WeblogBahamas.com

It's time to save The Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC)

by Garth Buckner (http:/www.weblogbahamas.com)

The following piece, first published in The Tribune, Letters, is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.

Once again the news comes out that BEC is failing, that it spends more than it earns, that it is in debt and that it needs bailing out. Once more we are presented with two false choices; Government can let BEC raise its rates or Government can inject more public money into the failing corporation. These are false choices because they amount to the same thing; if BEC raises rates then the Bahamian consumer is forced to pay more, if Government injects more public money into BEC then the Bahamian taxpayer is forced to pay more and, in the final analysis, the Bahamian consumer and the Bahamian taxpayer are one and the same.

Flooding in Nassau, Bahamas a serious issue with multiple effects

by Ian Mabon

First published in The Tribune, Saturday, May 23, 2009 and republished here with the kind permission of the author.

As we await the start of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season in two weeks time, I couldn’t help but notice the considerable flooding that resulted today (May 19, 2009) from a mere two inches of rainfall. At certain locations on East and West Bay Streets, downtown and in the Dowdeswell Street area it was almost knee deep for a while, glaringly highlighting Nassau’s inadequately maintained storm drain systems.

Bahamas Supermarkets Seeks Resolution

By Richard Coulson       

Published in The Tribune, Tuesday May 19, 2009 and republished here with the kind permission of the author.

In the last ten days, Bahamas Supermarkets (BSL) has suffered armed robberies at three of its City Markets stores, the latest at the gleaming blue-chip Cable Beach supermarket. Internal employee pilferage and cashier fraud have plagued the business and impacted margins for the last couple of years, gradually being reduced by dismissals, prosecutions, and better surveillance and technology.

Arawak Cay - PM Must Choose Between Beauty or a Cesspit

by Pierre V.L. Dupuch

First published in The Tribune on May 22, 2009 and republished here with the kind permission of the author.

When I was first elected to Parliament in 1982 the vexing problems of the day were the horrendous traffic congestion downtown, and the unsightly freight containers on Bay Street. Almost thirty years later the problems are still there but worse.

Response to Rick Lowe's Comments on Government doing more is not the answer

First published in The Tribune, May 20, 2009 and published here with the permission of the author.

by Richard Perry Pinder

Dear Editor:

Please allow me a brief space in your column to voice a slightly leftist view on the topic of government involvement in economic recovery, and as a response to Mr. Lowe’s ever growing extreme right wing views on this topic.

I will start by stating that I have had the privilege to have lived in two countries which embrace more left or socialist views, those being France during the mid eighties, and Canada for the entire decade of the 1990s. My observations and experiences have been this:

The Red Tide from The Bahamas Water & Sewerage Corporation

by Ian Mabon

Originally published in The Tribune on Friday, May 8, 2009 and reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.

At the risk of offending my friend and brother, Robert Deal, I must ask the Water and Sewerage Corporation how much longer must we endure the RED TIDE.

Week in and week out we persevere, without recourse or compensation, through ruined laundry, stained tubs and toilets and pressure so low one can pee with more force than the faucet.

The Hypocrisy of the Group of 20 Nations in relation to The Bahamas status as a Tax Haven

by MACGREGOR N ROBERTSON O.B.E.

The following Letter to the Editor was published in The Nassau Guardian on Thursday, May 7, 2009 and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.

The Hypocrisy of the Group of 20 Nations

I write to express my dismay at the hypocrisy shown at the recent G20 meeting where the attendees all joined U S President Obama in condemning tax havens.

When you think of what the OECD requires you to go through to open a bank account in the Bahamas in recent years it really gets annoying. You have to provide copies of the first four pages of your passport, utility bills, references and so on. This is not so in a majority of the G20 and OECD countries.

Let PLP give their solutions to Bahamas economic woes

by Eileen Dupuch Carron

The following Tribune editorial is reprinted with the kind permission of the author.

PLP OPPOSITION leader Perry Christie is anxious for a summit meeting of the country’s “best and brightest minds” to assist in finding solutions to the global challenge that has shaken the Bahamas.

“The PLP is ready, willing and able to be a a part of any such summit or to meet with the government independently in this regard,” Mr Christie said.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham presented a 28-page mid-year Budget report (pdf) outlining  the “deteriorating global financial and economic crisis” and how it has affected the Bahamas. Mr Ingraham outlined government’s interim plans to meet the challenge — plans to protect the country’s financial services and cushion the effect of job losses.

Mystery at Bahamas Supermarkets

by Richard Coulson

First Published in The Tribune, Thursday,  February 26, 2009

Now, eight months after the close of its last fiscal year,  Bahamas Supermarkets has  failed to publish its annual report  or to call its Annual General Meeting. Not only the company’s 1,500 Bahamian minority shareholders, but also the owners of the controlling entity BSL Holdings Ltd., can only speculate about the warning given last year by  Chairman Basil Sands of a possible $10 million loss for the year ended June 27, 2008.

Equally, since no interim financial statements have been released for the first or second quarters of the current fiscal year,  the company’s recent operations are veiled in obscurity. No dividends are being paid; the shares do not trade; and any estimate of fair value is impossible without financial statements. Mr. Sands must be regretting his assurances last year about prompt publication. The company’s registered office, maintained by Fidelity Merchant Bank, is unable to make any announcement, although  Fidelity Chairman Anwer Sunderji, is a prominent member of the company’s Board.

Fred Mitchell’s leadership quest in The Bahamas

Originally published as a column for the Freeport News and the Nassau Guardian, Friday, January 9, 2009.

Reprinted here with the kind permission of the author, Mr. Oswald Brown.

Fred Mitchell’s leadership quest

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell has launched what appears to be a full-fledged campaign to become leader of the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and position himself to possibly realize his cherished dream of one day being Prime Minister of The Bahamas.

He has shifted his public relations machinery into high gear, churning out frequent press releases and statements,  and to a great extent he has had relatively good success having his views printed as news stories. That’s primarily because he was trained as a journalist before he shifted careers and became a lawyer, and he fully understands how news editors determine what they consider to be newsworthy.