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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 PM announces another youth intervention initiative
Acknowledging some systemic failures, but seeking to identify and correct the root causes of many of the country’s social ills and apparent dysfunction and under performance in the education system, Prime Minister Christie believes that a system of institutional tracking of many of our young and vulnerable students will provide the requisite intelligence to inform public policy on the appropriate interventions to augment current initiatives.
According to Prime Minister Christie, one of the most important actions the government is currently taking is “being able to put ourselves in a position to track that child throughout and therefore to look back at his life to see what the story (of the child’s life) is all about. There is no doubt that the system has allowed people to fall through the cracks. Kids that come through school without being able to read properly – without being able to write properly and that’s something that we have to remediate and the Minister (of Education) is working on a plan now to augment what we are doing.”
The Prime Minister revealed this latest policy initiative to the press on Monday at a ceremony to rename the former Carmichael Road Primary School to the Sybil Louise Strachan Primary School.
Mr. Christie also sees this social intervention through the Ministry of Education as a pre-emptive strike against the potential for criminality later on in the lives of our vulnerable and at-risk youth population.
“We have to find a way to institutionalize reaching down” said Mr. Christie, “and identifying people who are vulnerable and being able to help them…that’s the whole basis of the philosophy of our government now. Being able to know that what we do – you know this whole biblical thing about the least, what you do for the disadvantaged in our country - the least of our brethren - that still must be what drives us. To be able to know that there are people who fall through the cracks and if we look at those who are committing crimes now, we are going to find that there is a real history we ought to have known and that we ought to have had – we ought to have been publicly informed on so that our policies could be, I think, addressed…structured to address those challenges.”
More details on this government intervention, including funding, will be explained during the upcoming budget debate.
Minister Griffin addresses UN on status of women
The Parliament of The Bahamas is considering several critical amendments to the Constitution of The Bahamas in fulfillment of the government's commitment to the promotion and protection of the human rights of women, Minister of Social Services and Community Development, the Hon. Melanie Sharon Griffin told a key United Nations Women's Forum.
"Once approved by both Houses, the amendments will open the way for a referendum by the people to remove the last vestiges of discrimination against women and bring about equality for women and men under the law," Minister Griffin said on Monday.
Addressing the 59th Session of the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action -- Mrs. Griffin said the Government of The Bahamas "has aggressively undertaken" a number of initiatives in order to meet some of the international obligations included in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Mrs. Griffin said the initiatives have been undertaken with the support of local Civil Society Organizations as well as international partners such as UN Women, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund, formerly known as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities) and ECLAC (The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean).
Government satisfied with first VAT return filing
The first monthly filing deadline for large businesses was on March 2nd, and the Ministry of Finance and VAT Department are pleased with the results and positive outcomes of the filing process. In a press statement earlier this week, the Minister of Finance confirmed that nearly 95 per cent of businesses with revenues of $5 million or greater successfully completed the filing process for the January tax period.
“We have worked with Bahamian businesses to ensure that they understand their VAT filing responsibilities and are happy to report that the vast majority of large businesses had a successful experience,” stated John Rolle, Financial Secretary.
With an estimated $28 million in returns filed to date, State Minister for Finance Michael Halkitis was also upbeat and confident with these initial results and the prospects for drawing down the national debt.
“The results overall for the February filing process was incredibly positive and we are confident that future filing processes will continue to get smoother,” said the State Minister. “Tax reform is a key component of our Government’s plan to reduce the deficit thereby reducing our need for additional borrowing,” continued the Minister.
The quarterly filing date is set for April 2015 and at that time the more than 5,000 registered companies are expected to file their VAT returns.
COB transition well underway
Days after the launch of the College Of The Bahamas Transition Project, College President Dr. Rodney Smith provided finer details and further updates on the transition process. He spoke with reporters on Tuesday, 10th March 2015 at the college.
As for the enabling legislation for legal university status, Dr. Smith said that a draft University of The Bahamas Bill is presently being circulated for input, discussion and feedback to faculty, staff, students, alumni and the College of The Bahamas Council.
One of the most significant features of the bill said the President was the replacement of the current Academic Board with the Faculty Senate which will usher in a new academic culture of “shared governance” at the university.
“The University will establish a Faculty Senate, to which all members of faculty will belong and which will replace the Academic Board. The Faculty Senate will provide oversight over the entire curriculum and all matters pertaining to standards and academic quality of the institution.”
Structurally, the president advised that there will be a new university entrance from Tucker Road via Thompson Boulevard; the approval of a new royal blue and white logo by the College’s Council; the ongoing construction of the Franklyn R. Wilson Graduate Centre; and the construction of additional buildings on campus including the expanded GTR Campbell Small Island Sustainability Research Center and the first on-campus residence hall among others upgrades.
“We will shortly begin the renovations to the Portia M. Smith Building” continued Dr. Smith, “while additional new infrastructures will be announced at a later date, including the University’s access to all sporting facilities at the National Sports facilities and the establishment of the Big Pond area as an ecosystem preservation Research site under the University of The Bahamas,” the President said.
COB Council Chairman Alfred Sears said that an increase in the fee schedule for the university is not being considered at this time.
Web Shops file Request for Proposals
Twelve Web Shops currently operate in the Bahamas. Of that number, eleven of these local gaming operations have expressed interests in obtaining licenses to operate web shops and had until 5pm on Tuesday, 10th March 2015 to file their due diligence Request for Proposal (RFP) at a cost of $250,000 each. At the close of business, 10 companies had filed. It is now a wait and see for who will be awarded licenses to operate web shops. The RFP includes information dating as far back as 20 years; profiles on all employees who must be licensed; background information on all parties involved; the ownership structure; company business plan; community benefit plan; IT data; disaster and recovery plan among other information.
Belonger’s Bill goes to Committee
The amendment to the Immigration Act 2015 which provides for, among other terms and conditions, a Belonger’s Permit for specific categories of persons, entered the committal stage on Wednesday and is expected to pass the Lower House on Monday.
In his debate, Foreign Minister Hon. Fred Mitchell bemoaned the irony of the bill in that the same people who claim to want to help the undocumented among us, hurt them through their opposition to the government’s policy initiative to regularize such persons.
“This legislation makes it better for all concerned. For the first time some people will get a status which they could not get before: open a bank account and go to school. Yet the irony is that the people who these critics say they want to help have been hurt by the opposition of these same critics.”
Specifically, the Bill has nineteen provisions: Clause 4 allows for the sanctions of the act to apply across the board to all persons; clause 5 creates an immigration reserve patterned after the Police Reserve; clause 7 allows for the grant of permanent residence notwithstanding a death of the spouse and clause 8 allows in certain circumstances people who are divorced or separated to continue to have status in The Bahamas particularly where there are children of the marriage. Clause 9 adds a new section which provides for the revocation of permanent residency consistent with the changes to the act so that if one remarries after a divorce, they may lose their permanent residence status obtained by virtue of marriage to a Bahamian. Clause 10 of the bill amends Section 19 to mandate the possession of valid documentation for travel outside The Bahamas. Pretty simple and straightforward stuff.
DPM Davis addresses BAMSI in the House
In the wake of the fire that destroyed the roof of a male dormitory at BAMSI in North Andros and damaged the structure generally, there have been rumblings in the public domain about the status of the mandatory all-risk insurance on the building. The status of the insurance was confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis when he addressed the House on Monday of this week.
In his address, the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed that the contractor, Audley Hanna, did not have all-risk insurance. He further advised the House that the government was considering two options – gutting the building or to raze and rebuild the entire structure at a cost of some $5.5 million. He pointed out that since the dormitory was under construction and had not been officially turned over to the government, the contractor was still fully liable for the construction outlay to date.
“Given the fact that the dormitory was not complete and has not been turned over to the Government” said Mr. Davis, “by contract, the contractor stands fully liable for the construction outlay to date, which totals $2,550.864.15. My Ministry is now making a determination as to how we will recover this loss from the contractor.
“Since the fire, two options have been determined. The first is to gut the building to its foundation and rebuild, given the fact that the fire tested the entrails of the building. The second is total demolition to rebuild a new structure. Estimates in hand target the reconstruction cost at around $5.5Million. The increase in cost takes into consideration the cost to reconfigure the units from single to double occupancy, ordinary inflation, and VAT.
“Consequently, the net cost to Government will be the cost of reconstruction, less the expenditure for the structure destroyed by fire. That is to say, just under $3Million.”
But why sound the “sentinel” on Abaco operations?
A day after 67 males, 10 females and one child were interdicted at sea just off New Providence and the landing of another 60 people in Abaco earlier in the week, Immigration Minister Mitchell met with reporters in conference on Thursday morning to update them on these new developments and other relevant policy matters.
I wanted to know why Minister continues to eliminate the element of surprise by repeatedly sounding the alarm and the warning about an imminent and massive check and interdiction operation in Abaco when some critics argue that such warnings would give illegal migrants ample time and opportunity to evade authorities. Minister Mitchell responded this way:
“Part of the reason high visibility is done is (because) the community of illegals is being given fair warning to get out of dodge; that’s the first thing. Secondly, their friends who claim that they are victims have no complaint now because they have had enough time to either get their friends out or to get them regularized. So no complaint they can make about this. The third thing is, the Bahamian community remember is impacted by these exercises and what you want to do is to minimize any friction with the Bahamian community over this. For example, if you are going to do additional checks in a community that is not used to people stopping them and saying, ‘can I have some identification documents?’ - If you are going to do that sort of exercise, you don’t want a community to be taken by surprise by that.
“And one of the ways we are going to deal with this is administratively - is that in Abaco, every employer will be called upon by Immigration to produce employees and their identification – make sure that every employee there has a work permit or is a Bahamian.”
So readers and critics, there you have it – the three reasons the Minister gave for sounding the “sentinel” as I call it – well ahead of the interdiction efforts in Abaco.
In Passing…
Bahamasair pilots who were laid off late last year are now back on the job part time. According to Labour Minister, Hon. Shane Gibson, the unavailability of a Dash 8 aircraft due to a faulty landing gear prompted the layoffs of the four pilots. The new work schedule is one month on duty and one month off until such time as the aircraft becomes operational sometime in June 2015. Also, in an attempt to recover some of the losses incurred during the 22 - 23 December 2014, lump sum payments to pilots for the first two years of the labour agreement currently under negotiations are off the table, but the government is prepared to discuss the final three years.
More good news for the Bahamas government and would-be licensees of Web Shop operations – the Bank of The Bahamas confirmed on Thursday that it had received clearance from its US clearing and corresponding bank, JP Morgan Chase, to accept deposits from “a legalized Web Shop industry.” This announcement clears a major hurdle for both the industry and the government in achieving its policy objective of a fully regularized local gaming industry.
Early Friday morning, the Department of Immigration confirmed via press release that some time near midnight on Thursday, a vessel believed to be from Haiti landed in the vicinity of Palmetto Point, Eleuthera with people aboard without visas to enter The Bahamas. Some 28 people were detained by a combined force of Immigration, Customs and the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The people, believed to be Haitian nationals, will be flown to Nassau on Friday and a sweep of the area is continuing to determine if there are any others who may have escaped lawful custody.
Prime Minister Christie thanked George Markantonis, former CEO of Atlantis for his contributions to the development of the tourism product and Bahamas economy on Thursday evening at a farewell reception and dinner in his honour at the Royal Towers at Atlantis.
The official closing ceremony for senior officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force who have completed the first Social Crime Prevention course sponsored by the United States Embassy and the Pan American Development Foundation, was held at the Police Training College Thompson Boulevard on Friday 13th March 2015. The Hon. Dr. Bernard Nottage, Minister of National Security, Commissioner of Police Mr. Ellison Greenslade and his Senior Executive Leadership team and officials from the United States Embassy were in attendance.
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
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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