The very same Supreme Court Justice that put an injunction in place to prohibit the demolition of shanty towns and illegal structures now has removed it.

“Green light given to clear shanties– Judge says policies to demolish unregulated communities is lawful” – The Nassau Guardian; February 13^th 2023

Excerpt from this article;

“The decision of Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson that the Minnis administration’s shantytowns eradication policy and its actions in seeking to execute it were legal, clears the way for the Davis administration to carry through on its own stated plan to address the vexing and long-standing issue of irregular communities across The Bahamas.

In a ruling that had been highly anticipated, Grant-Thompson rejected the claims made by a group of shantytown residents that the government acted illegally in issuing notices for them to vacate land and violated their constitutional rights on multiple fronts, including their right not to be deprived of their property, their right not to be treated in an inhuman or degrading fashion, and their right to freedom from discrimination.

“The policy and the subsequent decisions were constitutional,” stated Grant-Thompson in the ruling handed down on Friday.

“Any interference with any right was justifiable and applied reasonably to obtain a legitimate aim/purpose. It was further submitted that such policies were not discriminatory in their effect. The applicants were not unlawfully deprived of their property.”

As such, the judge discharged the injunction she granted on August 3, 2018 which restrained the government from demolishing buildings in shantytowns on New Providence or elsewhere in The Bahamas.

The judge also cleared the way for the disconnection of utilities illegally connected, though she said the actions of the authorities ‘should be humane and sensitive to the needs of this potentially vulnerable community’ and in full compliance with human rights conventions.”

On Friday past in her ruling the Supreme Court Justice says; “The Court is satisfied that the Minister has the authority to remove or require the removal of dangerous or dilapidated buildings even to the point of demolishing them.  Such structures would obviously pose a risk to the health and safety of the public. As a result of this ruling, the injunction which was in place covering the ‘shantytowns’ is hereby lifted.”

The first and most obvious question that I have is when did the Supreme Court Justice come to the realization that these structures would “pose a risk to the health and safety of the public”? 

Now we must not jump to the conclusion that the decision was compromised by politics, but it is curious that only now the Supreme Court Justice finds “The policy and the subsequent decisions were constitutional,” what has changed since the Minnis administration initially put the policy in place?

There has been no referendum to change the constitution.

Are we playing politics with the lives of persons that we claim to be concerned about?

Are we playing politics with policies which, if implemented when they were first issued, would have move the country that much further along in “the plan to address the vexing and long-standing issue of irregular communities across The Bahamas”?

Now the New Day government claims a “victory” in having this injunction overturned, when they we sympathetic to having it put in place in the first place.

Just shameful or is that shameless?

Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.END

One of the greatest transgressions that the Minnis administration committed against the Bahamian people upon coming to power was when they increased Value-Added Tax (VAT) from seven and a half percent (7.5%) to twelve percent (12%).  They did this after telling the people that taxation was a lazy man’s way to raise revenue and they were heavily criticized and ridiculed by the people of the country, even those that put their trust in them and voted for them and also by the opposition at the time; a Philip ‘Brave’ Davis led Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).  This is notably one of the “nails in the coffin” of the Minnis administration.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in opposition promised to do better; as they claimed that the Minnis led Free National Movement (FNM) government, was having no consideration on the less fortunate amongst us and was burdening them with the increased VAT rate.

“Govt. approves NIB rate hike” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “The Cabinet of The Bahamas has green-lighted a National Insurance Board (NIB) rate increase, which is expected to take effect July 1, The Nassau Guardian understands.

The government has made no announcement as yet, but a 1.5 percent increase has reportedly been agreed.

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Myles LaRoda, who has responsibility for NIB, did not confirm Cabinet’s specific decision on the matter, but did indicate to reporters yesterday that a decision was made.

“That matter has been dealt with at Cabinet,” said LaRoda when asked for an update.

“We are at a decision. We have a little bit of cleaning up to do with regard to the decision that was made and we will be coming forth shortly with the direction that the National Insurance Board will go with regards to the [rise in] contribution rates and other recommendations that were made in the report that the executive management team of the National Insurance Board has recommended to the government that in their view needs to change.”

There has only ever been one NIB rate increase since NIB started in 1974 – the rate increased from 8.8 percent to 9.8 percent in 2010.

LaRoda has repeatedly said an increase for NIB cannot be avoided.

Early last month, The Nassau Guardian reported that the board of NIB wrote the government recommending that it move ahead with an increase of between three quarters of a percentage point and 1.5 percentage point to begin to save the fund from depletion in 2028 as was projected in the latest actuarial review presented in January 2022.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis said last April and again last June that a rate increase was not in the cards, but the board had recommended that the government move quickly to effect the increase in time for January 1, 2023.”

ommended that the government move quickly to effect the increase in time for January 1, 2023.”

The former Minnis administration, at one point seemed to have at least made an attempt at mitigating their “transgression” of the higher VAT rate by removing VAT from breadbasket items and medications.  The New Day Davis led Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government has reduced VAT to 10 percent (10%), as promised and has also managed to increase the minimum wage from Two Hundred and Ten Dollars ($210) to two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($250) per week, also as promised, but along with these ‘great” works they seemed to have also increased every other tax even putting ten percent (10%) VAT on the once VAT free breadbasket items and medication, basically negating the minimum wage increase, as that extra fifty dollars per week will now go toward increased taxes and a higher electricity rate, that came about due to the negligence of the New Day government.

Now the National Insurance (NI) rates have been increased and although it may be just one and half percent (1.5%), all knew that at the very moment that the prime minister made the statement that NI rates would not be increased, we knew to expect them to actually to be increased. 

Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END

“Sears: At no time did I deliberately mislead House” – The Nassau Guardian 2 Feb. 2023

“Opposition Leader Michael Pintard charged yesterday that Minister of Works Alfred Sears misled Parliament, not once, but eight times on the Davis administration’s failure to execute certain fuel hedge trades in the fall of 2021 to lock in fuel prices and keep Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) fuel charge stable.

Pintard raised the issue once again in the House of Assembly, prompting Sears to spring to his feet and declare he never intentionally misled the House.

Sears took exception to Pintard’s use of a certain word to describe the Davis administration’s actions with respect to what he (Pintard) termed a lack of transparency over the issue.

The speaker of the House ordered the particular word struck from the record of Parliament, but Pintard fired back, saying even if the particular word is not used, “In English, it is called a synonym. It just has the same meaning. You have misled the House on no less than eight occasions on your feet.”

Pintard told Parliament, “We have not forgotten, the prime minister has not yet relieved the member for Fort Charlotte (Sears) of his duties, nor has he decided that he will demit office, but, Madam Speaker, I remind the public that we are going to pay over $100 million because of ill-advised decisions by this administration …”

It appears that the “good” minister is either suggesting that he did mislead the House or as a seasoned attorney; a King’s Council no less, is trying to convince us that he may have unknowingly misled The House? 

All I can say is loose the donkey!

“FNM blasts govt. over BPL’s $150M arrears” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “The Free National Movement (FNM) yesterday renewed its call for Minister of Works Alfred Sears to resign over what it insisted has been the “bungling” of the affairs of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) as evidenced by a revelation in the government’s newly released Fiscal Strategy Report 2022 that the utility has arrears of $150 million.

The report, which Prime Minister Philip Davis tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, states under the government liabilities section at the end of the document, “The recent disclosure of approximately $150 million of payment arrears of Bahamas Power and Light represents a significant unbudgeted liability of the government.

“To ensure continued provision of essential electrical services to the public, the government has committed to ensuring payment of this liability by the corporation.”

The opposition party has sought to link the BPL arrears to the Davis administration’s decision to reject recommendations made by BPL’s fuel hedge committee in the fall of 2021 for the government to execute fuel hedge trades to lock in oil prices and keep the BPL fuel charge stable.”

The FNM has contended over months that the failure to conduct those transactions, and the prime minister’s decision to reverse a BPL fuel charge increase announced by BPL last February, directly resulted in consumers having now to stomach a substantially higher fuel charge which is being rolled out over months.

The FNM has taken particular aim at Sears, who has told conflicting reports in Parliament over the BPL matter, initially stating that he had had no briefing nor received any advice on the hedging program.

Sears more recently acknowledged that he in fact was privy to such advice, and that it was the minister of finance who decided against executing the trades – a claim Davis, who is minister of finance, has denied.”

So, first Minister Sears says that he had no knowledge of the briefing nor had he received any advice on the hedging program, only to then “acknowledged that he in fact was privy to such advice”, and at this point it would appear that Prime Minister Davis left him in the deep end by himself, by going on to claim that he never saw the report even though it is suggested that it was the minister of finance that decided against executing the trades.

It would appear, as you look back on the entire mess, that the minister’s action, whether “unintentional” or through sheer incompetence and ineptitude will have a negative effect on the rest of us; but he sees no reason why he should face no consequences for his actions.

Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END