Opinions
Bahamas Olympic swimmer on the Gender Equality vote - Jun 10, 2016 - 1:55:44 AM

The Bahamian people have voted NO to the gender equality bill. America just nominated their first female presidential nominee while 20 minutes from Miami, we voted NO to gender equality. Let’s face it, the vote YES campaign underestimated the power of social media, they underestimated the distrust the people have in Prime Minister Perry Christie and the current PLP government, they underestimated the amount of fear mongering that would come from the extreme religious and homophobic ideologues.

The vote YES campaign tried to take the high road and educate the public on the bills to raise awareness so Bahamians can make an informed decision. On the other hand, the vote NO campaign simply preyed on the fears of the ignorant and the super religious; the quintessential Donald Trump method...

Opinions
Fred Smith: We Reap What We Sow - Jun 9, 2016 - 11:05:33 PM

The No, No, No and No Vote was unfortunate, but it is a reflection that as a nation, we reap what we sow.

Over the last few years, Fred Mitchell and the PLP and their goons like Keod Smith and Peter Nygard have really whipped up hate and anti-foreign sentiment in the country, (which the PLP has always kept alive and well to use when it suits them) against Haitians , Cubans and Jamaicans, Canadian Bruno Rufa, the manager from memories in Freeport, Sarkis Izmirlian and Louis Bacon; and even against Bahamians such as Fred Smith, Joseph Darville and Rev. C B Moss etc, dressing up black Bahamians in KKK hoods brandishing burning crosses and parading them up and down on Bay Street hurling abuse, bile and xenophobic venom. And Jerome Fitzgerald, Fred Mitchel and Leslie Miller raping our privacy and having their fun ridiculing civil society in Parliament under the guise of privilege...

Opinions
Top 3 Outlandish statements from Dame Sawyer that should really scare you - Jun 3, 2016 - 6:02:50 PM

Dame Joan Sawyer is a highly accomplished attorney in the Bahamas, once serving as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. For that I have no doubt she is very learn-ed (as the lawyers like to say), and has had to overcome many obstacles – some of them without a doubt because she is a woman – to reach her heights of accomplishment. However, her public statements concerning the upcoming constitutional referendum reflect a disturbing level prejudice and insularity that cannot go unanswered, and should diminish her stature in the eyes of those who believe in human rights and equality for all. On reflection, I must say I am quite relieved Dame Sawyer is now retired; though she may still be influential, I am satisfied that the future does not belong to her. Last week she delivered remarks on the referendum at a Bar Association event. The video is making its rounds online. Though she said very little about the actual referendum (more on that later), her statements were fully loaded. So my first comments respond to the Top 3 Outlandish Statements that Should Really Scare You...

Opinions
Terrance Gape: The Bridge to nowhere - May 6, 2016 - 11:06:19 AM

We are this week celebrating the opening of the Sir Jack Hayward Bridge which represents a $4.3 million investment by the families and Hutchison (DevCo) to the infrastructure of Freeport and provides access over the Grand Lucayan Waterway to the eastern two-thirds of the Island, which access had primarily been provided these past 50 years by the Casuarina Bridge, a five-minute detour from the new Sir Jack Hayward Bridge.

The eastern two-thirds of Grand Bahama have changed little in the past 60 years with a population of 4,500 (approximately) in five quiet settlements stretching from New Freetown to Sweetings Cay.

Sir Jack justified his five-year campaign (with Hutchison?) to have this bridge built because he said the Casuarina Bridge was old and weak and could fall down and he was concerned that the poor “blighters” who lived over there would have to swim across to get to Freeport, or (as some believe) was it to reward his construction friend with a multi-million-dollar contract?

Opinions
Attorney Constance Mcdonald provides clarity on Gender Equality bills - May 5, 2016 - 1:52:16 PM

In early April I was invited to address students of the College of The Bahamas Northern Campus on the Gender Equality Bills.

One of the young women a former student said to me Ms. Mcdonald can you provide a simple explanation of what the bills are about because most of the older persons like my parents have no understanding of what is going on. I promised her that I would try and simplify the bills so here goes.

The process of recognizing a woman as a person in her own right separate and apart from the man in her life began in 1888 with the passing of The Married Women

Opinions
What Does China Want From The Bahamas? - Apr 9, 2016 - 6:42:37 PM

What China wants from The Bahamas? This is an essential question for those monitoring the implications and assessing the risk imposed on the nature of China's economic, social, and political engagement with the Commonwealth. There's a sustained perspective that China's growing presence in the region seeks to undermine the United States strategic position and influence in its hemisphere. China's incredibly ambitious foreign policy in The Bahamas and other Caribbean countries is Beijing continued efforts of improving its geostrategic significance unraveling its economic strength.

Since the founding of the New China in 1949, The Bahamas and China have enjoyed sustained high-level exchanges; stronger political mutual trust relished with closer cooperation...

Opinions
China's Growing Presence in The Bahamas - Mar 16, 2016 - 12:25:30 PM

Finding the silver lining in Chinese State Owned invested projects in The Bahamas continues to be shadowed by the perception and suspicions that exist around the country about China's growing presence in the Bahamian economy. The archipelagic nature of The Bahamian economy creates an environment of complex financial restraints which requires the government to subsidize economic growth with Foreign Direct Investment. The posture of the country's investment policies under successive governments rule the out the possibility of discriminatory policies that prohibit inbound investment from foreign countries. The elephant in the room isn't the strong-arming of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in The Bahamas but rather their inability to grapple with the culture shock of doing business in the Caribbean region.

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The right to private property, beach access or not - Mar 13, 2016 - 11:24:24 AM

In my view, the Opposition parties, the FNM and DNA, were wrong to encourage a protest at the sight where the beneficial owner had their fenced in, which then incited the crowd to pull the fence down that blocked an access point point to Cabbage Beach.

Opinions
Pierre Dupuch: National Health Insurance and Rats - Feb 25, 2016 - 10:05:17 PM

As I travelled down the valley of life, I banked around a corner and smelled what appeared to be a decaying rat. As I went further, the smell increased and, low and behold, at the end of the valley there was indeed a dead rat, the proposed National Health Insurance plan.

At first I wondered why there was such a hell fired rush to provide something that the people already had - Universal health care. For many years, if a person could not afford private health care they went to the clinic. Granted the service was slow and the lines were long. But there was service and it was FREE...

Opinions
Op-ed: Discrimination, The Bahamian Political Crack - Feb 11, 2016 - 8:08:49 PM

All that glitters is not gold. There is another, darker side to The Bahamas. As a people, Bahamians can be kind, appreciative, welcoming and gracious. But they can also be hateful, abusive and vicious. How is this schizophrenic national personality explained?

This paper is a commentary by Frederick Smith QC arising from Professor of Anthropology Dr Bertin M. Louis's perspicacious lecture on the Marginalization of Haitian Migrants in The Bahamas, and persons of Haitian Heritage.

The lecture by Professor Louis can be found on YouTube, and I urge watching it. I found it to be stimulating and thought provoking...

Opinions
Carey Leonard: on the Hawksbill Creek Agreement Extension‏ - Feb 11, 2016 - 1:07:42 AM

The Prime Minister’s communication made on 3rd March 2016 to the House of Assembly on the status of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement is, in many ways, a milestone as it sets out, for the “public at large”, the issues and objectives that our Government deems important as we move the Hawksbill Creek Agreement forward.

Transparency in negotiations, such as the extension and review of certain provisions, of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, which affect the livelihood of the tens of thousands of Residents and Licensees of the Port Area, is critical...