Posted by This Week In The News on June 25, 2001 at 16:09:32:
Sen. Fred Mitchell's Uncensored Column
www.fredmitchelluncensored.com
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
BRENT SYMONETTE IS GONE
Last week, we carried the headline that highlighted three members of the Ingraham Government that were alleged to be
corrupt. Bradley Roberts Chairman of the PLP demanded their resignations: Brent Symonette (pictured), Head of the Airport
Authority; Frank Watson, Deputy Prime Minister and James Knowles, Minister of Agriculture. We have good news. Brent
Symonette has resigned. He went down like a fly. He must now bear the label corrupt. He took a parting shot in his
resignation directed by the Prime Minister on Wednesday 20th June. He said that he hoped that Mr. Roberts' allegations did
not come about as a result of his efforts to collect moneys owed to the Airport Authority by a company which has a lease at
the airport in which Mr. Roberts has shares. Stupid man! He does not get the point. Bradley Roberts is not in the
Government. No policy issue arises with the ownership of his shares in Airport Caterers and no conflict of interest arises.
Mr. Symonette who is the son for the first Premier of The Bahamas Sir Roland Symonette learned nothing from his father's
political experience. You see the Symonette Government of the United Bahamian Party (UBP) was voted out by the Bahamian
people in 1967 by a corruption scandal in which all the members of the Government got payments from the Grand Bahama Port Authority who
went to the Government asking for various permits. Sir Roland is dead and gone. His son one whole generation later has not learned a blessed
thing about being greedy. He wants to take it all. He blocks out a poor contractor from getting work to pave the airport but he gives a contract
to a company in which he and his brother are the majority shareholders. On Thursday 21 June, Brent Symonette, still not realizing the
magnitude of his folly, issued a statement in which he said that after he is vindicated he would return to active politics. This followed the story
in the Bahama Journal that the Prime Minister Ingraham Hubert Ingraham has decided that Brent can no longer run for the UBP's seat in Montagu, a basically
all white constituency. Of course, the ethics don't matter to those people who are FNM in Montagu. The only thing that matters is the colour
of his skin and the fact that he is an FNM. But interestingly enough it confirms what we had been saying that William Allen, the hapless
Minister of Finance and present Montagu representative is out and Brent is in. But we shall see.
THE PRIME MINISTER ON BRENT SYMONETTE
Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Lady Symonette, the dowager Queen of the United Bahamian Party (UBP) got the
call that her Prime Minister Ingraham Hubert Ingraham, the man they had bought and paid for was going to fire Brent Symonette her well beloved son. The
uppity overseer has the temerity to fire the Mistresses' son. But the public must really see through this scam. The key to all of this is the
orchestrated resignation of Brent Symonette. In the middle of a news conference on Tuesday 19 June, Mr. Symonette announced that he was
resigning as Chairman of the Airport Authority. He had been invited to tender his resignation by the Minister of Transport C. A. Smith. Now
the reason why Mr. Smith invited Mr. Symonette to resign according to Mr. Symonette: "… Was my failure to have communicated the issue of
this contract to the Board of Directors of the Airport Authority." So what the FNM was doing by this carefully orchestrated resignation is to
limit the fault to that; not to corruption, crookedness and greed. But they can't weasel out of things so easily. The fact is this was just plain
crookedness and greed and corruption. Mr. Symonette who is already a rich man could not be satisfied with what he has. He and his family
want more. This is the same man who accused the PLP of playing the race card when the PLP denounced his awarding a contract to Americans
to run a parking lot at the Bahamian airport in Nassau. Mind you he went to school at St. Andrew's when the school was a whites only
institution. But there's more. A day hadn't gone by when Wendall Jones' Bahama Journal published a story indicating that Mr. Symonette
would not be getting the Montagu nomination because of the crooked deal that he had done. Now the uppity Negro Prime Minister Ingraham had gone too
far. Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall when that call went from the Symonette household to tell the Prime Minister Ingraham he had
better behave himself. Can you imagine him? "Kee! Kee! Kee!" Grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat. Telling the Symonettes not to worry
bosses, I have it all fixed up. And so he was able to announce not a day later that what Mr. Symonette had done was not an impediment to his
return to active politics. Of course not, one standard for white people, another standard for Black people. That's the Prime Minister Ingraham for you.
FRANK WATSON MUST BE NEXT
If Brent Symonette had to resign because he was involved in a conflict of interest with the allocation of a Government
contract, then certainly Frank Watson (pictured in this Tribune photo) must go as well. The allegations made against Mr.
Watson by the PLP's Bradley Roberts are far more serious. Those allegations are that Mr. Watson signed bad cheques
to the Bahamas Government for his company prior to his winning the Government in 1992, and then he used the
allocation of contracts when he became a Minister of the Government to pay those moneys back. At the very least that
is a conflict of interest. It is an obvious case of using the Government's funds to pay off his personal debts. The Prime
Minister was the Minister of Finance so the allegation is that he must have been aware of it. So far no answer from Chief
Slave Hubert Ingraham who as you know called Mr. Watson the only man he could trust. The continuation of the saga
is that Frank Watson got up to address the allegations in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 20 June. He was
interrupted by the PLP's Bradley Roberts who told him that the FNM had hurriedly referred the matter to the Committee
on Privileges of the House and therefore the matter could no longer be discussed in the House. That's what they get for
trying to kill the matter. The PLP has published the allegations in full in its newspaper the New Times which is an insert
in the Nassau Guardian. PLP Leader Perry Christie has announced that the Public Accounts Committee on which the
Opposition has the majority will be convened to get to the bottom of the story about Mr. Watson. He expects that the
Treasurer will be called to explain the facts of what happened and all the documents blocked by the Government will be
tabled there. Prime Minister Ingraham Ingraham can spare his Government the agony and simply allow Frank Watson to resign.
DUPUCH ALLEGES SEX MISCONDUCT
The Tribune's headline of Wednesday 20 June was startling: POLITICIAN IS ACCUSED OF RAPING GIRL. The question was who is the
politician? The remarks were made in the House of Assembly on Tuesday 19 June by Pierre Dupuch of the FNM, the dissident Member of
Parliament for Shirlea. Mr. Dupuch did not call a name but here is the operative part of what he said: "I am concerned because I have it on
reliable resources that a Member of Parliament not necessarily a member of this House is guilty of statutory rape." Now that is a very serious
charge. What it means is that there is a member of parliament who had sex with an underaged person, who was therefore unable to give
consent. Mr. Dupuch did not say whether the member was male or female, nor did he say whether the victim was female or male. Now the
interesting thing about this is that almost automatically most Bahamians would think that it is a male who has slept with an underaged girl. That
then leaves each male in the Parliament under a shadow of suspicion. Further, the clear suggestion is that the person is not a member of the
House. That means that he could only be talking about males in the Senate or the Governor General (who in our strange constitutional parlance
is also one of the Houses of Parliament). Each male in the Senate and the Governor General is therefore able to say that they are being defamed
or to ask the question asked of our Lord: is it I? Mr. Dupuch has an obligation to say who it is and when this matter was alleged to have
occurred and under the watch of which attorney general. Remember that Janet Bostwick was the Attorney General up until 31st December
2000. She ought to state whether or what she knows about the issue. This is all the more the case since the political community knows of the
antipathy that there is of Mr. Dupuch and his family against the Bostwicks since Mrs. Bostwick's husband Senator Henry Bostwick who is
President of the Senate represented the family of a young man who was killed in a road traffic accident involving the son of Pierre Dupuch.
Then after Mrs. Bostwick says what she knows of this, Carl Bethel, the now Attorney General should let us know what he knows of this. You
will remember that last year Gregory Williams, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Health resigned after it was disclosed that his wife
had made a formal complaint against him of a sexual nature. What has the government of openness and accountability to say now that one of
its own has made this accusation? No one on the PLP side has the slightest idea what Mr. Dupuch is talking about and certainly none of us are
under suspicion. So this is an FNM problem.
THE HONORARY CONSUL AND THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT
He is quite something that honorary consul, resident in Hamburg. The social highlight of the trip, emphasis on light, if you will forgive the pun,
is the trip around the red light district of Hamburg. Hamburg is Germany's second largest city. As we reported, it has a population of 1.8 million.
It is a seaport and all the shipping lines into Germany from the rest of the world come to the Port of Hamburg. But back to the honorary consul.
He was taking us to dinner and decided that he'd give us a quick tour of the city. The first fifteen minutes of which was to travel through every
nook and cranny of the red light district. He seemed to know his way around. Here is where the girls sit in the room and you can pass down
and bid for the one you want. There are seventy gay bars in Hamburg, he said. Here is where the girls stand on the street. Do you want to get
out and ask them, you are absolutely safe nothing will happen to you. Then here is where the drug needle exchange programme is. And people
stand around here selling anything you want. We (the translator and I) thought it was hilarious. How did this man know all this great detail
about this but he said he had never tasted the wares himself? Things that make you go: hmmm! A good time was had by all.
GERMANY AT PEACE FOR YEARS
It was a fascinating experience visiting Germany for the past week. I should like to thank the German Government for this kind invitation. It was
an honour to have been chosen. I thank Josef Hermanns, the Honorary Consul for Germany in The Bahamas and Ambassador Dr. Christian
Hausmann, resident in Kingston. We have from this visit a clear sense of what Germany's goals are as far as The Bahamas and the Caribbean
are concerned in the area of human rights. They want the death penalty abolished. They want humane standards for prisons in our countries.
We want the same thing. The question is how do we get there, given the lack of resources and the lack of political support for prison reform in
our countries? Present at the visit was Dickey Bradley, the Minister of Urban Development and Housing for Belize, Commissioner of
Corrections John Prescod of Jamaica, myself and Senator Professor Ramesh Deosaran of Trinidad and Tobago who is an academic at the
University of the West Indies Centre for Criminology. We met after the visit to act on some of what we saw: the individual cells, the treatment
of prisoners as human beings with respect and privacy, the work programmes in prisons and the investment by their governments. But German
society is interesting for another reason. It is rebuilding after the cold war, the Berlin wall is down and in the minds of many of the young it is
like a fairy tale. And yet the existence of the wall informed the public policy of the west for almost fifty years. There were the Communists and
the Capitalists. Today those distinctions are no longer relevant in the vibrant democracy that they have built. To be sure there is still some
resentment by the people from the former German Democratic Republic or East Germany that they are treated like second class citizens. The
Westerners don't know what they are complaining about since they say the easterners are the recipients of tax relief and aid that to this date it
has amounted to some 100,000 deutsche marks per capita. But perhaps the most telling statement about modern Germany today is the statement
by Hans-Peter Strenege, State Secretary for Judicial Affairs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. In relating the history of his country, he
recited one war after the next from the nineteenth century through the twentieth century. Then he added that today Germany has had the
longest period of peace as a country - 56 years. Before that the longest period that Germany had not been at war was 43 years. And so that is
why the country is so meticulous when it comes to the death penalty and when it comes to the rule of law. They do not want war again. Peace
is better. We in the Caribbean have known no war so it's easy for us to be casual about human life.
PERRY CHRISTIE ON BAHAMASAIR
Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie made a scorching attack on the Government's record on Bahamasair in the House of
Assembly on Tuesday 19 June. He said that in seven years the FNM had lost 100 million dollars at Bahamasair. He compared
this to 100 million in 17 years under the PLP. For the year ending 20 June 2000, Bahamasair's losses have been pegged at
$25,000,000. But he added that you have to add some four million dollars more, the amount for spending on fixed assets for a
total of $29,341,000. This amount Mr. Christie says exceeds the amount in the national budget allocated for the Defence Force.
OFF THE BLACKLIST-YEAH RIGHT!
There was a news bulletin on ZNS radio at 1 a.m. on Friday 22 June to say that the announcement was made
that The Bahamas has been removed from the blacklist of non-cooperating countries of the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). You might remember it was that Blacklist that caused the
Prime Minister Ingraham to run off like a grovelling mendicant to the developed countries of the world and give away the
store, wrecking our financial services sector. We told the stupid man that he did not have to give away what
he did. Other countries are laughing at us because the business is now coming to them. The press in The
Bahamas all helped the Government including Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham (shown in this Guardian photo) and hapless
Minister of Finance Bill Allen to crow about the fact that The Bahamas is off the Blacklist. Of course what they don't remind
the Government leaders about that this is a crisis of their own making,. First we did not have to be on the blacklist if they had
not neglected the inquiries of the OECD in the first place. Secondly, they ignored the fact that the U.S. administration was changing and under
George Bush the focus would not be the same as under Bill Clinton. What observers are saying now is that the blacklist could not be
maintained by the OECD anyway because the Bush administration had decided that they were not going to agree to the sanctions being
proposed by the OECD. These sanctions could not be maintained in the face of U.S. non-cooperation. The OECD therefore had no choice but
to take everyone off the list. The Government has a set of amendments that it proposes to bring to Parliament to change the laws again. There
is a recognition that the laws are too onerous. They are an invasion of privacy and they also cause banks to be policemen for the work of the
Government. What should happen is that the Bahamian people should refuse to follow them. Like most things in this country, they would then
simply fall away by disuse.
MORE DEAD HAITIANS
What is happening to the refugee population from Haiti in The Bahamas is tragic. As the political and economic situation in Haiti continues to
deteriorate, the refugees keep pouring into The Bahamas. Last week on Monday 18 June the Bahamas Defence Force discovered 25 Haitian
refugees on Man Cay 30 miles east of Harbour Island in the Eleuthera chain. Four of the twenty-five people discovered were dead. The others
were rushed to hospital suffering from severe dehydration. The Tribune showed a photo of some of the survivors. This situation is a serious
matter and with Caricom about to meet in The Bahamas in July we wonder what else of importance do our leaders have to talk about except this
tragedy that continues to unfold with Haiti. No public policy seems to be effective. Haiti is now a member of Caricom and that alone is enough
for us to see what we can do to fix this terrible problem.
CARICOM HEADS TO MEET IN NASSAU
The Bahamas Information Services showed a photo of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham grinning away with the
Caricom Secretary General Edward Carrington. Mr. Ingraham is to Chair the meeting of Caricom Heads of
Government in Nassau that begins on 3 July. Now this is the same Mr. Ingraham who told the Caricom leaders
shortly after he became Prime Minister that he was not coming to any more Caricom meetings because they don't
accomplish anything and there were far too many meetings. After insulting the leaders they promptly chose our
Mr. Ingraham to represent them at some meetings in the South Pacific. Just like the slave that he is, he was happy
to get the free trips and went off to the Pacific for three weeks. We never heard any complaints about Caricom
meetings again. Now he wants this one for a different reason. Mr. Ingraham expects to call an election in The
Bahamas later this year. He is trying to boost his sagging fortunes by spending a fortune on the Caricom meeting.
This will make him look like a statesman or so he thinks. You can take the man out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of the man. The
Government is rapidly fixing up the old Shirley Street theatre where it is expected that the opening for the Caricom meeting will take place. No
word on how much that is to cost.
REGISTER TO CLOSE
Prime Minister and Prime Minister Ingraham Hubert Ingraham has announced that the current register, the one that came into force in January 1997, will be
revoked on 30 September of this year. That means that those who do not now register for the new register that comes into effect on 1 October
will be disenfranchised if an election is called after 1 October and they are not on the new register. This is yet another signal that the elections
are near and that the Constituencies Commission is about to report. The Parliamentary Registrar says that now some 72,000 people have
registered, considerably up on the previous numbers. Some 150,000 are expected to be on the new register. The PLP has appointed Bradley
Roberts MP to the Constituencies Commission. The PLP has its own ideas about what ought to happen to the Boundaries. A court challenge
by this Senator is expected to the membership of both Dion Foulkes and Tommy Turnquest of the FNM as members of the Commission. Mr.
Turnquest is son of Governor General Orville Turnquest to whom the report must go. Mr. Foulkes has been busy telling people what the FNM
plans to do when the Commission meets, thereby fettering his discretion. This would make any decision by the Commission void.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS CASE
Roscoe Perpall, the President of the Bahamas Air traffic Controllers Union, (shown in this Bahama Journal
photo) has called for the resignation of Minister C.A, Smith and Director of Civil Aviation Cyril Saunders.
The two men are responsible for flouting the ruling of the Supreme Court in not allowing the air traffic
controllers back to their jobs before the three month period that meant decertification was up. The
Government sought to flout the ruling of the court by reducing the period to two and a half months. When
the period expired they stalled, delayed and deferred so that the period of three months went by, thereby
flouting the ruling of the Court. The 90-day period was up on Wednesday 20 June. This is a disgrace.
Further C.A. Smith has caused letters to be issued to the air traffic controllers, six of them, threatening them
with dismissal. This is part of the Government's effort to stall delay and defer. This Senator issued a
statement last week in which it was said that a criminal complaint could be issued against the Minister for union busting. In a statement to The
Tribune on Tuesday 19 June, the Minister of Transport Mr. Smith said that should this Senator want to make a criminal complaint against him
"he ought to go right ahead and so do." Well we will do just that. Count on it!
A WORD ON THE COURTS
The case of the air traffic controllers and how the Government has been able to manipulate the system to flout the law and the Courts bears a
serious comment about the state of the Courts. As an advocate, I have expressed over time my feeling that the Courts in this country are weak
and that Judges refuse to stand up in the face of actions of the Government. The actions of the Courts or the inaction as in the case of the air
traffic controllers gives support to that contention. At the appropriate time in the Parliament, I shall vent in full what I consider to be a shocking
dereliction of duty by the Courts of this country in the face of the actions by the Government in the matter of the air traffic controllers.
Bahamians should be chilled by this experience. It shows that we cannot count on the Courts to do what they are mandated to do and are
supposed do. That is tragic.
PINDLING ON THE DOLLAR BILL
The Prime Minister Ingraham announced in Parliament on Wednesday 20 June that a portrait of Sir Lynden Pindling, the founding Prime Minister of The
Bahamas who died last year on 26 August will be placed on the Bahamian one-dollar bill, replacing the picture of the Queen. The notes are to
be issued by the Central Bank shortly. No doubt this is to make up for the disastrous decision two years ago to put the racist former Minister of
Finance Sir Stafford Sands on the ten dollar bill. People have been boycotting the notes and not many are in circulation. The PLP promises
when it comes to office to withdraw the Stafford Sands notes altogether from circulation.
JOE DELANEY DIES
Condolences to the family of Joseph Delaney, Progressive Liberal Party Stalwart Councillor. Mr. Delaney was buried in Nassau this week. Party
Leader Christie and Mrs. Christie attended the funeral.
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Congratulations to our friends Angela Burrows (pictured) and Denise Sherman Cartwright on graduating Friday 22 June with master's degrees
M. Ed (Curriculum & Instruction). Mrs. Cartwright is the Senior Mistress at Freeport Anglican High School and Mrs. Burrows is the newly
installed President of the Pilot's Club of Freeport.
Cruise To Nowhere No More - Discovery Cruises has discontinued its 'Cruise To Nowhere' over problems with the smuggling of illegal
immigrants. Cruise officials reportedly discovered that people were stowing away on the boat while gamblers revelled in hopes staying hidden
until the gamblers were offloaded and the boat plied to Miami.
Immediate Response - ZNS' new top newsman Darolld Miller is scheduled to host his popular talk show 'Immediate Response' from Grand
Bahama this coming week. We shall report on whether the Government's picture of Freeport as a boom town stands scrutiny. For all those who
want to speak and hear the truth, if Freeport is doing so well, how come there are so many houses are on the auction block? We'll see what the
callers have to say to the national audience.
Regatta Time - It's regatta time in Grand Bahama and the boats were out at Taino Beach. A sudden summer storm at the regatta Saturday 23
June sent spectators scurrying for cover and vendors chasing blown away tents. But the real story comes from the gaggle of politicians that
follow regattas around The Bahamas. This week, they're here in Grand Bahama and they're talking to us.
More Long Knives - Strong rumblings indicate that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham will accept the orchestrated draft to run for a third term on
Wednesday night. Sources say that Mr. Ingraham will call his MPs together and accept "with the condition that he have a free hand". Among
those reported to fall under the knife wielded by that 'free hand' are DPM Frank 'Where's Bahamasair's money?' Watson, C.A. Smith, "damaged
by the air traffic controllers fight" and David 'I keep trying to fire this guy' Thompson.
David Knows Nothing - Marco City FNM MP Ambassador David Thompson was asked by his generals about reports of his impending demise
as a candidate and is said to have told them that he knew of no such thing. Well David, that's how politics goes in The Bahamas. Duh?!
Something for Wells - The beginnings of moves against the FNM Wells dissidents are surfacing. Sources say that the Boundaries Commission
report will pit Wells against Dr. Bernard Nottage in what is now Kennedy. An obvious attempt at creating mischief and preventing any
co-operation among the smaller opposition forces.
Boundaries Already Drawn? - "Believe me, it's gospel", said our informant. "The lines are drawn and Neko (Grant FNM MP Lucaya) is going to
lose about 300 voters to High Rock. Everyone is frightened that Marcus (Dr. Bethel PLP candidate for High Rock) will beat the pants off Ken
Russell (FNM High Rock MP and recently appointed Minister of Works)." We pass it on for those interested in the dark art of gerrymandering.
Neko Laughs - Notwithstanding the loss of three hundred voters from Lucaya as reported above, Neko Grant, the FNM MP for Lucaya is
brimming with new found confidence over the security of his seat. Said Neko at play Sunday 24 June with other FNM MPs "Some fellows
around here do look a little concerned".
Iron Mike calls from Napa Valley - We couldn't believe it. What was so important for on again off again FNM 'Iron' Mike Edwards, a former
party vice chairman, to call the Freeport eatery from his holiday in California? "I am 100% FNM" he now proclaims. Hmmm! Little birdies say
that Mike was read the riot act about his association with Minister of Idle Poetry Algernon Allen. Said the source: "Mike was told not to keep company with that fellow and he seems to be listening."