Below
is a summary of the House proceedings on Wednesday, 16 September 2015
during the segment "Statement by Ministers" during the House agenda.
This commentary is distributed for public information and edification.
In
the wake of the Delaware bankruptcy court ruling by Judge Kevin Carey,
dismissing the bankruptcy petition by fourteen Bahamian incorporated companies
that make up Baha Mar, Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie responded
a second time in as many days, this time updating House members on the
government’s policy position regarding the way forward for the stalled $3.5 billion
resort on Cable Beach.
He
welcomed the news on behalf of the government and in referencing his
July 16 National
Address on Baha Mar, the Prime Minister pointed out his government’s intent to bring
resolution to Baha Mar within the legal framework of an independent Provisional
Liquidator under the supervision and direction of the Bahamas Supreme Court. This
was necessary, argued the Prime Minister, to facilitate the completion and
opening of the resort and to protect the sovereignty of the Commonwealth of The
Bahamas.
“The
government is pleased that the bankruptcy court in Delaware shares the
government’s view that the future of the Baha Mar resort should be determined
not in or by a court in Delaware, but rather here in The Bahamas by our own Supreme
Court, especially now that the court here has appointed a Provisional
Liquidator” said Mr. Christie.
The Prime Minister again stated the “principal
objective” and “highest national priority” of his government which is the early
completion and opening of the resort, an objective the Delaware court ruling
advances “considerably.”
“The Government’s principal
objective throughout this process has been, and continues to be, the completion
of the Baha Mar Resort such that it can open for business with a full
complement of Bahamian workers as soon as humanly possible. This is of vital
importance to the continued growth of our national economy. My government
therefore continues to regard the early completion and opening of the Baha Mar
resort as a matter of the highest national priority.”
The Health Minister
Dr. Perry Gomez
communicated to the House on the combined Caribbean Wellness Day (CWD) and
Caribbean Wellness Week (CWW) and delivered an update on the government’s current
preparatory work for the introduction of National Health Insurance (NHI) in
January 2016.
Caribbean
Wellness Day (CWD) is a product of CARICOM’s Port of Spain Declaration in 2007 and
has been observed regionally on the second
Saturday of September since 2008. It
is designed to encourage persons to make healthy lifestyle choices. The US/PAHO
influenced Caribbean Wellness Week (CWW) immediately follows CWD and was first
observed in 2011. With a combined theme of LOVE THAT BODY/ CREATE A LEGACY OF
HEALTH, a number of activities have been planned to promote and celebrate good
health as follows, with specific focus on the health of the aged:
Fun
run/walk
Health
message to be shared with churches to be put in church bulletins
Health
symposium for older persons
Interaction
between the old and young persons in a day entertainment.
A
grand health and wellness explosion with a health-themed exposition at Arawak
Cay
A
male health expo is planned to commemorate prostate month (September)
Extension
of hours at poly clinics in preparation for NHI is as follows:
Agape
Health Clinic – hours extended to
8pm
Elizabeth
Estates Health Clinic – open from
8am to midnight as at the 5th October
Fleming
Street Health Clinic – open from
8am to midnight at the 28th
September
South
Beach Health Clinic – open from
8am to midnight as at the 28th
September
Flamingo
Gardens Health Clinic – open from
8am to midnight at the 28th
September
Eight
Mile Rock Clinic – hours extended to
9PM
Rand
Memorial General Hospital Practice Clinic – hours allocated from
4pm to
11pm
This
change in operating hours is designed to reduce the number non emergency visits
to the Accident and Emergency Rooms at both the Princess Margaret Hospital
(PMH) and the Rand Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Grand Bahama.
Minister
Gomez also advised the House of his ministry’s intent to officially open two new
health clinics in September – one in Adelaide and the other in Fox Hill.
State Minister for
Legal Affairs the Hon. Damian Gomez led the second reading and committal of the
Antiterrorism Amendment Bill 2015 pursuant to chapter 107 of the Statute Laws
of The Bahamas. This bill is intended to further aid in the combating, prevention
and suppression of the financing of terrorism. Its passage into law effectively
completes the fulfillment of the Bahamas’ international obligations under the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 and 1373 on terrorism and the anti
money laundering and anti-terrorism initiatives of the Financial Action Task
Force (FATF).
As
the Act is currently drafted, for an entity to be designated as a listed entity
under the act, some key conditions under section four of the act must be satisfied
as follow:
Firstly,
the suspected entity must be included on a list of entities designated as a
terrorist entity by the United Nations Security Council. Secondly, the Attorney
General must have reasonable grounds to believe that the entity in question has
knowingly committed or participated in the commission of a nefarious offence.
Clause
‘C’ of the bill involves the deletion of the word ‘and’ and substituted with
the word ‘or.’ With this significant amendment, an entity can be designated a
terrorist entity by virtue of it being name by the United Nations list of
terrorism entities or on the sole grounds of a “reasonable assessment” by the
Attorney General of a UN member state.
If
either condition is met, a member state is legally empowered under its local
and international laws to take actions against the named entity such as the
freezing of all bank accounts of the said entity.
The
United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Bermuda, Trinidad and
Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and the Cayman Islands have all implemented this
act in similar fashion said the State Minister.
The
Bill was unanimously passed in Parliament on Wednesday, 16th
September 2015.