: Stephen Thompson and Cory Francis.

Men’s Doubles 55Champions: Stephen Thompson and Cory Francis.

Runners Up: Larry Rolle and Patrick Fernander.

BLTA president Perry Newton expressed his gratitude to Fidelity Baha mas Bank Limited for their sponsorship and CEO Gowon Bowe for assisting with the trophy presentations.

Newton also extended thanks to those who worked hard to ensure the tournament was a success, including Esther Newton, vice-president Chilean Burrows, Darnette Weir, Mickey Williams and Cory Francis. “You all did a splendid job,” Newton said.

This year the tourna ment was named in honour

of Wesley Rolle. His son Willis was on hand to accept the award on behalf of his father.

better part of two years and not playing in a high-level competition in basketball, the girls were excited to be back on the court,” Pierre said. “We were excited that we were able to secure our first championship title.”

Kayla Bien was named the MVP.

Demeritte said it was good to see three differ ent schools win the three divisional titles for the first time, while his Suns shined as the runners-up. He vowed that they will be back for their titles next year.

Baptist primary boys

coach Joshua Major

FREEDOM Baptist primary boys enjoy their success.

TELEOS Baptist Academy receives their awards.

CALEB Russell receives his MVP award from Temple Christian Academy’s principal Sharmaine Porter.

TELEOS Baptist Academy girls

MVP Kayla Bien celebrates with her father Desir Bien.

Hitmen are champions

HITMEN

FROM PAGE 11

of 48 strikeouts to earn the MVP honours as the league completed its first season since taking a twoyear hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is my first time playing for the Hitmen. This was very special. I thank God for allowing us to come back after we were down in the first five innings,” Bethel said.

“We didn’t give up. We fought to the end. We believed in God and we stayed right there to come back and win. “

Bethel, in dedicat ing his performance to his girlfriend Doris, who was in Eleuthera, shun a

five-hitter with 12 strike outs to out-duel Blue Marlins’ mainstay Thomas Davis, who gave up five hits as well with 10 strike outs. Thomas, however, said they allowed the full com plement of seven umpires led by chief umpire Martin ‘Pork’ Burrows behind the plate and with every corner of the field covered, get to make the difference in what should have been a game for them to win down the stretch. “I felt we did enough in that inning to still pull it off, but we left it up to the umpires and once we did that, we knew what the outcome would be,” said Thomas as the Blue Marlins questioned a few calls, but to no avail. “We still had a good showing and the guys played some good defence

with some timely hits. We just fell short at the end.”

The Hitmen took advan tage of their best scoring threat with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth as Keiron Munroe raced home on right fielder Edron Knowles’ RBI ground out and first base man Sherman Ferguson trailed on an error, while left fielder Martin Burrows Jr was awarded home plate on an interference at the third base for third run.

After things cooled down with both dugouts cleared to dispute the call, C&S continued the rally with the bases loaded again with one out. On a passed ball that allowed Alcott Forbes to score, Dino Sweeting got their fifth run on an error at first base. Up to that point,

the game was a closely con tested one.

With one out in the first inning, Blue Marlins’ catcher Garfield Bethel continued his hot hitting streak as he touched Edney Bethel with a chopper through the third base side for a single, but was left stranded as the next two batters got struck out.

The Hitmen responded in the bottom of the frame as Richard Bain led off with a walk from Thomas Davis and advanced to second on a passed ball, but he too was left on base as the next three batters were retired.

With two out in the second, Cyber Tech threatened to score with back-to-back walks to left fielder Lavaughn Ferguson and third baseman Aron

Wood, but first baseman Alfred Ferguson got struck out.

In the bottom of the frame, C&S’ Edron Knowles beat out a grounder between third and shortstop for a single, but Thomas got the side out to keep it scoreless.

On a two balls, one strike count, Garfield Bethel struck a shot to left field for a stand up double with one out to start the third and with two out, he scamp ered home on centrefielder Angelo Watson’s run-pro ducing single to break up the scoring drought.

But after stealing second, Watson failed to add to their ledger as Austin Hanna flied out. For the second one time to lead off the third for the Hitmen,

Bain singled to right field. With two out, first base man Sherman Ferguson hit a blooper to right field and on Bain’s attempt to score from first, he got thrown out at home on a rally from Winston Seymour to Gar field Bethel.

Shortstop Dino Sweet ing led off the fifth for the Hitmen with a double and moved to third on an error, but the Blue Marlins held them in check after they made two crucial pinch-hit ting chores.

Cyber Tech had a chance to add to their tally in the sixth as Austin Hanna led off with a double, but he didn’t score as Edney Bethel retired the side, set ting the stage for the drama that unfolded in the bottom of the frame.

LOS ANGELES (AP)

— Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Boston Celt ics swingman Jaylen Brown terminated their associa tions yesterday with Donda Sports, the brand manage ment agency owned by the artist formerly known as Kanye West.

Donald and Brown signed deals with Donda Sports earlier this year to repre sent some of their interests outside of their sports. Both star athletes emphatically dropped the agency owned by Ye, as the music mogul is now known, amid rising international condemna tion of his latest round of offensive and antisemitic remarks.

German sportswear giant Adidas also ended its extraordinarily lucra tive partnership with Ye yesterday.

Donald, the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, signed with Donda Sports last spring after the Rams won the Super Bowl. The seven-time All-Pro and his wife, Erica, denounced West’s “displays of hate and antisemitism” in a state ment announcing their decision.

“We felt a responsibil ity to send a clear message that hateful words and actions have consequences and that we must do better as human beings,” they wrote. “We do not feel our beliefs, voices and actions belong anywhere near a space that misrepresents and oppresses people of any background, ethnicity or race.”

Brown emphatically reversed his own tentative decision Monday to stay with Donda Sports, saying yesterday that he will “con tinue to stand strongly against any antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresenta tion and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.”

BEAL LIMITED BY BACK, BUT WIZARDS ROLL PAST PISTONS 120-99

By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON (AP)

— Kyle Kuzma scored 25 points, and the Wash ington Wizards overcame Bradley Beal’s back issues to beat the Detroit Pistons 120-99 last night.

Beal was limited to 21:49 because of back tightness, although he was able to return late in the third quarter after missing the entire second.

The Wizards actually broke the game open without him and cruised to a lopsided victory.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points, Will Barton contributed 16 and Beal was able to finish with 13.

Bojan Bogdanovic led Detroit with 25 points and Cade Cunningham added 19. The Wizards led 56-49 at halftime and went on a 16-5 run in the third that pushed the lead to 17 points. A 3-pointer by Monte Morris made it 76-59.

Playing against an oppo nent with nobody taller than 6-foot-9 in the start ing lineup, the 7-foot-3 Porzingis had a produc tive game. He threw down a one-handed alley-oop dunk from Beal in the first quarter and finished 8 of 13 from the field.

After falling behind big in the third, the Pistons were never able to get closer than eight. They had the lead down to nine in the fourth when Beal made a fadeaway jumper while being fouled.

The three-point play put Washington up 93-81 with

9:21 remaining. The Wiz ards won 10 of their first 13 games last season and have won three of their first four in 2022-23.

TIP-INS

Pistons: Marvin Bagley III (right knee sprain) did not play. ...

Isaiah Stewart scored 13 points and Jaden Ivey had 11.

Wizards: Corey Kispert (left ankle sprain) was out. Beal finished with six assists, extending his career-best streak of games with at least five to 21 games. Rui Hachimura scored 10 points. The

(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Wizards shot 52% from the field.

PELICANS 113 MAVERICKS, 111 NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Trey Murphy III scored 22 points and the shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans overcame Luka Doncic’s latest prolific performance to beat the Dallas Mavericks 113-111 last night.

The Pelicans entered the game missing two of their top three scorers in Brandon Ingram (concus sion protocol) and Zion Williamson (hip bruise), as well as a third starter,

Herb Jones (hyperex tended knee), who is their top defensive player.

Available Pelicans responded with an allhands-on-deck effort in which eight players reached double figures in scoring. That included rookie and first-round pick Dyson Daniels, who scored his first career points on a jump hook in the second quarter and finished with 11 points in 22 minutes on 4-of-5 shooting.

Doncic scored 37 to go with 11 rebounds and seven assists, but his 3-point attempt at the final horn bounce off the front rim. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 23 points for Dallas and former Pelican Chris tian Wood scored 23.

THUNDER, 108 CLIPPERS, 94

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai GilgeousAlexander scored 33 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers 108-94 on Tues day night for their first win of the season.

Gilgeous-Alexander played after sitting out Sunday’s game against Minnesota with a bruised left hip. Against the Clip pers, he made 11 of 22 field goals and 9 of 9 free throws and had eight assists.

The Clippers were without their two biggest stars. Kawhi Leonard sat out to rest his right knee and Paul George missed the game with an illness. Oklahoma City took advantage by holding the Clippers to 42% shooting.

ANFERNEE HANNA

ANFERNEE HANNA LISTED AS 3RD TEAM ALL-STATE MEMBER

BAHAMIAN Anfernee Hanna, a previous AllState selection after a fantastic junior season at Tallulah Falls School, was listed again All-State in a preseason list for the upcoming 2022-23 season by Sandy’s Spiel.

Kyle Sandy has Hanna listed as a 3rd Team AllState member at the forward position.

The wing averaged 17 points per game last season and had 441 total points, marking the fifth most in TFS history in a single season.

Hanna has 697 career points coming into the season and has a chance to become Tallulah Falls’ fourth-ever 1,000-point scorer.

Hanna was 1st Team All-Region last year and All-State and was a 2nd Team All-Region pick as a sophomore.

He is among a number of Bahamian student-athletes, who are making their con tribution to Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, Georgia.

THE C&S Hitmen softball team can be seen celebrating

night

defeating the Cyber Tech

Marlins

deciding game to win the New Providence Softball Association’s 2022 men’s championship title in the Bankers Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

Photos: Austin Fernander/Tribune Staff

WASHINGTON Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) shoots during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons last night in Washington.

NFL’S DONALD, NBA’S BROWN END THEIR DEALS WITH YE’S AGENCY

Twelve-year-old Finley McKinney-Lambert takes home sailing title

TWELVE-year-old

Finley McKinney-Lam bert was awarded the title of overall winner this weekend at this year’s prestigious Cecil G Cooke Memorial Junior Regatta October 22-23.

Hosted at The Nassau Yacht Club, this annual event has become one of the most popular multiclass junior championships in the country.

Sailing since he was just four years old, McKinneyLambert sails with The Eleuthera Sailing Academy and has a string of world class accomplishments under his belt, despite his young age. He has represented The Bahamas numerous times in the international arena, including twice at The Optimist World Champi onships (Italy 2021 and Turkey 2022), the Optimist South American Cham pionships (Mexico 2021) and the Optimist North American Champion ships (Nassau 2019). He was also the 2021 Baha mian National Optimist Champion.

This annual regatta, now in its 9th year, was initiated in 2014 by Sandra Cooke to honour her father, one of The Bahamas greatest sailors who competed with Sir Durward Knowles in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics winning the first ever gold medal for The Bahamas.

FIFA FROM PAGE 11

has unfortunately prompted many people to question the real reasons and motives,” he said.

Rights groups have cred ited Qatar with improving its labour laws, such as by adopting a minimum monthly wage of around $275 a month in 2020, and for largely dismantling the “kafala” system that had prevented workers from changing jobs or leaving

Sailing conditions were great this weekend as the fleets of Optimists, Sunfish and Laser sailboats took to the waters of Montagu Bay.

The 58 competing sail ors ranged in age from six to 16 years old, with the Optimists being the largest group.

The top three finishers in each fleet received trophies and the winner of the Opti mists is also awarded the Cecil G Cooke perpetual trophy.

Placing second in the Optimist championship fleet was Patrick Tom linson, current national champion (Lyford Cay Sailing) and in third was Craig Ferguson, who sails with The Bahamas National Sailing School/ Nassau Yacht Club.

The Green fleet of Opti mists, which comprises

the country without the consent of their employers. However, activists call for more to be done.

In recent months pres sure has also mounted on Qatar over its criminali sation of homosexuality.

Qatari law calls for a prison sentence of one to three years for adults convicted of consensual gay or les bian sex.

European soccer federa tions last month announced their intention for captains to wear an armband with

sailor’s with less than a year’s experience, was won by Rico Major (Bahamas National Sailing School/ Nassau Yacht Club) with

a rainbow heart design as part of an anti-discrimi nation campaign during international matches.

Qatar has said all are welcome at the World Cup, including LGBTQ fans, but that visitors should respect the country’s conservative culture, in which public dis plays of affection — even among heterosexuals — is taboo. Yesterday, a veteran UK-based activist held a one-man protest in front of Qatar’s National Museum. Peter Tatchell, 70, held

TOMLINSON AND FERGUSON 2ND AND 3RD

The small Sunfish fleet was won by Johannes Maritz (Royal Nassau Sailing Club), second was Alejandro Rosete (Bahamas National Sail ing School/Nassau Yacht Club) and third was Sy-Ann McPhee and Alyssa Knowles also of the Bahamas National Sailing School.

In the Laser class, Joshua Weech was victorious in first placed with Zachary Knowles in second (both of Bahamas National Sailing School/Nassau Yacht Club) and Katie Kelly (Royal Nassau Sailing Club) in third.

Appreciation goes to The Nassau Yacht Club for its ongoing hospitality and to all the volunteer ing parents and friends who assisted with race committee.

Thanks also goes to the event sponsors, Insurance Management, Darville Packaging and Pioneer Brite.

The next major event on the junior sailing calen dar is The Optimist North American Championship which will be hosted at The Nassau Yacht Club November 13- 20.

Sophia Briard (Royal Nassau Sailing Club) in second and Diego Gago (Lyford Cay Sailing) in third.

a sign accusing Qatar of jailing members of the LGBTQ community.

Organisers claimed he was arrested but later acknowledged that police had only briefly questioned him on the sidewalk. Qatar denied he was arrested and said claims to the contrary are “completely false.”

“An individual standing in a traffic roundabout was cordially and profession ally asked to move to the sidewalk, no arrests were made,” the government’s

This large international event will be attended by almost 160 sailors from over 20 countries and bring huge media attention to this rapidly growing and much-loved sport.

communications office said in a statement.

In his speech, Sheikh Tamim promised the glar ing spotlight of the world’s biggest sporting event would also benefit Qatar.

“This is a great test for a country the size of Qatar that impresses the whole world with what it has already achieved and is achieving,” he said.

The tournament starts on November 20 and the final is set for December 18.

RUSSIAN COURT REJECTS GRINER’S APPEAL OF 9-YEAR SENTENCE

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court yesterday rejected an appeal by U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner of her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession, a step that could move her closer to a possible high-stakes prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.

The eight-time all-star centre with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medallist was convicted August 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Griner, 32, was not at the Moscow Regional Court hearing but appeared via video link from a penal colony outside the capital where she is held.

At her trial, Griner admitted to having the can isters in her luggage but testified she packed them inadvertently in her haste to make her flight and had no criminal intent.

Her defence team pre sented written statements saying she had been pre scribed cannabis to treat chronic pain. The nineyear sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years, and Griner’s lawyers argued after the conviction that the punishment was excessive. They said in sim ilar cases defendants have received an average sen tence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.

While upholding the sentence, the court said Griner’s prison time will be recalculated to reflect what she has already served in pre-trial detention. One

day in pre-trial detention will be counted as 1 1/2 days in prison, so she still will have to serve about eight years in prison.

Griner’s lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov said in an email that they were “very disap pointed” with the decision because they still believe “the punishment is exces sive and contradicts to the existing court practice.”

“Britthey’s biggest fear is that she is not exchanged and will have to serve the whole sentence in Russia,” they said. “She had hopes for today, as each month, each day away from her family and friends matters to her.”

They said they had to dis cuss with Griner what legal steps they should take next. Griner’s arrest in February came at a time of height ened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner was return ing to play for a Russian team during the WNBA’s offseason.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the decision “another failure of justice, compounding the injustice of her detention,” adding that “securing her release is our priority.”

President Joe Biden told reporters that his admin istration is in “constant contact” with Russian authorities on Griner and other Americans who are detained there. While there has not been progress on bringing her back to the U.S., Biden said, “We’re not stopping.”

Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department

declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement that Biden “is willing to go to extraor dinary lengths and make tough decisions to bring Americans home.”

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the decision “while unfortu nate, was not unexpected. ... It is time to bring this case to an end and bring BG home.”

The WNBA Players Association said the ruling was “further verification that BG is not just wrong fully detained -– she is very clearly a hostage.”

Because of the grow ing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to bring Griner home, Blinken took the unusual step of revealing in July

that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to get Griner home, along with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.

Blinken didn’t elaborate, but The Associated Press and other news organisa tions have reported that Washington has offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sen tence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the “merchant of death.”

The White House said it has not yet received a productive response from Russia to the offer.

Russian diplomats have refused to comment on the U.S. proposal and urged Washington to discuss the matter in confidential talks, avoiding public statements. But some Russian officials

have said a deal is more likely once appeals have been exhausted.

In September, Biden met with Cherelle Griner, the player’s wife, as well as her agent, Lindsay Colas. Biden also sat down separately with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan’s sister.

The White House said after the meetings that the president stressed to the families his “continued commitment to working through all available ave nues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely.”

The U.S. and Russia car ried out a prisoner swap in April. Moscow released U.S. Marines veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for the U.S. releasing a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was con victed in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Moscow also has pushed for the release of other Russians in U.S. custody.

One of them is Alex ander Vinnik, who was accused of laundering bil lions of dollars through an illicit cryptocurrency exchange. Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and extradited to the U.S. in August.

Vinnik’s French lawyer, Frederic Belot, told Rus sian newspaper Izvestia last month that his client hoped to be part of a pos sible swap.

The newspaper spec ulated that another possible candidate was Roman Seleznev, the son of a Russian lawmaker. He was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in prison on charges from a hacking and credit card fraud scheme.

MURRAY

MURRAY ADVANCES, WAWRINKA BEATS RUUD AT SWISS INDOORS

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — On a stellar day for veteran Grand Slam cham pions, Stan Wawrinka beat third-ranked Casper Ruud and Andy Murray rallied to win in three sets in the first round of the Swiss Indoors yesterday.

The 37-year-old Waw rinka hit his ninth ace to seal a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ruud, who was the US Open runner-up last month, and delight his home crowd.

Wawrinka is now ranked No. 194 after persistent injury problems but the win was his second over a top-five opponent in five weeks. He beat fourthranked Daniil Medvedev last month in Metz, France.

Murray, a former U.S. Open champion like Waw rinka, earlier won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 against Roman Safi ullin after the Russian led 4-1 in the final set.

The 35-year-old Murray, who also won two Wimble don titles, reeled off five straight games to complete the victory after more than 2 ½ hours on court. It was the No. 49-ranked Scot’s first match in Basel since 2005.

Wawrinka first played in Basel 19 years ago but never went beyond the semifinals at the event won by hometown favorite Roger Federer a record 10 times.

Wawrinka next plays Brandon Nakashima of the United States. He could face Murray in the quarterfinals.

League title and they both scored twice in a 7-2 thrashing of Maccabi Haifa. Neymar, the other member of the team’s stel lar attacking trident, also scored in a victory that guaranteed PSG a top-two finish alongside Benfica in Group H. Both teams are on 11 points heading into the final round.

Benfica was a 4-3 winner over Juventus, which has failed to reach the knock out stage for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

With perhaps the best goal of the 33 scored in the next-to-last round of group games, Kai Havertz whipped a long-range shot in off the crossbar to earn Chelsea a 2-1 win at Salz burg and a first-place finish in Group E.

It’s the 18th time in 19 group-stage campaigns that Chelsea, a two-time Cham pions League winner, has advanced. PSG has done so for 11 straight seasons now but has yet to win Euro pean soccer’s biggest prize.

Dortmund joined Man chester City in advancing from Group G after draw ing 0-0 with the English champions, who are now sure to finish in first place.

Already-qualified Real Madrid, the defending champion, lost 3-2 at Leip zig and must wait to seal top spot on Group F. Leipzig is on the brink of advancing after moving three points clear of Shakhtar Donetsk, which drew 1-1 at Celtic.

FINLEY McKinney-Lambert

2ND place winner Patrick Tomlinson.

3RD place winner Craig Ferguson. Photos courtesy of Robert Dunkley

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medallist Brittney Griner is seen on the bottom part of a TV screen as she waits to ap pear in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service a courtroom prior to a hearing at the Moscow Regional Court in Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Work permit fast-track Act no ‘Bahamianisation dismantling’

Mr Pintard also urged the Government to present its “overall strategy for attract ing new industries to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas”.

Speaking after Keith Bell, minister of labour and Immigration, argued that the Commercial Enterprises Act “has to be repealed” because it is “an impossibility” to meet the deadlines and timeframes it sets for conducting the necessary due diligence and approving work permits, the Opposition’s leader warned the Government not to mislead Bahamians over the Act’s intent.

“The purpose, as he [Mr Bell] must know, with the Commercial Enterprises Act was to attract industries that were not necessar ily operating and moving into this jurisdiction,” Mr Pintard told this newspa per. “The thought was that we could attract industries, talent and investment to The Bahamas in grow ing these often unique elements. That was the gen esis behind this Act.

“If these people came in, they would bring their businesses, bring their networks, their access to international markets and contacts with them. They are then able to transfer those to Bahamians. Train ing was listed in the Act as one of the pre-requisites to set up or establish a busi ness. There has to be a transfer of skills.

“This was not a disman tling of Bahamianisation.

The PLP does not have a monopoly on a com mitment to empowering Bahamians. We love our country as much as they do. We are committed to Baha mian ownership first, and then job creation second. Our priority is protecting Bahamians through pro tection of our patrimony,” the Opposition leader continued.

“His [Mr Bell’s] sugges tion that this throws the doors wide open through Immigration is a narrow and incorrect view. The goal was also to improve the Immigration process ing system. We sought to go cashless, and we took a lot of the personal dis cretion that could lead to unfortunate decisions by some. We wanted to have a modern, transparent system supported by technology to make that happen. We wanted to make the system efficient.”

However, many Bahami ans viewed the Commercial Enterprises Act as provid ing a means for expatriate workers to take jobs that local can perform when it was passed by Parlia ment in 2017 during the early months of the Minnis administration. The Pro gressive Liberal Party (PLP), then in opposition and headed by now-prime minister Philip Davis, pledged at the time it would repeal the Act if voted into office.

Private sector execu tives, though, yesterday suggested the Commercial Enterprises Act had made little to no difference in either attracting new indus tries/investments to The Bahamas or in easing the bottlenecks and frustration encountered in seeking to obtain timely work permits for skilled expatriate labour from the Immigration Department.

One attorney, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the Act: “It never did anything did it? No, nothing ever changed. Brent [Symonette, then minister responsible for Immigration] was trying to do some things, but he was gone before that could happen”. And Carey Leon ard, the Freeport-based Callenders & Co attorney, added: “Has it really had any major impact? I guess it’s not going to make much difference. I haven’t seen any great results from it.”

Others, though, voiced concern that - absent a replacement - the Act’s repeal could remove any impetus to improve the ease of doing business and efficiency in how work permits are processed and approved. Peter Goudie, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) labour division chair, said the law was designed to “get business going and get rid of the bottlenecks”.

He told Tribune Business: “We’re going to go back to having the bottlenecks at

Immigration itself that have been complained about for years. If they repeal a ‘fast track’ process you’re going to end up with a slow track process, that’s all I can say. Immigration has been a bottleneck for years.

“I don’t know why they want to remove a fast track process. I don’t understand it. We’re trying to improve the ease of doing business, so if we take a ‘fast track’ process out of Immigration that’s not going to make the ease of doing busi ness better; it’s going to make it worse. I’d love to know what they’re going to replace it with. If you take it away and don’t replace it with something better, you’re going to have prob lems. That’s easy to figure out.”

The Commercial Enter prises Act presently allows senior foreign management and key personnel to enter The Bahamas and establish physical businesses - but only in the targeted indus tries stipulated - without possessing a work permit.

The necessary must be applied for within 30 days of their entry, and the Act mandates the director of Immigration to make a decision on approval within 14 days of receiv ing the application. Should the director not respond within that timeframe, the work permit is “automati cally deemed to have been granted”.

The Act is targeted at industries that are for eign exchange earners,

and which were cited by the Minnis administra tion as part of its economic growth and diversification strategy. Financial services led the way with reinsur ance; captive insurance; investment fund adminis tration; arbitration; wealth management; international trade and international arbitrage included in the ‘fast track’ work permit sectors.

Also listed in the Bill were technology-related industries such as computer programming; software design and writing; bion informatics and analytics; nano technology; and bio medical health facilities. Other sectors included bou tique health facilities; data storage and warehous ing; aviation registration and ‘approved’ aviation maintenance operations; call centres and manu facturing and assembly/ logistics businesses.

Mr Pintard said the “automatic granting” of work permits after 14 days, if no response was received from the Immi gration Department, was “not to throw the doors wide open” to expatriate workers. Describing it as “a sunset clause”, he added: “The view was that the way we operate is entirely too slow. This was to speed up the process based on the nature of the job and indus try being applied for.”

The Opposition leader said these timelines did not compromise the Immigra tion Department’s ability to

vet expatriate work permit applicants and, if deemed necessary, ultimately deny approval and subsequently ensure the subject person left The Bahamas.

“This was not an aban donment of any due diligence,” Mr Pintard told Tribune Business. “The Government reserves the right to revoke any permit issued to someone working in The Bahamas for a short, medium and long-term period.

“If his [Mr Bell’s] con cern is that, in multiple circumstances, this is not happening and due dili gence is not being carried out within the timeline, he can amend the timeline and look at best practice in other jurisdictions where they have been able to put in place system of vetting and due diligence for cer tain industries they want that did not create havoc and did not erode sov ereignty of a particular jurisdiction.

“I believe he’d find the answer or intent was to improve the turnaround time to establish a bank account, the ability to obtain a Business Licence, go through Immigration’s vetting. It was just done to reduce red tape, improve the efficiency and effec tiveness of our system and reduce the amount of frus tration for Bahamians and others doing business in this space.”

Ex-BTVI chief: ‘Egregious deficiencies’ all corrected

PAGE A20

management teams and subsequently rectified during his watch.

“It is important to note that many deficiencies iden tified in the review and October 20 story relate to the periods prior to fiscal 2020, and have since been resolved. Moreover, the much more egregious sys temic deficiencies leading to a ‘denial of opinion’ by

the independent auditors in 2016 have been addressed prospectively since fiscal 2019,” Dr Robertson wrote.

“For example, accepting cash, particularly on the Family Islands, was discon tinued and employees were disciplined for improper acceptance of funds. Simi larly, only one credit card has historically been used for Family Island purposes. Policies were put in place with respect to that card.”

The report from the Auditor General’s Office found no audited financial statements for BTVI have been provided since at least 2016 - a situ ation not uncommon for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and all government agencies, which routinely fail to meet financial report ing deadlines set out in their respective governing Acts.

“The financial statements of BTVI for the year ended

2016 were presented in draft form,” the report said.

“In addition, statements for the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 are unaudited. It is recommended that BTVI management engage the services of an accounting firm to have the financial statements audited, brought up to date and presented to Parliament.”

As for the staff over payment, the Auditor General’s Office called

on BTVI to explain dis crepancies that revealed a collective $95,596 more was paid out to staff over that period than was shown on the payroll spreadsheet.

While BTVI’s bank statements disclosed that $1.271m was paid in total employee salaries for seven months during that timespan, namely October, November and December 2019 and January, March, June and July 2020, its pay roll spreadsheet said only a collective $1.176m was due.

“We examined payroll totals for the period of October 15, 2019, through July 30, 2020,” the Audi tor General’s Office found.

“We observed a difference of $95,597. It is recom mended that the Institute provide an explanation for the difference of $95,597.”

Dr Robertson gave such an explanation in his letter.

“New training contracts were awarded to BTVI through competitive bid processes. These awards were based on the qual ity of programmes and the credentials of faculty mem bers,” he added.

“For example, some of the new external pro grammes initiated as authorised by the Board include a prison programme training for incarcerated individuals; a dual enroll ment ICT (information and communications tech nology) programme; a soft skills programme; develop ing and delivering online courses and others,” he wrote.

“In many cases, BTVI instructors were assigned

to teach these contract courses in addition to their regular contracted teaching load. As a result, overload payments were made to individuals with the requi site experience as well as the necessary professional and technical certifications. This is a common prac tice in academia. It was specified in the contracts of service for the programmes, and it is essentially over time required by law.”

Pointing to the improved financial management and reporting legacy he has left, Dr Robertson said: “The Institute has moved to a far more sustainable financial position in recent years. It is important to note that there have been many financial practice improvements that were identified and completed during the last few years. In fact, the anticipated 20212022 year-end projection included a record budget surplus for the first time in the history of BTVI.

“These funds will assist in the reconstruction of the hurricane-damaged Free port and Abaco campus locations as well as imple menting a system to address historical structural com pensation issues in the organisation. The improve ments of the past two years will also put the organisa tion in a position to conduct an annual audit. I would like to recognise and thank the entire team at BTVI, notably the accounting and academic teams, for their outstanding efforts.”

The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news

NOTICE

statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 19th day of October, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship,

N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

BALWHAN RAI SAWAK of P. O. Box SB-51520, Holiday Drive, South Beach, New Providence, The Bahamas

Liberalised work permit regime an ‘impossibility’

work permit we have to ensure that they have a medical record, we have to make sure they have a police record,” Mr Bell continued.

“We have to ensure that a labour certificate is issued, we have to make sure that the documents issued are not fraudulent. We have to check with the country from which the individual came. How could that possibly take two weeks to do?”

Thus the Commer cial Enterprises Act “has to be repealed”, Mr Bell asserted, adding that he is in talks with the Attorney General’s Office to achieve this. He did not give a time line for its repeal, whether the Act will be replaced or when this is likely to make it to Parliament.

“It is again before the Office of the Attorney General. What I will tell the Bahamian public is, as minister of labour and immigration, I will not be following this particular

thing and that there will be due diligence under this administration in respect of all of the applications,” Mr Bell said.

Responding to questions about what he believes is an appropriate time for work permits to be pro cessed and approved, the minister replied: “In my estimation, I would say between six and 12 weeks. But even then, even now, have regard that the Gov ernment of The Bahamas issues approximately 15,000 work permits per year and, from all indications, that is the approvals and not the applications, which are being made every year.

“The Department goes through approximately 30,000 applications per year. So, when a person applies for a work permit, when they present all of the requisite documents etc… you have to do due diligence for all of those applica tions, and so a significant number of those applica tions I, in fact, refused. So I can assure the people that

it isn’t as though it’s a carte blanche. Overall, you make the application, it is [vetted] and it is approved.”

Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, who yesterday defended the intent behind the former administration’s passage of the Commercial Enterprises Act (see other article on Page 20), argued that Mr Bell “should not confuse” this specific matter with “broader Immigration issues in the country”.

“He should be ensuring there is efficiency in the system and that we are not frustrating opportunities for Bahamians,” he said of the minister, “and that we define the terms of entry for persons wanting to establish businesses in The Bahamas.

“We must define the terms they come in on so that Bahamians are consist ently at the front of the line to benefit the most from their country, but those investors who cast their lot with us long-term we get to define the rules and how we integrate them into the

system and society. We need to be careful that, in pro tecting Bahamians, we are not feeding xenophobia.”

The process contained in the Commercial Enter prises Act allows senior foreign management and key personnel to enter the Bahamas and estab lish physical businesses - but only in the targeted industries identified by the legislation - without first possessing a work permit.

Such a permit must be applied for within 30 days of their entry, and the Bill mandates the Director of Immigration to make a deci sion on approval within 14 days of receiving the appli cation. Should the Director not respond within that timeframe, the work permit is “automatically deemed to have been granted”.

Work permits issued under the Bill’s provisions were to be for a three-year period, and are renewable for the same duration. They can only be revoked on grounds of “public safety, public morality or national

security”, but it is unclear how widely the Commercial Enterprises Act has been used to assist business and investment given the pro longed interruption caused by COVID-19.

The Act was designed to enable a ‘specified com mercial enterprise’ to obtain an Investments Board cer tificate, granting it a specific number of work permits for certain positions. A special unit within the Investments Board, called the Commer cial Enterprises Facilitation Unit, was to be created to oversee this process.

The ‘certificate’, which was to be initially issued for one year and can be renewed, would allow key personnel to set up the company’s physical opera tions in the Bahamas before they obtained a work permit. The legislation was thus designed to bring certainty and predictability to the work permit approval process, something often cited as a major impediment to the smooth conduct of commerce in the Bahamas.

The Act is targeted at industries that are foreign exchange earners, and which were cited by the Minnis administration as part of its economic growth and diversification strat egy. Financial services led the way with reinsurance; captive insurance; invest ment fund administration; arbitration; wealth manage ment; international trade and international arbitrage included in the ‘fast track’ work permit sectors. Also listed in the Bill were technology-related industries such as computer programming; software design and writing; bion informatics and analytics; nano technology; and bio medical health facilities. Other sectors included bou tique health facilities; data storage and warehousing; aviation registration and ‘approved’ aviation main tenance operations; call centres and manufactur ing and assembly/logistics businesses.

Auditors could not verify FBI bait broker’s $1.5m

FROM PAGE A20

Gentile - assisted by Philip Davis KC before he became prime minister - bought enough time to voluntarily wind-up Mintbroker him self and remove all its assets from The Bahamas.

Tribune Business previ ously reported how Mr Davis, who was then-Oppo sition leader, acting on Mr Gentile’s behalf filed a suc cessful Judicial Review challenge that thwarted the Securities Commission’s regulatory efforts. ThenSupreme Court justice, Ruth Bowe-Darville, made a September 23, 2019, ruling “vacating” all the regulator’s orders and directives, which “fully dis abled the Commission from further investigation into” Mintbroker’s activities.

There is no suggestion that Mr Davis did any thing wrong and, instead, he was simply acting for a client to the best of his legal ability. However, the Mint broker liquidators’ reveal how critical the legal delay was as the broker/dealer’s assets were reduced from $64.773m at end-June 2019 to just $33,489 by year-end, as Mr Gentile wound-up the business itself and departed The Bahamas.

Mintbroker’s net equity over the same timeframe fell from $24.239m to just $33,489m, with liabilities - according to the manage ment accounts - dropping from $40.534m to zero over the same six-month period. Questions are also likely to be asked as to why sterner enforcement action was not taken sooner, as Mr Gentile and his company had not prepared audited financial statements since 2016 and even then those were “qual ified” by BDO Bahamas.

“The last prepared audited financial statements included a qualified audit opinion as the company did not respond to confir mation requests in relation to balances held totaling approximately $1.5m with financial institutions,” the EY accountants reported, highlighting a regulatory ‘red flag’.

“Therefore, BDO were unable to satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of these balances. In addition, BDO were also unable to con firm an adjustment totalling $1.2m included within realised loss on invest ment.” The EY duo also described “points of inter est” in the audited financials involving several related party transactions con nected to entities seemingly owned and/or controlled by Mr Gentile.

Sums (receivables) due from related parties totalled $2.99m, of which $2.62m was connected to a com pany owned by Mr Gentile that held real estate in Par adise Island’s Ocean Club Estates. And the liquidators also noted that Mintbroker, under its previous Swiss America Securities moni ker, had entered into “a service agreement” with the similarly-named Swiss America Group on Decem ber 31, 2015.

“SAG provided con sultancy services in the areas of technology, mar keting support and advice on business strategy for $400,000 per month. The balance owed to SAG as at December 31, 2016, totalled $3.5m,” Mr Wizman and Ms Fisher reported.

The only successful asset recovery to-date has been $750,000 from the Ocean Club Estates investment, which could not be removed from The Bahamas since

it is an immovable asset. Summarising the effect of Mr Gentile’s voluntary winding-up, the liquida tors added: “There were no material, readily realisable assets available to meet the costs of the liquidation and make distributions to the creditors of the company.

“The [liquidators] did not identify any cash or invest ments held by the company at the time of the liquida tors’ appointment. As part of further investigations into the company’ affairs, the liquidators identified a potential claim against a company named 104 Ocean Club Ltd.”

The EY duo said their investigations established that Mr Gentile was the company’s shareholder and director, and that it had been created to own and hold a lot in the ultra high-end Paradise Island community. They added that the $2.62m owed to Mintbroker was interest free and there was no dead line or fixed repayment terms.

“The company’s 2016 audited financials reflect that 104 Ocean Club Ltd. owed the company $2.62m, and 104 Ocean Club Ltd was reflected as a related party of the company on the basis of common own ership. As noted in the audited financials, the balance due was interest free with no fixed term of repayment,” the liquida tors’ Supreme Court report added.

Mr Gentile had guar anteed repayment of the outstanding sum on December 19, 2017, with the document also valu ing the property at $3.5m. He subsequently provided a Board resolution dated April 14, 2020, where Mintbroker’s directors had

agreed to settle the debt owed “against outstanding payables due to Mintbroker Group”.

The EY accountants then had to intervene via legal action to prevent Mr Gentile liquidating his Bahamian real estate. “During the period of their investigation, the [liqui dators] were made aware that the property was listed for sale,” the report revealed. “In order to pro tect the company’s potential claim to the property, on April 8, 2020, the liquida tors applied for interim relief from the court in order to preserve and maintain the company’s potential financial interest in the property.”

The Supreme Court granted a freezing injunc tion to prevent any sale, but a deal was worked out with Mr Gentile after an acceptable offer to pur chase Ocean Club Estates was made in July 2021 that resulted in “a confidential settlement” between all sides.

“The settlement agree ment was executed on March 31, 2021, and sanc tioned by the court on June 8, 2022. The effect of the settlement agree ment was to, amongst other things, pay $750,000 to the estate in full and final settlement of all claims

against the defendants. On June 23, 2022, the court ordered that the Lot 104 action be discontinued. On August 5, 2022, the liquida tors received the net sum of $749,565.30 (which was reduced by bank charges).”

That represents their only successful recovery to-date. Creditor claims against Mintbroker initially totalled $3.045m, of which $2.671m or 87.8 percent came from “a party related to Mr Gentile”. That was ultimately withdrawn, leav ing $324,322 in outstanding claims - of which $324,115 is from the Securities Com mission itself.

“The official liquida tors do not appear to be in possession of all of the com pany’s books and records despite requests made to Davis & Co, the former registered agent, the former director and employees, and a service provider by the name of ASC Man agement that facilitated accounting services for the company,” the EY account ants added.

They reported challenges in accessing Google drive links provided by Davis & Co to access some of Mintbroker’s records elec tronically, and engaged in “extensive correspond ence” with the law firm - in which the Prime Minister

is inactive - to obtain other documents.

Mr Gentile enjoyed a somewhat colourful stay in the Bahamas, with Tribune Business reporting in 2016 how he and his broker/ dealer, based in the Eliza beth on Bay Plaza on Bay Street, were allegedly used as “bait” by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to help snare numer ous international securities fraudsters.

Mr Gentile claimed that he and his Bahamian busi nesses were “forced” to play key roles in undercover ‘sting’ operations targeting criminals earning millions of dollars from market manipulation scams.

Their participation even extended to the ‘bugging’, both by video and sound, of Swiss-America’s Bahamian head office in a successful bid to gain evidence against a Canadian fraudster who subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges against him. He also attracted interna tional media coverage after his Russian-born, model girlfriend, Kristina Kuchma, 24, in a fit of rage drove his Mercedes S400 hybrid into the pool at his Ocean Club home after he ended their 18-month relationship by text and allegedly reneged on a promise to provide $50,000 for one of her busi ness ventures.

BTVI HAS ALREADY TACKLED AUDITOR GENERAL CONCERNS

By DR ROBERT ROBERTSON Immediate past president BTVI

Iwrite to provide important informa tion in reference to a story on October 20, 2022, related to the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).

The context of the report includes the fact that BTVI has had three chief finan cial officers in six years. Also, for 50 percent of that period, the post was vacant. This is a serious structural issue requiring resolution by conducting a proper search and engagement of a professional to step into this role. A chartered accountant was engaged in fiscal 2020 to correct many of the financial issues in the Institute.

The period under review, as outlined in the October 20 article, includes fiscal

2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Reference is also made to the draft audit report of 2016. It is impor tant to note that many deficiencies identified in the review and October 20 story relate to the periods prior to fiscal 2020, and have since been resolved. Moreover, the much more egregious systemic deficien cies leading to a “denial of opinion” by the independ ent auditors in 2016 have been addressed prospec tively since fiscal 2019. For example, accepting cash, particularly on the Family Islands, was discontin ued and employees were disciplined for improper acceptance of funds. Simi larly, only one credit card has historically been used for Family Island purposes. Policies were put in place with respect to that card.

In addition, it is impor tant to note that BTVI saw substantial growth during the past six years, reaching record numbers of students.

To accomplish this growth, BTVI focused on the devel opment of new courses and programmes, dual enroll ment options with high schools and online educa tion. In addition, there was a clear focus on industry certifications which the Ministry of Education rec ognised for scholarship purposes. These types of industry-recognised certifi cations and training support students to be prepared for the future of work, and they are required in the coun try and globally. In fact, the Institute won industry awards for best practice throughout this period.

Also, new training con tracts were awarded to BTVI through competi tive bid processes. These awards were based on the quality of programmes and the credentials of faculty members. For example, some of the new external programmes initiated as authorised by the Board include a prison programme

training incarcerated indi viduals; a dual enrollment ICT programme; a soft skills programme; develop ing and delivering online courses and others.

In many cases, BTVI instructors were assigned to teach these contract courses in addition to their regular contracted teaching load. As a result overload payments were made to individuals with the requi site experience as well as the necessary professional and technical certifications. This is a common prac tice in academia. It was specified in the contracts of service for the programmes, and it is essentially over time required by law.

These new programmes provided valuable train ing and skills for literally thousands of Bahamians, as well as generating a net positive financial impact for BTVI. For example, in information technology student enrollments grew from approximately 300

to 1,500 students. BTVI earned the designation as a Cisco Academy, enabling Bahamians to gain oppor tunities to earn world-class certifications. Last year thousands of industry-rec ognised IT certifications were issued. Also, in the construction trades there are now more than 130 Bahamian instructors who are certified as being able to teach the National Centre for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) programme. This pro gramme has been included in the prison training and is available nationally. There are more than 1,200 stu dents who have completed some level of training trades certification through the NCCER, which is a globally-recognised cre dential. As construction projects are advanced in the country, this certification is critical to provide employ ment opportunities.

Finally, the Institute has moved to a far more

sustainable financial posi tion in recent years. It is important to note that there have been many financial practice improvements that were identified and com pleted during the last few years. In fact, the antici pated 2021-2022 year-end projection included a record budget surplus for the first time in the history of BTVI. These funds will assist in the reconstruction of the hurricane-damaged Free port and Abaco campus locations, as well as imple menting a system to address historical structural com pensation issues in the organisation. The improve ments of the past two years will also put the organisa tion in a position to conduct an annual audit. I would like to recognise and thank the entire team at BTVI, notably the accounting and academic teams for their outstanding efforts.

Club Med’s reopening hailed as ‘monumental achievement’

Our concentration on increased airlift has been reaping rewards for The Bahamas, and we expect the same here with this upgraded facility and the upgraded infrastructure on the island. The property will employ at least 300

Bahamians. It’s a new day for San Salvador.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis KC, who is MP for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, said the Government had sought to match the $5m invested by Club Med put $5m in the resort’s re-opening

by spending $3.5m to upgrade infrastructure such as public health clinics, water resources, the airport and electricity supply.

“The impact of the reo pening of Club Med to the economy of San Salvador cannot be overstated,” said Mr Davis. “It will see those

who left for work in Nassau and other places return to continue to build their home. We expect to see at least 350 jobs generated on the island as a result of this. And it represents opportu nities for other Bahamians.

“One of the reasons the property remained closed

for so long is because the infrastructure had been neglected over the course of several years. My adminis tration made a commitment to ensure that would not remain an obstacle to the continued growth of San Salvador. It’s a commitment that we meant to keep.”

Club Med estimates that 70 percent of its former 190-strong work force have returned to the property through the re-opening, and those numbers will improve as occupancy increases. The resort’s operating expenses are said to exceed $15m per month on San Salvador.

Eileen Kett, Club Med’s senior vice-president for development and general counsel, said the resort chain, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate, Fosun, was “grateful” for the investments made by the Government in upgrad ing San Salvador’s clinics.

“The new X-ray machines, the new ambu lance, the tele-health medicine that’s needed on the island, the investment in the airport, will allow Club Med to bring in weekly charter flights from Europe, Canada and the US on Bahamasair. And we expect to bring over 15,000 inter national clients to the island each year,” she said.

“We expect more than 250 Bahamians to be employed either directly with Club Med, or through third party suppliers like landscape providers and security companies.”

Club Med’s reopening is timed for the “ramp up” to Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays, with the date giving it several

weeks to address any oper ational issues that may emerge.

San Salvador businesses have already reacted posi tively to the confirmed reopening date. Beverley Laramore, owner of Para dis Restaurant and Bar, said: “We are very excited that Club Med is reopen ing. They were the major employers besides the Government on the island, and it is much needed after two-and-a-half years of the pandemic. The travel econ omy has taken a downturn so this is great news.”

Ms Laramore expects other spin-off jobs will be created as a result. “Since Club Med was closed busi ness has been really slow. We’ve been trying to be very creative to keep the doors open. Now that there’s some activity going with the renovations at Club Med, we see a signifi cant increase in business because of that. It’s all posi tive news all around,” she added.

Alison Mortimer, owner of Tiny’s Beauty and Drug Supply, said: “We are happy that we are bouncing back. We are super excited, espe cially for the businesses, to be able to bounce back. We hope it all goes well and there are no weather interruptions. The locals up there are doing a fantastic job of renovating the whole grounds of Club Med.

“The main thing is get ting people back to work now. For the past twoand-a-half years without a job, and businesses having gone down, people had to leave the island in search for better work, so this is a God-sent blessing.”

LTD. Reg. No. 196722 B

NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION

Notice is hereby given, in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act of 2000, that the above-named Company commenced dissolution procedures on the 25th day of October 2022 and that Sterling (Bahamas) Limited of Suite 205A, Saffrey Square, Bank Lane & Bay Street, P.O. Box N-9934, Nassau, Bahamas has been appointed voluntary Liquidator of the Company.

Notice is also hereby given that any person having a claim against the Company is required, within 14 days of the date of this Notice, to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to Sterling (Bahamas) Limited, the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts or claims are proved.

Dated this 25th day of October 2022

Sterling (Bahamas) Limited Liquidator

SAND DOLLAR

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business

A CABINET minister yesterday confirmed the expanded price control regime will be implemented from November 1 even as the Government awaits proposed revisions from the food distribution and phar maceutical industries.

Michael Halkitis, min ister of economic affairs, said before the weekly Cab inet meeting that the Government is still wait ing on the Retail Grocers Association (RGA) and Bahamas Pharmaceu tical Association (BPA), together with wholesalers in both industries, to submit their suggestions on how the original price-controlled lists and mark-ups/margins should be adjusted.

Enforcement of the expanded price control regime, first unveiled by the Prime Minister earlier this month, has ultimately been pushed back by two weeks from the original October 17 target after the affected industries argued they needed more time to consult their members and adjust systems and

business models to the new requirements.

Tribune Business under stands the Retail Grocers Association is aiming to submit its proposal, which would drastically cut the original list of 38 prod uct categories, by today so there is time for further talks and the exchange of more proposals and coun ter-proposals ahead of arriving at a “compromise” both sides - as well as con sumers - find acceptable in the battle against the cost of living crisis.

Mr Halkitis, who yes terday said he would not characterise this two-week period as a way to facili tate negotiations with the private sector, said: “What we have done is not gone to full enforcement of the of new orders yet.

“In our meeting with the retail grocers last week Monday, and as well we had a meeting with phar macy retailers as well as pharmaceutical wholesal ers this past Friday, where they expressed similar sen timents about notice and being given an opportunity to make the adjustment.

“Of course, they did not agree with the new mar gins. But we stress to them that this is a temporary

measure in the first instance that we will review after wards. And we committed to look at some other things that impact their business. So what we have agreed, the retailers did ask for an extension to the 28, which is this Friday, in order to get us some suggestions on how we can, you know, achieve what we’re trying to achieve, ie bringing down prices, and minimise the impact.”

Disclosing that he has yet to receive the food indus try’s proposal, Mr Halkitis added: “Beginning Novem ber 1, we will expect that the new margins will be in effect in the retail phar macies as well as retail stores..... We’ve sent out a statement - it’s November

1. We wanted to be able to say that we gave time for the adjustment. Ideally, the businesses requested, you know, there’ll be consul tation beforehand but we think that this is an ade quate adjustment period.”

The Government previ ously said the expanded price control regime for both industries is a tem porary measure. For food retailers and wholesalers it will last six months until May 1, 2023, while for their pharmaceutical counter parts it will remain in effect for three months until February 1, 2023. Both deadlines can be extended.

Asked about the impo sition of penalties and sanctions on businesses that fail to meet the November 1 implementation deadline, Mr Halkitis said: “There are various penalties within the law, but what we want to do is have an opportu nity to have people comply, and failure to comply, then there are other monetary penalties. But the idea is that we’re not coming down with a heavy hand, so to speak, or sledge hammer, but we just want to ensure that the regulations are being met.

“And we think that this time it will be

approximately two weeks since the amendments were made that we will be doing the enforcement, and we think that’s adequate time to make the adjustment. And as we said, in the first instance, it’s a temporary measure.

“We understand every thing that the businesses have told us about the potential impact on their bottom line and the cost, and how it’s affecting every body. But what we stressed as well is that the Govern ment has made some efforts on its behalf. And this is an effort to ensure that the things that we’re doing trickle down and reach the actual consumer who is the target.”

Food wholesale margins, or mark-ups, are capped at 15 percent for all 38 product line items listed, while those for retailers are set at 25 percent across-the-board. Those goods impacted, some of which are already price controlled, are baby cereal, food and formula; broths, canned fish; con densed milk; powdered detergent; mustard; soap; soup; fresh milk; sugar; canned spaghetti; canned pigeon peas (cooked); peanut butter; ketchup;

cream of wheat; oatmeal and corn flakes.

The remainder are macaroni and cheese mix; pampers; feminine nap kins; eggs; bread; chicken; turkey; pork; sandwich meat; oranges; apples; bananas; limes; tomatoes; iceberg lettuce; broccoli; carrots; potatoes; yellow onions; and green bell peppers.

Price-controlled markups range from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharma ceutical wholesalers. For retailers, the range is from 35 percent to 40 percent. The medicines covered include vaccines, anti-dia betic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, anti-hypertension medicines, cough prepara tions, cardiovascular agents and serums.

8:56 a.m. 3.6 2:38 a.m. 0.0 9:13 p.m. 2.9 3:22 p.m. 0.1 9:41 a.m. 3.6 3:19 a.m. 0.0 9:58 p.m. 2.8 4:09 p.m. 0.1 10:29 a.m. 3.6 4:04 a.m. 0.0 10:48 p.m. 2.7 4:59 p.m. 0.2 11:21 a.m. 3.5 4:53 a.m.

11:42 p.m. 2.6 5:54 p.m.

p.m.

5:48 a.m.

6:54 p.m.

a.m. 2.5 6:50 a.m. 0.4 1:21 p.m. 3.3 7:59 p.m. 0.6 1:53 a.m. 2.5 8:00 a.m. 0.6 2:27 p.m. 3.2 9:05 p.m. 0.6

MICHAEL HALKITIS

not verify

bait

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AUDITORS for a Baha mas broker/dealer once used as ‘bait’ by the FBI refused to give its last accounts a clean bill of health because they were unable to verify the existence of $1.5m held with other financial institutions.

This, and BDO Baha mas’ inability to confirm a $1.2m “adjustment” to realised losses

on investments, are among the disclosures made by the Supreme Court-appointed liquidators for Mintbroker International, the former Swiss America Securities business headed by its colourful principal, Guy Gentile.

Igal Wizman and Eleanor Fisher, the EY accountants and partners, in their first report on the liquidation also reveal they have been unable to obtain all Mintbroker’s financial records and books despite regular inter action with the Prime Minister’s

former law firm, which acted as its legal adviser in the battle to resist the Securities Commis sion’s enforcement efforts.

There are no suggestions that Davis & Co has failed to cooperate with the liquidators or done anything wrong, but the EY duo reported encountering difficulties in accessing elec tronic data and log-in/password details provided by the Baha mian law firm on Mr Gentile and Mintbroker’s behalf.

The August 31, 2022, report to the Supreme Court, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, reveals that there is little left for Mr Wiszman and Ms Fisher to liquidate after Mr

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday argued the liberalised work permit regime introduced by the former Minnis administration “has to be repealed” because it is “an impossi bility” to conduct the necessary due diligence within the deadlines.

Keith Bell, minister for labour and immigration, said ahead of this week’s Cabinet meeting that he and the Immigration Department will “not be following the Commer cial Enterprises Act” because the timelines for approving work permits for the industries specified simply cannot be met.

“The former administration passed the Commercial Enterprises Act of 2017…. and the legislation says the director of immigration… shall deter mine any work permit applied for not later than 14 working days after the filing thereof, and the payment of

the application fee, failing which the work permit shall be deemed to have been granted pursuant to this Act and may only be later revoked if the director has reasonable grounds for so doing on the basis of public safety, public morality, or national security,” he asserted.

While acknowledging that the Act indicates Immigration-related issues were as much a problem for the Minnis administration as its Philip Davis-led successor, Mr Bell argued that this administration would never never bypassed “due dili gence” to fast track work permits in such a blanket fashion.

He argued: “I would submit that the problem of Immigration is an age-old problem. We all know that we have our challenges or concerns, but in the face of all of this, we have had the former administration pass the Commercial Enterprises Act in 2017, which mandated that 14 days after the date of an application to

work, a permit will be issued regard less of due diligence.

“I know having sat in the chair now, as the minister of immigration, that it is almost an impossibility for an application to be submitted today and, within 14 days, that the Immi gration Department would have done its due diligence. It is impossible.

“It has always been the policy of the Government, collectively, but it has always been a policy of Immigra tion and, certainly, this government, that when a person applies for a

Work permit fast-track Act no ‘Bahamianisation dismantling’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Technical and Vocational Institute’s (BTVI) immediate past president yes terday said “egregious systemic deficiencies” that resulted in staff being “disciplined” had been cured during his time in office.

Dr Robert Robertson, in a written letter to Tribune Business respond ing to the findings of the Auditor General’s BTVI audit, said he and management had put an end to cash payments - “especially on the Family Islands” - and halted the “improper acceptance” of funds by employees. He pointed out that the 2016 finan cial accounts, which he and his team inherited, had received a “denial of

opinion” - one of the most serious qualifications an external auditor can make.

Asserting that BTVI was now “in a far more sustainable finan cial position” following a significant expansion of its courses, and had been on track to deliver “a record budget surplus” for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, he also addressed the Auditor General’s Office find ing that some of its 135 staff had been overpaid by almost $100,000 over the ten months to end-July 2020.

Dr Robertson, in his letter pub lished on Page 18B today, explained that this sum relates to “over load payments” provided to staff who were asked to teach courses beyond their contract workload. He described this as “a common practice” in academic and teaching

DR ROBERT ROBERTSON

circles, and likened it to overtime payments that are required by Baha mian law.

The Auditor General’s report cov ered the three fiscal years between July 1, 2018, and end-June 2021, and the former president said many of the deficiencies it identified had been inherited from previous Boards and

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE OPPOSITION’S leader yesterday launched an impassioned defence of the fast-track work permit process introduced by the Minnis administra tion, and asserted: “This was not a dismantling of Bahamianisation.”

Michael Pintard, responding to a Cabinet minister’s determination that the Commercial Enter prises Act “must be repealed” (see other article on Page 20B), told Tribune Business that “skills trans fer”, knowledge transfer and training of Bahamians were pre-conditions that expatriate investors must fulfill to access the benefits of the law’s liberalised work permit regime.

Denying that the Act “throws the system wide open” to foreign

workers to take Bahamian jobs, he emphasised that its intent was to improve the ease of doing business and help attract new, high-end and technology-based busi nesses to The Bahamas that would grow the economy and create well-paying jobs. Questioning what the Davis administration will do to replace the Com mercial Enterprises Act,

A16

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE DEPUTY prime minister yesterday hailed the “monumental achievement” in re-opening San Sal vador’s Club Med resort after the property received its first 120 visi tors for almost three years via an Air Canada flight.

Chester Cooper, also minister for tourism, investments and avia tion, in a statement said the return of the island’s main economic driver and employer will create 300 direct

jobs for Bahamians and create total employment for up to 350 persons.

Following yesterday’s Air Canada flight, Air Caribe is due to fly in a further 200 guests from Europe on Thursday, while Bahamasair has plans to service the island from the US. “It was a monumental achieve ment for the Government, team

tourism and Club Med,” said Mr Cooper of the re-opening.“

“As the pandemic has waned, we have taken an island by island, sector by sector approach to reopening and reintroducing our product and brands to the world.

GUY GENTILE

MICHAEL PINTARD

KEITH