“McAlpine: I put country first – Always” – the Tribune

Excerpt from this story; “AS HE slammed Free National Movement Chairman Carl Culmer for calling him a hypocrite, Pineridge MP Fredrick McAlpine yesterday suggested the FNM chair was not a real leader.

Mr. Culmer made the remark about the FNM backbencher last week as he deemed Wednesday’s march outside Parliament a failure organized by the Progressive Liberal Party.

Despite siding with protesters who demonstrated against the Minnis administration, Mr. McAlpine insisted he was not a hypocrite or anti-FN but said the party does need a ‘come to Jesus moment’ having faced two protests in less than six months.”

I have had conversation with the Hon. McAlpine and we have made peace and I refuse to attack or bash him because of his view but I would like to ask him exactly what does he mean when he says, “I put country first – always”?

For some putting country first seems to mean to bring immediate relief to the persons of that country or to do whatever it takes to bring about this relief and is what most person expect of a government when they vote them in; especially in the manner in which the current Free National Movement government was voted in.

For others, putting country first means setting long terms goals for the country so that in the future the country will have a solid foundation on which to build and grow and NO the previous  Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government did not leave one in place, so I do not what to hear them carry on with that again.

Both of these views have their potential merits and both have their potential pitfalls.

If one were to bring immediate relief to the masses no matter what, given the state the country has been in, then one must ask at what cost?  How does one achieve such a lofty goal and if one looks to take the second route, then how much can the people actually  bear in the attempt to achieve long terms goals for the betterment of the country?

It would be foolish and irresponsible to accept any and everything that any government does or says without question but as you question, at the same time you must be willing and able to offer viable solutions and take the ‘heat’ for your criticism; well within reason.

I have not been pleased with everything that this government has done to date but as I criticize them, I at the very least offer a solution.

Today, the Free National Movement (FNM) member of parliament for Pineridge gets into a spat over what is hypocritical as it pertains to the direction in which the governing Free National Movement is taking the country and my opinion is exactly how does one define ‘country first’?

“Country First” like the phase “Nationalist” basically off the very same concept, are both catchy terms but how do you define each in the best interest of any nation because no matter which direction you take to improve the lives of the of the people of The Bahamas through true change, someone will be dissatisfied and/or made to ‘suffer’.

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“No relief from power bills – More expensive fuel to blame” – The Nassau Guardian 05.11.2018

Excerpt from this article; “Consumers who have seen their Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) bills spike in recent months might not get any relief for months as the electricity company continues to grapple with generation issues stemming from a fire that impacted two of the Clifton Pier power station’s largest engines in September.

Chairman of BPL Dr. Donovan Moxey said BPL is working on securing additional assets to compensate for the loss of those engines, but said that might not happen until next summer.

‘The spike in the cost of electricity is due to a number of factors,’ he said during a press conference on Friday at BPL’s Tucker Road headquarters.

‘First of all, we lost some critical assets at Clifton Pier, about 60 – 70 megawatts that was used to generate electricity for New Providence, given the fire that we had.

‘This particular generation assets were running on heavy fuel oil (HFO), which is the least expensive of the fuels that we use to generate electricity.’

‘We had to shift that load to Blue Hills (power plant).  Blue Hills runs on mostly on ADO, automotive diesel oil, which is much more expensive than HFO.’

‘So, when we lost those assets at Clifton and we had to shift our load to Blue Hills, we ended up utilizing the more expensive fuel, and right now our fuel mixture is 70 percent ADO, 30 percent HFO.’

‘So that’s what caused that inherent spike in the cost of electricity”

“The spike in cost of electricity is due to  number of factors”  and still waiting to hear which one these factors makes the public at large liable for the increased cost in the generation of power.

I had a calming down period to undergo as I experienced what could be described as a period of ‘rage and violence’ when I first read this article and the reasoning behind the increase in power costs and would like to first say that I find the actions by Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) and the government allowing it actually happen simply unconscionable; especially with the present state of the economy.

Indulge me in a simple analogy of this situation to highlight my position.

If I am own a car service and have an arrangement with a client to pick them up from a certain location and take them back there for a prearranged fee; I then cannot go demand compensation from them if my car has broken down and I have to rent another car to fulfill my obligations and this is exactly how I see the present situation with BPL.

How can they reasonably expect for the consumers to pay higher fates plus VAT due to mechanical issues that they have encountered?  These concerns are noted by me but really are not my financial concerns as I have already have an agreement with the power company to supply me power at a set rate.  The only way that I can reasonably engage the power company when considering a power rate increase would be if or when the price of fuel rises on the global market and we have already seen that they are NOT interested in this conversation because when oil prices fall, the rate of electricity still remains constant; well they have never done it to my recollection.

What I find seriously unjust about what is going on here is the fact that Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) has passed these costs onto  it consumers with the blessing of the Utilities Regulations & Competition Authority (URCA ) a state owned organization, instead of taking the lost of for faulty or malfunctioning equipment; it is fact that this now increases hardship on the average person who now is even more pressed when making the decision between lights and food and it also discourages economic growth as some employers will now be forced to cut back, not hire and even having some small businesses who are at this very time just breaking even to probably go out of business.

It is my opinion that this more by BPL only serves to negatively impact the country at large

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Even as I may be greatly criticized for what is termed as unfair commentary against the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) because they are not the government; I feel compelled to address them just based on their blatant hypocrisy and duplicity.

“Christie urges Brave t lean on PLP’s” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Former Prime Minister Perry Christie urged Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip Brave Davis to ‘not fall victim’ to a narrative that will be created to defeat him.

“You play your role in this democracy,’ Christie told Davis while speaking in front of a crowd of party supporters at former PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts’s memorial at PLP headquarters on Wednesday.

‘You continue to play your role in this democracy, pushing forward making the sacrifice you are making, and relying on the goodwill and strength and conviction of these people.”

What I find amazing is the constant use of the word of democracy by the former leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, as he encourages the present leader to stay the course of democracy in the party when both of these men played a part in stifling democracy not just in the country but in their very own political organization.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) held its first party convention in over 2016, with the last one before that being held in 2009 and this is in spite of the fact that the party’s constitution calls for a convention very year.

Now, as Brave takes over and is encouraged to carry on with the works of democracy in the party; they [the Progressive Liberal Party] have held two conventions since being defeated in 2017, this would be in keeping with their new found convictions but their upcoming convention; which would continue these democratic works, has been out on pause due to ‘financial’ considerations.

Maybe this reason is plausible maybe not but you as already proven that you have a real struggle with democracy, even though this is one of the principles of governance in The Bahamas which was brought to Independence by the Progressive Liberal Party itself. 

This have been proven when you were a government by the way that you governed the country and by the way that you run your very own political organization, so the use of the word “democracy” by anyone in the present Progressive Liberal Party, especially those that Aare a part of the ‘old guard’ demonstrates the improper use of this word.

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“Don’t be fooled, ‘prove your status’ makes us all Jean Rony” – Insight ‘The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “The Social Media frenzy about the identity of Jena Rony Jean-Charles for him to ‘prove who he is’ promotes a serious threat to the presumption of innocence in The Bahamas.  Targeting Jean Rony puts everyone’s freedom and presumption of innocence at stake.  We are all potential Jean Ronys.

Jean Rony has committed no immigration nor other offence known to law.  Like most of us, he was “born” in The Bahamas and was exercising his constitutional right to move freely when he was falsely, illegally detained and expelled from the country.

This is a result of Fred Mitchell’s 2014 ‘Prove your status’ and ‘produce your papers’ upon demand policy.  Jean Rony was thereby presumed to be guilty of no known offense under the law.  Because Fred Mitchell (PLP) and now continuing with Brent Symonette (FNM), he was merely by policy, deemed born with original sin.

It can and will happen to any of us.”

First, let us dispel with the notion that Jean Rony Jean-Charles has committed no immigration nor other offense known to law; first he did not by our current immigration laws, apply for citizenship when he had reached the age of eighteen and thereby violated the spirit of not only the constitution but also immigration policy; the play with semantics now by Fred Smith only serves to further the divide with persons whom held some sort of empathy for his client as he now seeks to apply for citizenship.

As Jean-Rony applies for citizenship, a matter that should not be addressed until the whole issue of who he really is is cleared up, we must look at the fact that not only did Jean Rony attempt to perpetuate a fraud on the country by not applying for citizenship thereby living without the responsibility of being a contributing citizen; there is also the issue of him being in the criminal system when he himself admitted to being arrested for possession of marijuana, fined and jailed for a month, while seeking to claim he has violated “no immigration nor other offense”.  While this may be seen as a very minor offence, it should be considered when considering citizenship as now we already have a man lying to conceal two criminal acts.

No, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis nor Fred Mitchell or even myself do not need to prove that we are the persons that they are on our birth certificates because we all have documents in support of who were are; when arrested, detained and deported Mr. Jean Rony seemed unable to produce any documents attesting to who to exactly who he is and it seems to date that he is even unable to.

The recent attack by Fred Smith QC is nothing more than a ‘smoke screen’, in my opinion as he attempt to invoke the distain that American had for the “Papers Please” law of Arizona back in 2010 and I would ask him did this practice just become ‘wrong’ as his client’s future came to be in jeopardy due to the ‘shell-game’ which he attempted to play with the government and lost?

As Fred Smith seeks to further erode the sovereignty of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas with his asinine ‘hit and miss’ commentary’’ I would enquire of him how is he seeking to now help his client while playing this high stake chess game.

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