Bahamas Junkanoo
Carnival launch a huge success
The Christie government was
decidedly magnanimous and measured in its response but effusive in its praise
and thanks to Bahamians and the event organizers in the wake of the hugely
successful Grand Bahama launch of the 2015 and inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo
Carnival.
Speaking on behalf of the
government was Tourism Minister Hon. Obie Wilchcombe who thanked the Bahamian
people for their belief in themselves, their show of national unity and
national pride. He characterized the whole event as a leap of faith.
“I join the Prime Minister the
Rt. Hon. Perry Christie and colleague ministers in expressing our profound
thanks to the Bahamian people for their leap of faith and unshakable belief in
themselves and their ability to execute a world class show and perform on a
world stage before a global audience.
Bahamians and residents of Grand Bahama and
elsewhere came out in great numbers over the weekend in support of the
country’s inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival. The government is especially
pleased and thankful that Bahamians enjoyed themselves, proudly displaying
their national pride and sense of unity as Bahamians from all walks of life
celebrated our unique culture together and this massive event took place
without incident.”
“Special thanks” continued Mr. Wilchcombe, “go
out to the Bahamas Junkanoo Festival Committee, Carnival’s premier sponsor BTC,
all other sponsors, the Grand Bahama-based organizers, especially Ginger Moxey
and Jimmy Smith for their leadership; the Royal Bahamas police Force and the
many cultural artisans, musicians, songwriters and dancers who contributed to the
success of what was arguably the single largest event to take place on the
island of Grand Bahama.”
Acknowledging that the Cultural Community had
lobbied for this kind of public private sector partnership for quite some time,
the Tourism Minister stressed the importance of the inter-industry linkages and
sweeping economic impact of this cultural event and pointed out that Bahamians
are limited only by their imagination.
“The pervasive and far reaching economic
impact of Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival cannot be understated as companies in
industries as diverse as tourism, communications, transportation and events
promotions to costume design, printers, artisans and even food vendors are all being
positively impacted. This festival has the capacity to catapult the culture
industry into a year-round industry and is only limited by the imagination and
entrepreneurial spirit of Bahamians and for those who dare to dream, dream big
and think “outside of the box” for the sky is the limit.”
Prime Minister tours
Abaco’s Baker’s Bay
The
Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club, located on Great Guana Cay in the Abacos, is
the third largest resort development in The Bahamas, behind Cable Beach’s Baha
Mar and Paradise Island Atlantis Resort and the largest private employer in
Abaco. More than $600 million has been invested in this project since phase one
some ten years ago; the resort has created about 800 construction and
operational jobs and it is estimated that nearly $1 billion has been pumped into
the Bahamian economy as a result of this project. It has proven itself
recession proof over the years and is a bona-fide success story.
It
is against this backdrop that Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie and
his ministerial delegation including DPM Philip Davis and Tourism Minister Hon.
Obie Wilchcombe toured the luxury resort
on Thursday of this week to see and
hear of its impressive success, rapid expansion plans and its significant
impact on the local economy. The Prime Minister spoke of Baker’s Bay future expansion
plans.
“It
will employ over 250 additional Bahamians in construction jobs. It will mount
job fairs to attract Bahamian employees from throughout the country. Secondly, it
will be permitted a limited number of essential specialized work permit holders
who will also be able to sustain multi-disciplinary on-the-job technical skills
training and apprenticeship programs designed to equip Bahamian employees and
sub-contractors with high levels of proficiency.”
The
34.5 kilowatt power sub-station is being built by the developer to service the energy
needs of the resort, the general public resident on Great Guana Cay and will “augment the power supply to at least two
other cays in the Abacos” said Mr.
Christie.
As
for the private residential homes component of this mixed use luxury resort,
there are about 40 luxury homes completed with 40 more coming on stream shortly.
Speaking to this rapid expansion and its impact on the Abaco economy was President
and Chairman of Discovery Land Mike Meldman who said “as you can see by the
construction, we literally are growing faster than we can. We feel we can go
from almost 800 to almost 1,200 to 1,500 employees and the amount of money that
means to the local economy is staggering.”
Mr.
Meldman also revealed that Baker’s Bay will spend several hundred million dollars
over the next year and predicts that within a short period of time the resort
will be a billion dollar operation.
CARICOM Chair intervenes
to help save West Indies Cricket
Bahamas
Prime Minister in his capacity as Chair of CARICOM was in St Georges, Grenada
on Monday 20th April to attend a special call meeting at the
invitation of host Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, CARICOM’s sub-committee chair
on Cricket. Mr. Christie was there to address the decline of the region’s
national sport of Cricket and to craft the way forward; it is generally
believed that West Indies Cricket is in crisis. He was accompanied by Foreign
Affairs Minister, Hon. Fred Mitchell who chairs the Community Council.
Joining
Prime Minister Christie were Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St Vincent
and the Grenadines and Gaston Brown, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
In
updating The Bahamas Parliament upon his return, Mr. Mitchell underscored the cultural
significance of Cricket to the region:
“The
issue facing the region is that the cultural life of the region and the history
of the game are intimately tied up with the region’s reputation, image and
sense of self. The West Indies team in its present incarnation continues to
underperform and to lose in the international arena. This was a sport which the
region dominated in the latter half of the twentieth century. It provides a
sense of identity for young people throughout the region and provides a good
living for scores of West Indian youngsters around the globe.”
Noted Attorney
retires as Legal Aid head
A
perennial agitator and advocate for greater and equal access to legal counsel
and justice more broadly for the indigent has moved on and left a huge void. He
is jurist and thirty-eight year veteran of the Bahamas Bar Council, Arthur Dion
Hanna Jr. who has retired as Director of the Legal Aid Clinic at the Eugene
Dupuch Law School.
Family,
friends and professional colleagues joined Attorney General and Legal Affairs
Minister Senator Allyson Maynard-Gibson in paying tribute to Mr. Hanna for his
years of stellar public service. Paying tribute included Bar Council President,
Elsworth Johnson; Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Garvin Gaskin and Mr.
Hanna’s daughter, Mrs. Rawiyah Rahming. Also present was the family’s patriarch,
HE Arthur Dion Hanna Sr. for Governor General of The Bahamas.
Bahamas government decisive
in Rubis fuel spill
I
echo the sentiments of Environment Minister Hon. Kenred Dorsett that the
government of The Bahamas acted “satisfactorily” in the aftermath of the Rubis
spill at the Robinson Road service station that was reported in late December
2012 according to a report published by the Bahamas Environment Science and
Technology (BEST) Commission.
The
facts as we know them are that after the fuel line was repaired, the
exploratory trench and monitor wells dug and samples taken, the service station
was closed on 8th February 2013.
Further
actions were taken to protect the health of the environment and the health and
wellbeing of the public, especially those directly impacted by the spill:
-
A
soil vapour extraction system, monitoring and gasoline recovery wells were
installed on and off site.
-
Private
wells were sampled within 600 feet of the service station.
-
Private
wells were switched to the Water and Sewerage Corporation public water supply
network.
-
Underground
Storage Tanks (UST) and impacted soil were removed.
-
Samples
of soil gas, sub-slab and indoor air were collected and tested.
-
An
independent environmental assessment as per the advice of the BEST Commission
was conducted by Black and Veatch International (BVI) and all recommendations
were implemented by the government.
-
The
monitoring of wells on and off site continues to this day.
Further,
both the Education and Environment Ministers were fully engaged with affected residents
impacted by the environmental release with Fitzgerald seeking to broker a
meeting between his constituents and Rubis and with Mr. Dorsett saying that “there
are some residents that came to my office and we had discussions about what was
happening. I’ve maintained an open door policy with respect to this, as I think
I ought to have.”
With
the report now published, Mr. Dorsett pointed out that more importantly, with
the recommendations contained therein, his message was that “the
recommendations made then did not sit…those recommendations were advanced and
put in place.”
Social Services sets
record straight on Bilney Lane Home
The
nameless, faceless critics who usually reside in the proverbial tall grass were
at it again this week, this time attacking the department of Social Services
for what they called "dragging its feet" and
taking “their own sweet time” in locating suitable alternative accommodations
for the children housed at the Bilney Lane home.
The facts on the
matter according to the Department in a press release are these:
“On April 14,
2014, the residents of the Bilney Lane Children's Home had to be relocated due
to plumbing problems. It was determined that given the age, structural and
other issues of the home, that alternative accommodation should be found.
Immediately and simultaneously Cabinet approval was sought and received for the
relocation and the search began. The first possible accommodation was viewed on
April 24, 2014. Since then, a total of fifteen (15) places have been viewed but
regrettably for various reasons, none of these materialized. The residents
continue to be temporarily housed in the same facility from April 14, 2014.”
As a permanent
solution, The Bahamas Conference of The Methodist Church, which manages the
Home, has offered to take the lead in the construction of a new home.
The Ministry made
a further public appeal for assistance in locating suitable accommodations for
the children. This is also an excellent opportunity for a private investor to
become a part of the government’s PPP policy. Become part of the solution by providing
the accommodations to the government’s specifications and enter into a long
term lease agreement; it’s a win-win proposition.
Parliamentary Proceedings
this week
Two
bills were passed in Parliament this week. An Act to repeal and replace the
Public Accountant Act which is designed to modernize the sector by reforming
the laws regulating the practice of public accounting in The Bahamas was read
for a second time, committed and passed
on Wednesday. It is also called the
BICA Bill. This was the first amendment to the Act since its inception in 1991.
The second reading was led by State Minister for Finance, Hon. Michael Halkitis
and the bill was seconded by the Minister of Financial Services Hon. Hope Strachan
who pointed out that the bill signals to the world that the members of BICA “are
serious about their commitment to international compliance and quality standards.”
Additionally,
an amendment to the Education Loan Authority Act 2015 was tabled in the House.
Leading that debate was Education, Science and Technology Minister Hon. Jerome
Fitzgerald. It effectively repeals the Guaranteed Loan Fund Bill of 2001. The new
Bill gives the Education Loan Authority the ability to change the repayment
arrangements of the borrower and permits the Authority to work with loan
institutions in facilitating these changes. The Bill addresses the various
categories of borrowers and empowers the Authority to take legal action against
those in default but refuse to make reasonable attempts to pay back their loans.
This Bill transforms the Authority into a “ONE STOP SHOP” for borrowers.
The
Senate met a day later to pass the amended Juries and the Parliamentary
Elections Acts. During her debate, Attorney General Senator Maynard-Gibson again
highlighted improvements in the administration of justice by pointing out that
the time period between the Voluntary Bill of Indictment (VBI) and the trial
date was significantly reduced from more than 300 days in 2012 to just 50 days
as at the 31st March 2015.
Did PAC’s actions undermine ‘separation of powers’
doctrine?
“The process by which the said audit has
apparently been commissioned may have undermined the constitutional
independence of the auditor general and engaged a violation of the separation
of powers doctrine.” This is according to a legal opinion secured by the Office
of the Attorney General in respect to the actions of the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) in their investigation of the Urban Renewal’s Small Homes
Repair Program.
Regarding the summoning of witnesses by the
PAC - and the Commission’s co-chairs were summoned by the PAC - the legal opinion
was that “the purported course of action taken by the PAC with respect to the
exercise of its powers to summon witnesses is procedurally and legally improper
having regard to the fact that the said audit in respect of which the PAC is
presuming to call witnesses has not been laid before the House, and failure to
follow the statutory process.”
From the time news of this audit became
public, observers have opined that it was unprecedented and highly irregular for
the PAC to direct the auditor general and to investigate a public account not previously
tabled in the House.
NTA graduates its third cohort of students
Established on 15th July 2013, the
National Training Agency has conducted clusters of fourteen weeks training classes
in Nassau, Grand Bahama and Exuma with a view to enhancing skills development
and workforce readiness among young Bahamians and
on Thursday evening, the
agency graduated another 140 young Bahamians.
Delivering the keynote address was Financial
Services Minister Hon. Hope Strachan who encouraged the graduates and praised
the agency, pointing out that during the 2014/2015 fiscal year alone the NTA
had graduated a total of 760 persons on three islands with another 240 currently
in training.
This particular graduating class was trained
in the areas of hospitality, retail knowledge, micro-soft word processing and
allied health care assistant.
The ceremony was held at the Holy Trinity
Activity Center in Stapledon Gardens.
In Passing…
The
Commissioner of Police, Ellison Greenslade advised that the file of the Police
investigation into allegations of judicial interference was turned over to the
office of the Attorney General
on Monday of this week. Local Government Administrator
Zephaniah Newbold has alleged that Agriculture Minister Hon. Alfred Gray
interfered with a judicial process involving him and a Mayaguana resident who
was convicted and sentenced to prison for three months for disorderly conduct.
The
Bahamian alumni of Florida Memorial University (FMU) invited its president, Dr.
Roslyn Clark Artis, to Nassau in celebration of FMU week. Events included
courtesy calls on the Deputy Prime Minister and the President of the College of
The Bahamas; a recognition awards ceremony at Government House for alumni and a
recruitment drive/college fair at Living Waters Church.
Our
two Bahamian “Polar Bears” have reached the North Pole, planted the Bahamian
flag, made history and returned home
on Wednesday of this week. Congratulations
to businessman Mark Roberts and Junkanooer Shaune Adderley on this difficult
and dangerous feat.
St Anselm’s Church celebrated
its 80th anniversary as a congregation of the Roman Catholic faith
serving the Fox Hill Community. This was commemorated with a service of
thanksgiving
on Tuesday evening, 21st April 2015 and was hosted by
Monsignor Preston Moss who is rooted in the Fox Hill community and is
celebrating 50 years in the priesthood this year. He was joined by Rev. Dr.
Philip Rahming. The Rev. J. Carl Rahming of St. Paul’s Baptist spoke on behalf
of the Council of Churches in Fox Hill. The area MP paid tribute and offered
his congratulations from the floor of the House on Wednesday, 23rd
April 2015.
San Salvador now has a national
park system and DPM Philip Davis was on that island
on Thursday to perform the declaration
and delegation of all crown land that falls within San Salvador’s park system to
the management of the Bahamas National Trust. The five parks are the
Graham’s Harbour Iguana and Seabird
National Park, 5,500 acres;
West
Coast Marine Park, 6,000 acres;
Pigeon
Creek & Snow Bay National Park, 4,865 acres;
Southern Great Lake National Park, over 4,068 acres and finally,
the
Green’s Bay National Park on
Goulding Cay which will protect the 599 acres there.
Deputy Prime Minister
Philip Brave Davis announced this week that cabinet has approved some fleet
replacement for Bahamasair and the Ministry of Finance is currently reviewing the
best financing options available to the government to achieve this. On the
issue of privatization, Mr. Davis said that there are several interested
parties but the government must execute its due diligence before a final
decision is made.
The Road Traffic Department announced this week
plans to fully automate the processes in all sections of this department, including
driver and vehicle licensing. The total cost will be in excess of $5 million.
This initiative is expected to improve government revenue by streamlining
processes, eliminated long lines, overtime and mitigate fraudulent activities.
About the author: Elcott Coleby is a Deputy Director at the
Bahamas Information Services. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
Chemistry (B.Sc) and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA). He provides
frequent commentary on public policy and communicates the works of the
government. Address all comments to the following email:
egcoleby44@gmail.com