Columns : Letters to The Editor
Moss: Cancel Carnival, Don't Privatize it - Jul 4, 2017 - 2:10:52 PM

Dear Editor,

Some time ago I drafted a letter to the editor to commend Bahamian musician and producer Fred Ferguson for withdrawing his support from carnival, but in the busyness of life, I did not finalize and send it. Recently, I saw Mr. Ferguson at a funeral and was reminded of my unfinished task, hence this letter to you.

Mr. Ferguson said that after listening to the music produced for last year’s carnival, he decided he could not support it. I commend him for his courageous and principled decision, and I’m elated by it. But more than being elated by his decision...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
"But we meant well... Really we did..." - Jul 3, 2017 - 10:16:26 AM

Former Prime Minister, Perry G. Christie (PLP), in defence of spending tax dollars without proper/legal approval, is quoted as saying, “There were compelling urgencies to work. During the hurricane itself, expenditure was incurred. We didn’t have any time to go talk about we were going to bid. We had to have trucks to go in to help in waters of three feet high and so forth and so on.”

It’s funny how compelling urgencies change when a party is in government or the opposition...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Pierre V. L. Dupuch:The People Have Spoken - May 24, 2017 - 1:58:18 PM

The race is over and the dirt has settled. Some are happy, others are sad. But the Bahamian people have spoken. They sent a clear message, "We are in charge." History has been made.

Wayne Munroe told the people to "kiss his backside." The people answered but with a slight variation, they kicked his backside. Well done, the people spoke.

Perry Christie gave the people the finger. They gave him the bird. The people spoke...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Pam Burnside: Economic Empowerment and Creativity - May 19, 2017 - 2:08:31 PM

On behalf of Creative Nassau, I should like to respond directly to the urgent need for economic growth in The Bahamas by presenting two common sense solutions.

In 2014, Creative Nassau www.creativenassau.com a non-profit organization of passionate citizens, was successful in obtaining a prestigious UNESCO designation for the City of Nassau to become a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) as a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Arts, without government assistance. Our application was based on our unique traditions of Straw Craft and Junkanoo.

The UCCN is an amazing global organization of 116 cities from 54 countries, and as one of the very first cities from the Caribbean region to be successful, we are rightly proud of this achievement for the benefit of our country...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Pam Burnside: The ABC's Of A New Beginning - May 17, 2017 - 10:39:16 AM

The positive atmosphere that presently envelops The Bahamas as a result of last week’s election, is a welcome relief, reminiscent of that amazing optimism and anticipation felt in the 1970s when my late husband and I returned home from studies abroad as young Bahamians eager to make our mark upon the clean slate of our independent nation!

I should like to extend sincere thanks to the Free National Movement for sweeping away the claustrophobic sense of anxiety that has surrounded so many of us recently, for it is indeed a brand new day! This is an opportunity which we must all grasp with determination in order to put our country, which we love so dearly, firmly back on its feet again...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
"The Bahamas Chamber should be helping business encouraging more regulation, taxation and bureaucracy" - May 15, 2017 - 12:38:56 PM

On Thursday past (May 11,2017), the CEO of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation was lamenting that people renting their homes through Airbnb should be regulated.

His concerns seem directed more to closing the home rental industry than regulating it because hotel occupancy is down. Either way, proposing closing them or regulating them, is not the purview of the Chamber of Commerce.

International groups like Airbnb provide as much safety through market regulation and oversight to make the renters accountable as the Ministry of Tourism does with “regulating” hotels here...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Out Da Box Calls for Additional Poll - May 5, 2017 - 1:01:00 PM

Thousands of Bahamians presented themselves to vote in the advance poll on May 3, 2017 in New Providence, Grand Bahama, and numerous cities including Atlanta, London, and Beijing. In New Providence, the only polling station -- Kendal G.L. Isaacs Gymnasium -- opened 80 minutes late. There were two lines with mixed constituencies, all entering through the same doors with no designated exit.

Poor planning by the Parliamentary Registration Department led to voters spending over three hours in line. We have heard reports of registered voters -- including students abroad who traveled to the nearest consular offices -- being turned away because their names were not on the register...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Noise Pollution - Apr 30, 2017 - 11:18:31 PM

Thousands of Bahamians are being physically and psychologically harmed by the environmental impact of noise in the city of Nassau. We are not alone, this is a global problem that is multiplying as a function of the exponentially growth of populations within cities and the rapid growth of cities from the 20th Century to the present. The World Health Organization (1999) argues that the growth in noise pollution is unsustainable. It points out that the concept of noise pollution and control should not be viewed as a luxury for developing countries, pointing out that noise is particularly acute in developing countries, especially heavy traffic.

Although we have a growing awareness of the adverse effects of global warming and air pollution in Nassau, in the latter case because of the crisis of regular dump fires, there is not enough awareness about the detrimental impact of noise...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Pam Burnside: The Health of a Nation - Apr 21, 2017 - 12:36:28 AM

I read with interest today of the opening of the mini hospital in Abaco, and say ‘congratulations’ to the government for finally getting it opened, and hopefully, fully staffed and operational for the long haul. However, I wish to point out that buildings by themselves do not a healthy nation make – the people who are there to take care of the public and perform their duties in the facility in an effective and efficient manner are a most important factor!

As a cancer survivor of over 30 years, a former President of the Cancer Society of The Bahamas, and a passionate advocate for cancer care in The Bahamas, it was most distressing to be informed in late January of this year that cancer patients attending the PMH Oncology Clinic have expressed concerns about the lack of care...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
“Grand Bahamians are fed up with Michelle Reckley & her PLP antics” - Mar 24, 2017 - 11:56:20 PM

Dear Editor,

Please allow me space in your daily to respond to a letter that was published in the Tribune newspaper on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, titled “Grand Bahamians are fed up with Michelle Reckley & her PLP antics” written by “The Whistle Blower”.

This letter, in an attempt to defame the Progressive Liberal Party by aligning this progressive organization with the perceived antics of one person, stated some grave untruths, which my letter seeks to address...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Sharon Turner: Party leaders must put supporters in check now to prevent election violence - Mar 15, 2017 - 3:49:25 PM

Dear Editor,

For the most part, Bahamians are peaceful about their political support. But for some of us, we take our support or desire to please a particular politician too far. Election violence is not foreign to The Bahamas; it just has not risen to the scale we have seen in neighboring countries. But that can change if our leaders do not take deliberate steps now to make it clear to their supporters that violence and intimidation of any kind will not be tolerated or rewarded.

New Providence in particular is a powder keg in some respects. Tensions can run high, even in our everyday interactions with one another. When you add in the kind of fervor that is stirred up during election season, violence can become the inevitable outcome...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Ian Strachan: Voters’ Rights In Our Bahamas - Mar 6, 2017 - 10:30:28 AM

Everyone generally agrees that we all have the right to vote. We know that in our country that right was denied women until they cast votes for the first time in 1962. Women’s right to vote was won through protest. Educating the people, agitating things and animating those who stood on the sidelines.

What if I said that today, 2017, the issue of Voters’ Rights is every bit as crucial as it was 50 years ago?

In the US the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to ensure African Americans in the South were not denied their right as citizens to vote for the representatives of their choice. It is still relevant in the US today where tactics are used to minimize the participation of Blacks in elections across that nation...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
"Fiscal gyrations and attempted justifications?" - Feb 21, 2017 - 3:36:06 PM

Financial Secretary Simon Wilson, while speaking at Bahamas Chamber of Commerce State of the Economy 2017 event last week finally publicly acknowledged they are implementing the Coalition for Responsible Taxation recommendation that they needed to get the tax dodgers before hitting the taxpayers and business community with new taxes.

Regretfully they hit the business community and taxpayers up with additional taxes first and are only now, two years later, going after the tax dodgers...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
ORG Statement on Interception of Communications Bill 2017 - Feb 17, 2017 - 9:10:46 AM

The quiet tabling of the Interception of Communications Bill 2017 last week in the House of Assembly is deeply worrying to The Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) and not only for its contentious content but also for the manner in which it was introduced.

As an organization that values transparency and participatory governance, ORG finds it problematic that a bill of such dire implications was introduced so quietly to Parliament, without being made available for viewing or consultation from the public and other stakeholders...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
A Case for Spoiling the Ballot - Feb 5, 2017 - 10:43:09 PM

Over the course of its tumultuous history, the United States of America, which touts itself as the greatest democracy on earth, has had many seasons of reckoning when the citizens of that great nation challenged the political powers of the day to bring the governance of the nation further in line with its founding democratic ideals. What does that mean? Well, democracy means government for, of and by the people. And America declared to the world in 1776 that “all men are created equal” with “an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In the main, the course chosen by citizens to change the status quo was public pressure, exerted through demonstrations, petitions, marches, boycotts, speeches, letters, essays, soliciting international support, and court cases...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
In response to Anglican Archdeacon James Palacious comments at Majority Rule celebrations - Jan 18, 2017 - 8:59:30 PM

It was painfully disheartening to read about Jimmy Palacious’ shameful pronouncement that black people “breed too much.”  It was all too reminiscent of Richard Lightbourne’s equally disrespectful and demeaning comments, demonstrating a total lack of empathy and understanding of a system of miseducation and oppression that continues to keep our communities disempowered.

Instead of disassociating ourselves from the social problems we see in society and casting blame on others, often times the most vulnerable, we need to examine the systems of which we are all apart of and advocate for fundamental change to these systems.

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Secondary debris clean up needs to happen on Grand Bahama Island - Jan 18, 2017 - 8:17:22 PM

Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my concern regarding the amount of debris still evident all around the island.

It is time for the secondary clean up. Debris needs to be removed and the streets of Grand Bahama Island should be made clean, safe and secure for drivers and pedestrians once again.

It is disturbing to see that road signs are still down, several are in good order and just need to be erected for drivers to note the speed limits...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Bahamians Awake results of Bahamas Outlook survey - Jan 18, 2017 - 6:53:49 PM

Bahamians Awake, a group created by a team of young and creative Bahamians who have grown discontented with the direction of the country administered an online survey via Facebook earlier this month. Their current disenchantment with the leadership and direction of the country escalated as the Baha Mar saga unfolded and the populace watched how the government’s handling and what many perceive as bias towards the Chinese led to the stalling of the project, redundancy of 2,000 employees and the ousting of the original developer.

The survey’s respondents consisted of a total sample size of 485 people between ages of 18-65 across The Bahamas...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister - Jan 16, 2017 - 9:40:23 AM

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

I am not often one to get into public political commentary or debate but my heart is heavy.  As someone who has watched your political career over the past 40 years, and witnessing where we are today I could not resist re-reading George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”.  In fact as I watch your actions and those of your most ardent supporters the words of Mr. Orwell in another forum seems to ring true, “Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.”

Your reaction and those of your goons and cronies to Mr. Alfred Sears and his offering for the leadership of the PLP is very off-putting and smacks of a serious abuse of power...

Columns : Letters to The Editor
Letter: Rawson Square would have detracted from the ‘We March’ - Jan 5, 2017 - 12:41:55 AM

Dear Editor,

I address the following open letter to Ranard Henfield and other organizers of the upcoming historic second installment of the ‘We March’ movement.

Brother Henfield,

First of all, let me say that I salute you, and all the patriotic Bahamians who stand with you, for the courage and strength of spirit that you have all displayed in marching to rescue the future of this country for the benefit of generations of Bahamians yet to come.