“Speaker shocked at injunction – Major vows to defend freedom of Parliament”- The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “House Speaker Dr. Kendall Major said that he was both ‘astonished’ and ‘offended’ by the recent granting of an injunction which bars members of Parliament from disclosing Save The bay’s confidential information during proceedings, calling it a ‘pre-emptive’ onslaught against the independence of the lower chamber.

Mr. Major said the move attempts to usurp the Authority of the Speaker and is contemptuous to the House of Assembly, he stood ready to have persons brought before the bar of the House if necessary in defense of Parliament and its freedoms.”

It would seem that Dr. Major seeks to defend Article 53(1) of the Constitution which states, “Without prejudice to the generality of Article 52 (1) of the Constitution subject to provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article, Parliament may by law determine the privileges immunities ad power of the Senate and the House of Assembly and the members thereof.”

So Parliament, by law, will determine these privileges but by whose law if the matters cannot be reviewed by the Judiciary?  This leaves this to the discretion of the Speaker of the House as to just how far he would allow ‘parliamentary privilege’ to extend before it loses its true intention and meaning, at the very moment he has allowed for it to stretch outside the walls of the House of Assembly and slip into the private lives of ordinary citizens of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, this surely could not have been the intent when this Article was drafted.

If the Speaker of the House takes this position, then who is left to protect the ordinary citizen, as the Speaker and the rest of his colleagues have seen a ruling by the Judiciary protecting the ordinary citizen as “offensive.” 

While persons such a Damien Gomez also voice their opinion against the Supreme Court Justice’s ruling saying “Don’t play politics with our constitution”, really?  Is this what was done? He then goes on to explain that “we have to take the separation of power doctrine seriously” and I ask him did he explain this to the hon. V Alfred Grey when he made the two phone calls to the Island Administrator. 

This back and forth would be comical if it did not impact on such serious matters, this one being the total lack of concern and/or respect for the basic right to privacy of others by a government that has interpreted the constitution to make it all seem right and then turned around and warned others to “not play politics” with it.

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

END

“Ministers: Will not be silenced” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said they will continue to speak freely and will not be deterred by a court injunction, which prohibits appropriating, publishing or disclosing emails, even in Parliament, belonging to Save The Bays (STB) members.

Justice Indra Charles granted the injunction on Thursday.

Though the court has no jurisdiction over speech in the houses of Parliament the injunction prohibits the respondents, who include two MP’s and the attorney general from ‘appropriation, and/or perusal and/or use and/or publication and/or communication and/or disclosure in Parliament or in any other place or though any medium or to any person or entity whatsoever of any correspondence (including emails and other attachments) belonging to the applicants.’

Mitchell and Fitzgerald said ‘We have read in the press a report of an injunction to restrain the freedom of speech of parliamentarians’

‘We want to ensure our constituents that we will not be deterred.”

Again, the honorable ministers have made it clear that they are quite willing to break the law to get their point across but what exactly is this point that they need to get across wherein they are willing to openly and freely violate the constitutional right to privacy of others and break the law?

The only point that these men are attempting to make is one to convince the people of the Bahamas that the Save The Bays organization, one which this government at point applauded for its works within the country as it pertains to its natural environment, is now nothing more than a political organization intent on destabilizing a Christie led government, this is indeed asinine but yet this is their case.  So in an attempt to prove the asinine they have told the people of the country that no law with stop them. 

They will not allow the Data Protections laws to stop them.

They will not allow a court issued injunction to stop them.

While the ministers go on this quest against justice, I find it amazing that Fitzgerald and Mitchell, to a lesser extent, did not seem to have the same zeal and sense of responsibility about them when it came to informing the people of the Marathon constituency of the findings of the Black and Veatch Rubis report in a timely manner.

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

END

“A threat to justice anywhere is s threat to justice everywhere” – Martin Luther King Jr.

It now appears that in order to expose corruption in a government by a particular party, you must first win the government and then look back at whom you wish to prosecute but the key is timing.

You do not come into power and let the ‘chips fall where they may’ as you carry out your campaign against corruption or any other wrongdoing, no this act must be carried out at the most opportune time; say for instance when you yourself have been accused of corrupt practice and must now deflect and distract from your malfeasance, this is when you pull your ace from up your sleeve.

“BEC bribe scandal firm, wrote to the PM – Court hears of letters to Watson and Ingraham” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “A jury heard yesterday that a French company was determined enough to outbid its Korean rival in obtaining a multi-million dollar project from the Bahamas Electricity Cooperation that it attempted to make contact with then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and then Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson.

The company wanted officials to reconsider the bid it knew was going to be rejected.

American Mark Smith was continuing his testimony that began on Tuesday concerning his role in an Alston SA/BEC bribery scheme to win the New Providence Expansion Phase Three contract with BEC.

Smith testified that Alstom wrote to BEC executives, querying about the integrity of the evaluation process and a reconsideration of their proposal.

A response had been given by Patrick Hanna BEC’s assistant general manager in December 2000, that the company’s communications were not only inappropriate but were also on breach of the terms of the bidding process where they risked their bid being rejected outright.

Smith has received immunity from the prosecution notwithstanding this admission that he accepted a cut of hundreds of thousands of dollars to relay to Alstom SA information gathered by an insider to the tendering process that would bolster the French firm’s chances at winning he contract bid over is Korean rival, Hanjung.”

So the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has ‘dropped the bomb’ on the Free National Movement (FNM), exposing corruption within its ranks as they themselves have been criticized internationally for being corrupt; great plan if you were a government preaching to a set of people that would ‘fall on their swords’ to protect certain political figures, those days have passed with the new electorate following the mantra “let the chips fall where they may.”

The current electorate is wondering, are we really looking to move forward as a nation and one day be able to root out corruption and hold public officials accountable as has been done in the Flint, Michigan or will we continue to pay lip service to the people about rooting out corruption while doing nothing and only using it when it becomes convenient against our political allies?  Will we ever mature to the point where we would allow for the removal of members of parliament who for instances have hidden critical information from their constituents and the country at large in order to save their jobs?  Will we ever reach the point where in this sword we are willing to fall on is double sided and swings both ways in protection of people of the country, who seem to be the ones to lose out in these cases of corrupt practices by elected officials?

“While there is room for differences of opinion over the root-causes of corruption and the prevalence of corrupt practices from country to country—and perhaps from region to region—there is, I would submit, virtually universal agreement that corruption in its various forms poses a formidable challenge to governments everywhere, and that international, regional and national anti-corruption initiatives need to be strengthened to combat this scourge.

Although corruption is a menace for developed and developing countries alike, it is particularly relevant for small island developing states where corruption is not infrequently linked with national development. However that may be, there is no denying that systemic corruption—whether it be high-level political corruption, lack of financial transparency, or petty bribery among public officials and law enforcement personnel—undermines good governance and the rule of law; accelerates moral decay; fosters negative international perceptions of the country; stymies foreign investment; impedes the delivery of public services; exacerbates poverty; and, in the final analysis, retards social and economic development.

Remarks by the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie at UCCI Anti-Corruption Conference in Cayman Islands

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

END

While the country’s national debt has increased to $6.6b, up $136m over the previous quarter, The Baha Mar resort is still stalled, with certain members of the government now intimating that the course of action taken by this government in preventing the Developer from re-structuring his finances may not have been the best course of action,  crime and unemployment still being very concerning issues, the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, Bradley Roberts seems hell bent on focusing on questions that for the most part have already been asked and answered of the Free National Movement.  It would seem that the PLP Chairman has taken exception to a recent comments by the new Chairman of the FNM; “I wish to put the PLP on notice that as we continue our journey on the road to rescue our country and putting it on the path to prosperity and peace, we will demand accountability, transparency and integrity in government and in that respect ask the simple question, ‘why would you allow our country to be sold off to an eccentric, foreign billionaire?”

“Roberts tells Collie explore the facts of Minnis’ role in Nygard-Bacon matter” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts said Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Sidney Collie should explore the facts of the ‘relationship’ between FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis and the men at the heart of the recent controversy involving Lyford Cay residents Peter Nygard and Louis Bacon’ before he decides to throw stones at the PLP”

“Collie is well advised to get to the bottom of why members of the FNM parliamentary caucus are fighting so vigorously to protect the information of members of Save the Bays and against the preservation of long-held and constitutionally guaranteed parliamentary privileges” Roberts said in an address to the PLP Fox Hill monthly meeting on Monday.”

Yet again we have a member of the Progressive Liberal Party attempting to justify invoking one privilege; parliamentary privilege, to violate another privilege; ones constitutional right to privacy.  So there is the answer to your question Mr. Roberts, this vigorous fight is to protect the salient rights of each and every citizen of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas against unreasonable and unlawful invasions of privacy; even yours Mr. Roberts – it is a fight to uphold law and order, plain and simple.

Mr. Roberts has become very adept at the manner in which he is able to distract and deflect from his party’s wrong doings while directing persons to look elsewhere while they clean up their mess or hope that it is forgotten but only if you allow them to.

While he wishes to advise the Chairman of the FNM, I would implore that he explores the ‘relationship’ between the PLP’s Deputy Leader, the Hon. Philip ‘Brave’ Davis DPM, the ‘men at the heart of the controversy’ and Peter Nygard and answer the questions, what is it that Mr. Nygard is so furious about when he suggests he pissed away $5m and still not get what he was promised?   What was he promised and by whom? And why are the two men heard at the heart of the controversy heard saying “that Davis had told them to watch Nygard’s back, ‘because you’s the sponsor and we’s the muscle.”

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

END

“Miller: We learned corruption from the US – Contracts for supporters will never stop.” – The Tribune

Excerpt from his article; “Tall Pins MP Leslie Miller yesterday insisted that the granting of government contracts to political supporters will never stop ‘because politicians must do what they have to do’ to win elections.

His statements came despite the US State Department’s scathing report pinpointing the government’s feeble implementation of anti-corruption laws buttressed by a vulnerable contract procurement process.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, the senior Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MP, added that if Bahamians ‘are crooked’, it is because they were taught to be so by the damn Americans.”

Just when you thought you had heard it all from Mr. Miller; from his comments about woman beating, to the comments about not knowing where those light skin people came from at a recent Raising Awareness of the Bahamas Landfill (RABL) protest, we now seem to have him openly admitting to corrupt practices within the government and in the country at large because we have been taught these ‘habits’ by the United States.

In no way will I stand before anyone and hold he United States of America as being a model to follow,  as they had their instances of blatant corruption, as any other country.  Examples of gross corruption would have been seen in the Iran-Contra affair, Dick Cheney’s ties to the company Halliburton that made billions of the war in Iraq while being Vice President, a war that he supported; to one of the latest instances in Flint, Michigan; no in no way are they a model to follow but at the very same time, as they highlight corrupt practices in the Bahamas are we to simply excuse it by saying that the U.S. is no one to talk or accept it as being a part of our ‘culture’?

It is indeed an embarrassment, when the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie stands before our regional counter parts and delivers remarks under the theme, “The Ethical Anti-Corruption Framework of the Bahamas : Lessons for the Caribbean” and one of his very own members of Parliament concedes that the country is corrupt, implies that ‘it is what it is’ and goes on to say we learned it from the United States; are we not a sovereign nation?  Should we not be striving to do and be better?  Is this a reason why Damian Gomez, Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez tendered his resignation from his Cabinet post, as he had waged a ‘war’ against corrupt governmental practices?

The unspoken ‘sin’ about the awarding of government contracts, under both administrations, is that they always, for the most part, were awarded as a form of ‘pay back’ for political loyalty; under this government the practice has been highlighted due to the persons inability to carry out the task assigned to them which ended up putting strained on the public purse to have their mistakes corrected; otherwise persons turned a blind to the practice, so Mr. Miller just may be correct in saying that the practice will never stop but the question now becomes will we continue to do so at the detriment to our country and sovereignty?

In a amusing comment, Mr. Miller is quoted as saying; I don’t put too much weight on the US and what they say,”  The MP said when contacted by The Tribune. I pay no attention to them.  The report is baseless because they sure as hell didn’t provide any proof.” And I sit back and laugh as I think about the tenuous link that Mr. Miller and his colleagues have attempted to make between Save the Bays and a plot to destabilize the government.  From these recent statements it seems that they are already not stable.

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

END

“Mitchell: Pigs will fly before speaker needs FNM help” – The Tribune

Except from this article; “Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell yesterday hit back at the FNM criticizing his decision to petition House Speaker Dr. Kendal Major over persons he felt were in breach of parliamentary privilege.

He accused the party of cancelling ‘itself out of useful criticism when it cannot come to defend the privilege which members of parliament enjoy.

Mr. Mitchell, in a statement, accused the FNM of ‘standing with those that defame their country’ rather than defend he privilege which members of parliament enjoy of free speech and the right to access they are enshrined in our constitution.

Mr. Mitchell said the FNM prefers to ‘wrap their arms around Fred Smith QC and Saver the Bays’ who stand accused of (allegedly) working together with the FNM to destabilize the country.”

Of course Mr. Mitchell is standing yet again to protect the parliamentary privilege that he so enjoys and cowardly hides behind as he seeks to table and reveal private emails of another person; sources of which still unknown; an act that he could  never  or would never do outside the halls of the House of Assembly without legal repercussions, under the fear of being sued and/or imprisoned. 

He has decided to take this dark and dangerous road and has decided to encourage the Speaker of the House along for the ride as he has yet to prove his assertions against the persons whom privileges and constitutional rights he now seeks to violate and he has yet to prove his allegation of ‘contempt of parliament’, which he has also threatened others with that seek to block him from using private emails and financial information in his parliamentary contributions.

“This week, the FNM charged that Mr. Mitchell’s letter to Dr. Major was a ‘direct attempt’ to ‘undermine weaken and diminish the authority and integrity of the Speaker’.  The FNM also said Mr. Mitchell’s letter creates an impression that he is attempting to ‘being public pressure on the Speaker to influence his decision on the matter advanced by (Mr. Mitchell)’.

Further, the FNM said Mr. Mitchell seems to be of a view that the Speaker is a ‘puppet of both the executive branch and the PLP’ and is subsequently ‘compelled to accept the executive’s blanket contempt for authority’ or face the possibility that he may not receive a nomination in the next general election.”, in short the FNM is contending that the PLP Mr. Mitchell and the executives are attempting to intimidate the Speaker of the House into following ‘bad company’.

Mitchell continues to encourage the Speaker of the House to allow him to table emails and other correspondence of others that the Data Commissioner has already cautioned him about but he has not heeded her warning and would seek to encourage Kendall Major to follow suit.

This had become Minister Mitchell style now, to use his authority and powers to defame, question, undermine and intimidate others while hiding behind his privilege; he has show his propensity for this wrong doing already as he has challenged a court’s ruling on a immigration matter which still stands unresolved to date because of the dictatorial and autocratic actions of Mr. Mitchell.

As a matter of fact, this ‘my word is the final word, end of story has become common of the totalitarian mindset of this government that seeks to rule rather than govern; maybe they have come to realize that they are just unfit to govern.

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

END

While the international community continues to voices concerns over corrupt practices in the Bahamas, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government and its agents refuse to heed the warnings and continue to march the country down a dark road as they [the PLP] continue in practices that are seen to many as corrupt, to protect the party’s reputation but to the country’s detriment.  These would be the very same men and women that  label themselves as being ‘nationalists’, claiming to put country before party, while attempting to brand those that stand against them as ‘unpatriotic’.

“US warning over govt. corruption – Reports highlight failings in contracts.  Frequest concerns.” – The Tribune.

Excerpt from this article; “The US State Department indentified the governments ineffectiveness at implementing corruption laws as the reason officials engage in illegal practices without consequences, citing a vulnerable contract procument process in a newly released report.”  While there are many of us that will indeed look at this report and ask ourselves, ‘Who is the United States to talk?’, we must realize that we have long since entered a global community of sorts and the world is indeed watching as has become evident by the released of the ‘Wiki leaks cables’ and the more recent ‘Panama Papers’.

As this report is released, I have this feeling of déjà vu, as I feel that this concern that been raised before about two to three years ago and has been ignored.

Following in the spirit of not adhering to advice against corrupt and illegal and practices that represent a blatant misuse of power and authority, Foreign Affairs minister, Fred Mitchell continues on his defense of his right and privilege to violate the basic constitutional, hard fought for rights of other Bahamian citizens; one being their right to privacy in a lengthy press release issued on the 13 April 2016; entitle ‘In response to the FNM letter to the Speaker on Parliamentary Privilege – Long held Constitutional rights must be protected against use of unfettered wealth” and my question still stand for Minister Mitchell to answer as he argues for his constitutional rights; who is protecting the constitutional rights of the persons whose privacy you wish to invade?

I am quite aware that many will not draw the parallel between the these two cases, either through ignorance or denial or both, so I will not belabor the obvious and I now leave these poor lost souls alone to figure it all out.

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

END

It appears that the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party is either stuck on ignorant and if he truly represents the views and values of his party, then they are also or they honestly believe t…

Source: My Morning Paper – April 13, 2016 -Irrational and Illogical Rantings

It appears that the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party is either stuck on ignorant and if he truly represents the views and values of his party, then they are also or they honestly believe that we the people are; ignorant that is.

“Politicians ‘unpatriotic’ for protesting” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts claimed yesterday the actions of the political leaders involved in a demonstration against dump fires on Sunday were ‘unpatriotic ‘ and a demonstration of poor judgment.”

It is amazing the manner in which the Progressive Liberal Party throws around the label ‘unpatriotic’ whenever they feel that they, as a government, are being shown for the failures that they are on the international scene.  I am actually suspired that Mr. Roberts has not deemed the organization of this NON-POLITICAL protest as “Enemies of the State’, but then I have the feeling that it will soon come but indeed the protest as organized by Raising Awareness about the Bahamas Landfill (RABL), was a non-violent and non-political event that was supported by members of the Free National Movement (FNM) and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), some of whom live in the area themselves and are constantly affected by the smoke from the constant dump fires.  I find it interesting that members of the Progressive Liberal Party and some of its supporters only sought to condemn the protest instead of becoming more involved in a solution to the problem as they promised; are they not affected by this problem or are they as a political organization just not interested in environmental issue; Rubis gasoline spill and Save the Bays being examples.

Playing to the ignorant or attempting to play to those that he perceives as being ignorant, Chairman Roberts then goes on to say, “……..I question the intent and utility of staging the demonstration at or near the precincts of the Baha Mar resort, Cable Beach, the venue of the IDB board of governments meeting,” he said.

The public landfill is not located on Baha Mar’s property on Cable Beach.” 

Well Mr. Roberts if you were at the meeting then that point can be debated but then I digress.  The Bahamas government has secured several loans from the International Development Bank (IDB) to improve the conditions at the landfill and to date, despite the landfill being ‘privatized’ they problems still persists, so this was the ideal venue for this protest and for the Chairman to claim otherwise is to mislead the public but then this is nothing new.

“Mr. Roberts invites the Leaders of the FNM and DNA to immediately discontinue, eschew and condemn all forms of political activism, demonstration of acts interloping that will have consequences of negatively portraying the Bahamas internationally, harming the reputation of the country and people.”  Mr. Roberts seems not to realize that his government does this with each and every new scandal that they are involved in and the IDB will soon question where the money from these loans is actually going.  Also, Mr. Roberts must realize with all persons wearing black then the protest was seen as citizens of the Bahamas exercising their right to have their voices heard and the only way that any members of the foreign delegations knowing who was who is if Mr. Roberts pointed out these people himself.

Finally, I find it interesting that with close to a year of Bahamian citizens complaining about this problem at the landfill not one ‘puff of smoke’ was to been seen during the entire IDB meeting, simply amazing.

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

END

Now it appears that the governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government has worked itself into a corner of sorts and is attempting to find a way out, I feel that it is the duty of the Opposition Free National Movement (FNM) and all other concerned citizens that find the use of another person’s personal and private data by any the members of this government to not allow them to wiggle their way out.

“Grain of Salt – Financial services minister sends dangerous signal to sector” – The Nassau Guardian, National Review

Excerpt from this article; “On March 12, Minister of Financial Service Hope Strachan posted to her Facebook page a statement from her colleague Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald, in which he said it appears certain people are more concerned about how he came about the private emails of certain members of Save the Bays as opposed to the ‘damming information’ contained in these documents.”  This statement within itself by the Minister of Education shows not only the total lack of morality he has but it also shows the blatant disregard and concern that he has for another person’s privacy and we know that at least one other in his camp, the Hon. Shane Gibson, that shares the very same distain for the general public’s basic right to privacy but indeed Minister Fitzgerald persons must concern themselves about how you obtained these private documents/correspondence because of the simple fact that they are PRIVATE; I am beginning to believe that Minister Fitzgerald either lacks an understanding or appreciation or both of this concept, now back to the bind that this government finds itself in.

“Strachan has known to show blind allegiance to the political party she is a member of, and to her colleagues.

But in her position as minister responsible for ensuring the protection of the financial sector, she ought to be careful of the signal she sends in supporting her colleagues.”  Here we have a case of a member of Parliament knowing what is best for her sector and country but not doing what is right because of her allegiances.”

The reason why I would hazard a guess that she knew what was right is because her disconcertment over the leak of private [financial] documents in the Panama Papers; which could possibly have negative repercussions on our financial industry. So in light of her disconcertment and the warning by the Data Commissioner, the Progressive Liberal Party now finds itself in a bind over whether to violate the spirit of the Data Protection act; overseen by Minister Fitzgerald, and release more emails and been seen as a government that will openly and readily violate the law at their convenience or pay close heed to the warning of the Data Commissioner and take pause as to what damage can be done by the Panama Papers to our financial sector and learn from it and avoid making the same ‘mistake’.  At this point it is a potential ‘teachable moment’.

As Minister Fitzgerald has already shown, he is quite ready to violate laws that fall under his very own ministry; as I have said this minister shows very little evidence of having a moral compass about him now the Minister of Financial Services is faced with the dilemma of backing her colleagues and basically condoning the leak of the ‘Panama Papers’ and proving that she also has no moral fiber herself or standing up for her sector, the spirit of the Data Protection Act and basic right it privacy and showing the Minister of Education that he is wrong in his actions as these very actions on a larger scale are threatening the stability of our financial sector.  Actually it is a simple choice by ‘blind allegiance’………..

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

END