Bahama Pundit

A Personal Annus horribilis"

by Craig Butler

When I lived in England in the early 1990s, the queen gave a speech describing one of those years as an "annus horribilis"" - Latin for horrible year.

Whilst I am thankful for the fact that I am alive, in relatively good health and surrounded by family and friends, 2007 has been a particularly trying year for me.

It has tested my faith in God, but thankfully I am stronger for it. On April 14 after waiting for so long to have a child we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl whom we named Jade. But in His infinite wisdom, God allowed her to spend only two days, eight hours and ten minutes on this earth before he took her back home.

A Salacious Story at Christmastime

by Craig Butler

This last week we had a salacious story about the Member of Parliament for MICAL. On Monday last the Punch alluded to former cabinet minister V. Alfred Gray. But the story in the Tribune on the same day was just plain nasty and the lowest form of journalism.

Now I can’t imagine that such an old and distinguished paper would want to tarnish a reputation that took many decades to establish or seek to change their format to tabloid sensationalism. I can only hope that this story is an aberration.

In their favour I can also say that I don’t think the Tribune would publish such a story without being able to defend the same.

Alfred Gray has responded with a brief public statement, which I feel was a bad move on his part. He would have been better served to have kept his mouth shut. However, he has a family to think of, and God only knows what they must be going through to see him dragged through the mud like this.

Is this the level of journalism we can now expect from the Tribune and are they going to dispense it evenly despite party affiliations? Or is it, as some have said, a way to destroy Alfred Gray as he was being far to verbose. I for one would hate to see this become the norm.

The Project to Get Foreign Investors to Vote for the PLP in the Last Election

by Larry Smith

"It is a common delusion that you make things better by talking about them." -- Rose Macauley

After watching the recent exchange in parliament over the PLP's so-called "hail to the chief" promotional book, I decided to take a closer look.

Of course, the book's real title is The Bahamas 2007 Special Report. It was produced at exorbitant cost by Caribbean Investment Profiles, a British PR firm, and is perhaps best described as a "souvenir to folly". The book was delivered just before the May 2 general election and was therefore instantly out of date.

To be fair, a similar glossy publication produced by the same firm was commissioned by the previous Ingraham administration in February 2001 - a few months before the world-changing September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

That one numbered 162 pages. But the Christie version has a whopping 290 pages. And it cost the country 400,000 pounds for 10,000 copies - well over $800,000 at current exchange rates.

Has the Election Loss Sparked a Civil War in the PLP?

by Craig Butler

Is the PLP in the midst of a civil war? Well, I would hate to think so but based on recent comments by outgoing party chairman, Raynard Rigby, some would get that impression.

The question that we have to ask is why Mr. Rigby would choose this point in time to make the statements that have been attributed to him in the press. I have attacked him on numerous occasions for his defense of the PLP administration when they were in power and for his inability to keep his mouth shut.

Indeed, I have credited him with single handedly keeping the FNM a viable entity during the leadership of Tommy Turnqeust when it appeared as though they were a ship without a rudder.

So it is hard for me and many others to fathom where these comments are coming from. Is it that Mr. Rigby has an axe to grind for what he perceives as ill treatment of himself, or has he suddenly had an epiphany. Whatever the case, he has certainly made an about face.

Who Owns Junkanoo? On Charging Admission for the Press

by Larry Smith

The absurd controversy over the recent attempt to charge the press a fee to cover Junkanoo makes one wonder whether our officials have taken leave of their senses.

Although the argument about protection of intellectual property rights of Junkanooers was not advanced until after the proposal had been withdrawn, we should remember that these groups are subsidised at huge cost by the private sector (both monetarily and in terms of lost productivity). And massive public resources are deployed to organise and facilitate the display their art. One has to question whether art exists if no-one sees it?

According to Cultural Director Nicolette Bethel, ""What the media are actually covering, and what the government is a steward of, is something that is a public parade, but (also) an artistic endeavour and people own the rights to the creations that they put on, and we have not yet worked out the formula for those artists to get paid."

Dalai Lama Renaissance Premieres at Bahamas Film Festival

by Larry Smith

This past Sunday morning, while most Bahamians were squirming in their pews as angry preachers yelled fire and brimstone, I decided to watch a two-hour feature documentary, presented by the Bahamas International Film Festival, about a cheerful, soft-spoken man called Tenzin Gyatso.

Of course, that is not his real name. He was named Lhamo Thondup at birth, but if If you are a Tibetan Buddhist his true, true name is Gendun Drup - the first Dalai Lama, who was born in 1351. Tenzin is said to be Gendun's 14th reincarnation. As such, he is the world's most famous Buddhist monk, the spiritual leader of six million Tibetans, and a celebrated Nobel peace prize winner.

He was enthroned as the Dalai Lama in 1950 at the age of 15, and fled Tibet nine years later when the Chinese communists took over the country. He now lives in the Himalayan mountains on the Indian side of the border, and was the first Dalai Lama ever to travel to the West. He became a popular figure in the 1980s.

The film - called Dalai Lama Renaissance - was produced in America by the Wakan Foundation for the Arts and narrated by actor Harrison Ford. Although it won the best documentary award at the Monaco Film Festival recently, as well as more than a dozen prizes at other festivals, it didn't attract much of an audience here.

The Condition of the Royal Bahamas Police Force

by Craig Butler

With the rate of crime being what it is, we the people are looking to the police for answers. We need them to reassure us that all is going to be well. We need them to tell us that they have a handle on the situation.

The important question is: can the police provide these things? Unfortunately, I must say 'no'.

The prime minister has said that he decided to send two of our senior police officers (Assistant Commissioners Greenslade and Dames) to Canada for advanced training.

I like the prime minister as he has always struck me as someone who has the best for the country in mind. However, with the greatest respect, let there be no more talk about political interference in the police as both PLP and FNM governments have shown that they have an inability to keep their hands off.

Plan for Nassau Port Move Revealed

by Larry Smith

It may be that the end game to two decades of fruitless efforts to redevelop the city of Nassau is at hand. Then again, it may be that the process will continue until the island's economy and infrastructure finally collapse under their own weight.

A plan to build a new freight port for the island has been put on the table by the Dutch consortium, Ecorys/Lievense. Ecorys focuses on research and policy advice to solve big development issues. Lievense is an engineering firm that specialises in port and reclamation projects around the world.

They were hired last year to assess the financial and technical feasibility of moving Nassau's cargo facilities to the southwest tip of New Providence. Their study was completed in September and a final report was submitted to the government last week.

Trying Times in the Bahamas

by Craig Butler

Again this week we are faced with escalating crime statistics, especially murder. There have been more senseless deaths attributed to shootings and the police are inundated trying to solve them.

There is a fight between good and evil going on in the Bahamas today that I have compared to Milton's Paradise Lost. I received flack for that simplistic analysis, although I did point out that it was meant as a metaphor only. In any event, we as a nation need to figure out what the nature of our problem is before we can adequately address it.

It is my view that education, or the lack of it amongst marginalized young men, is the key. I will continue to say that a man who has no training, and thus an inability to think and make reasoned decisions, is susceptible to anything. In our case, it’s a life of easy money derived from crime.