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A L L T H E N E W S Y O U N E E D T O R E A D I N T H E M O R N I N G

VOL. 31 - NO. 46 75 CENTSFRIDAY - MARCH 15TH, 2019

LACK OF CAMPAIGNFINANCE LAWS LEADS T O C O R R U P T I O N

he Bahamas isopening the doorto corruptionthrough its large-

ly unregulated campaignfinance system, offeringfew safeguards against“quid pro quo” donations,according to the UnitedStates’ 2018 HumanRights Report released

BY LEAH COOPERJournal Staff Writer

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US REPORT HIGHLIGHTS HAITIANM I G R A N T D I S C R I M I N AT I O NThe 2018 human rightsreport issued onWednesday renewedconcerns of statelessindividuals in the coun-try, particularly in the

case of a teen born in TheBahamas to a Bahamianmother of Haitiandescent. According to the

report, the governmentdid not effectively imple-ment laws and policies toprovide certain “habitual

residents” the opportuni-ty to gain nationality in atimely manner and on anondiscriminatory basis.Under the constitu-

tion, Bahamian-born per-sons of foreign heritage

BY LEAH COOPERJournal Staff Writer

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full Bahamian delegation attending the 63rd Commission on the status of Women (CsW63)

4 Photo of full Bahamian delegation to CSW63, Wednesday, March 13, following Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell's delivery of The Bahamas'National Statement. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)

Wilchcombe Disagrees With Wharf

RedevelopmentConcept

PM Tells Doctors: CombatNoncommunicable DiseasesPrime Minister Dr. HubertMinnis says, “we must domore to combat NonCommunicable Diseaseswhich rob us of general

health and too manylives.” Whether they arein the form of diabetes orhypertension, heart or kid-ney disease, chronic andnon communicable ill-nesses are prevalent inThe Bahamas, begging

the need then for ongoingattention to preventionand treatment.The Prime Minister

made the remarks onWednesday evening whileaddressing the 47thAnnual Scientific

Conference of TheMedical Association ofThe Bahamas and TheBahamas DentalAssociation.He said, “along with

BY BERTHONY MCDERMOTTJournal Staff Writer

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PMHGifted25 NewBeds

The Princess MargaretHospital yesterdaywas gifted with 25beds courtesy of thePMH foundation,whose mission is toactually strengthen thehospital’s ability to

BY B. MCDERMOTTJournal Staff Writer

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Adopting a view held byhis party, formerTourism Minister ObieWilchombe does notagree with the govern-ment’s plans for thePrince George Wharf.It was recently

announced that UK-based Global Ports

BY BERTHONY MCDERMOTTJournal Staff Writer

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4 Former TourismMinister,

Obie Wilchombe

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Friday - March 15th, 2019

this past Wednesday. According to the

report, the procurementprocess was particularlysusceptible to corrup-tion, as it is opaque, con-taining no requirementto engage in open publictenders, and does notallow review of award

decisions. It further stated that

the government, never-theless, “routinely issuedopen public tenders”. Throughout the

course of 2018, thereport said that the gov-ernment launched aprocess for all vendors

and suppliers to registeron an electronic platformto increase transparencyand to improve the pro-curement process.The Minnis-led gov-

ernment, it said, pursuedallegations of officialcorruption after takingoffice.

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U S R E P O R TH I G H L I G H T SHAITIAN MIGRANT must apply for citizenshipduring a 12-month win-dow following their 18thbirthday. However some-times these individualswait many years for a gov-ernment response, mainlybecause of backloggingwithin the Ministry ofImmigration.The report further indi-

cated that the narrow win-dow for application,diffi-cult document require-ments, and long waitingtimes leave multiple gen-erations, who are predom-inantly Haitians, without aconfirmed nationality.Just last month, howev-

er, Immigration MinisterBrent Symonette indicat-ed that the departmentsuccessfully minimized itsbacklog in processing per-mits and other documen-tation.He added that the

department is now downto six weeks response onwork permits. In March of last year,

Minister Symonette alsoimplemented a new policyallowing individuals whomissed the 12- month win-dow to gain legal perma-nent resident status withthe right to work. The report found that

no reliable estimates ofthe number of personswithout a confirmednationality exists; howev-er, “one NGO estimatedthere were 30,000 to40,000”.It further indicated that

the government asserted anumber of “stateless”individuals had a legiti-

mate claim to Haitian citi-zenship, but refused topursue it due to fear ofdeportation or loss offuture claim to Bahamiancitizenship. Such persons, it said,

often faced waiting forperiods of several yearsfor the government todecide on their nationalityapplications and, as aresult, lacked proper doc-umentation to secureemployment, housing, andother public services. The report said, “indi-

viduals born in the coun-try to non-Bahamian par-ents were eligible to applyfor “Belonger” status thatentitled them to work andhave access to public highschool- level educationand a fee-for-servicehealth-care insurance pro-gram”. It added, “Belonger

permits were readilyavailable. Authoritiesallowed individuals bornin the country to non-Bahamian parents to paythe tuition rate forBahamian students whenenrolled in College andwhile waiting for theirrequest for citizenship tobe processed”. The lack of a passport,

it said, also prohibits stu-dents from accessinghigher education outsidethe country. It said, “In 2017 the

government repealed itspolicy of barring childrenwithout legal status fromgovernment schools.Community activistsalleged some schools con-tinued to discriminate,claiming to be full so as

not to admit children ofHaitian descent.” Back in August last

year, a local daily reportedthe case of TaraniqueThurston, a Bahamianchild born to a Bahamian-mother of Haitian descent,that was unable to obtain apassport to travel out ofthe country for medicaltreatment. Because her mother

was not a “naturalizedBahamian citizen” at thetime of her birth, and hermother was not married atthe time to her Bahamianfather, Ms. Thurston wasnot granted Bahamian cit-izenship at birth. The government subse-

quently issued the child acertificate of identity thatpermitted her travel, list-ing her nationality asHaitian, despite being twogenerations removed frombirth in Haiti. This case eventually

attracted US press atten-tion as well as the Officeof The United NationsHigh Commissioner forRefugees. With that media cover-

age, widespread discrimi-nation against individualsof Haitian decent in thecountry was brought to theforefront. The report also indicted

that migrants accusedpolice and immigrationofficers of excessive forceand warrantless searches,as well as frequent solici-tations of bribes by immi-gration officials wide-spread bias againstmigrants, particularlythose of Haitian descent,again was also reported.

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PM Tells Doctors: CombatNoncommunicable

Diseasesclimate change, the explo-sive incidence of NCD’srepresent two of the great-est threats to nationaldevelopment. “As a matter of

urgency, we must moreaggressively address sug-ary drinks and the rolethey play in obesity, espe-cially childhood and ado-lescent obesity,” he said. Dr. Minnis pointed out

that an important compo-nent in delivering health-care is the implementa-

tion of a national elec-tronic medical recordssystem.“This revolutionary

platform will digitally linkpublic clinics and hospi-tals, so that it will not mat-ter where a patient is seen,the patient’s informationand medical record can beinstantly accessed. “This will enhance the

delivery of care in our hos-pitals and clinics, improv-ing transitional carebetween facilities and serv-ices, while expandingavenues for medical

research,” he said. Over the next three

days, participants will hearfrom over 30 local speakersand over 20 internationalexperts in their fields.There will also be an

opportunity to exchangeideas that may helpimprove healthcare prac-tices, save lives andenhance the quality ofhealth.Held under the theme

“pursuing your passion,”the conference wraps up onSaturday.

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Friday - March 15th, 2019NationalNEWS

GOT NEWS?Please call The BahamaJournal’s News TIP LINE at 356-7254 and let us know!

Government Signs Contract toClean-Up West End’s Dump Site

4 Minister of the Environment and Housing, the Hon. Romauld Ferreira (Centre) along with Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator the Kwasi Thompson (second from right) and Memberof Parliament for West Grand Bahama and Bimini, Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe (second from left) were all a part of a contract signing for the cleanup of the West End Dump, during a pressconference, Thursday, March 14, 2019, in the Office of the Prime Minister. Also on hand were Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Harcourt Brown (right) and Ian Bowe of

Bowe’s Trucking and Contractor for the clean-up project (left). (BIS Photo/Andrew Miller)

Minister of theEnvironment andHousing, the Hon.Romauld Ferreira, alongwith Minister of State forGrand Bahama, Senatorthe Hon. KwasiThompson and Memberof Parliament for WestEnd and Bimini, PakesiaParker-Edgecombe cametogether in the Office ofthe Prime Minister for thesigning of a contract, forthe clean-up of the WestEnd dump, Thursday,March 14, 2019.Senator Thompson

noted that the currentWest End dump site wasset in place as a temporarystop gap measure for thedepositing of debris andsolid waste that remainedafter Hurricane Matthewin 2016. However, he noted that

throughout the years, thesite has become an eye-sore and an environmentalhealth issue for the resi-dents of and visitors to theWest End community. “Today, I am pleased to

announce that after strongrepresentations from theMember of Parliament aswell as the Administrator,the Office of the PrimeMinister Grand Bahamahas been given the man-date along with theMinistry of theEnvironment andHousing, to pool ourresources and to clean-upthe unsightly location,”said Minister Thompson.“The Ministry of

Works has assessed thesite and they haveinformed us that there isapproximately one acre ofland along Bayshore Roadwith 260 plus tons ofdebris.“It is our intention to

keep this site clean andlimit the amount of wastethat is being depositeduntil a more permanenttransfer site can be estab-lished. Rest assured, weare actively working onestablishing a more suit-able site for the communi-ty of West End.”The clean-up will be

carried out by a residentof West End, Ian Bowe,and his company. Theywere awarded a contract

for $81,000. MinisterThompson said he hasbeen assured that with thehelp of his hardworkingteam, Mr. Bowe will getthe job done efficientlyand swiftly.The Minister of the

Environment andHousing, said he washappy to have hisMinistry be a part of theclean-up in West End.He noted that the last

time he was in GrandBahama, he led the launchof the “Be a Hero” clean-up campaign for Freeport.The program focused onencouraging young peo-ple to take pride in theirenvironment and initiateclean-up projects.“The second phase of

that campaign involvesreaching out to communi-ties and associations, likechurch groups and civicgroups. So, this thenbecomes our first programwhere we are workingwith an Association andthe Member of Parliamentfor a particular area,” saidMinister Ferreira.“We want to make a

meaningful contributionin the lives of the peoplethat live in West End, andwho have to pass thatdump every day. We wantit to be impactful forthem, because theydeserve a clean environ-ment like everyone else.“We make this appeal,

as we go into the secondphase of our ‘Be a Hero’campaign that the peoplecan reach out to usbecause the Ministry ofEnvironment works forthe people of TheBahamas. So we look atthis project as an essentialcomponent of our work.”The signing of

Thursday’s contract wasas a result of persistencethat paid off. Both Minister Kwasi

Thompson and MinisterRomauld Ferreira admit-ted that the Member ofParliament for the WestEnd and Bimini con-stituency, andParliamentary Secretaryin the Office of the PrimeMinister, was very per-sistent in appealing forsomething to be done with

the West End dump. “We congratulate her

for her persistence and weassure her of our contin-ued support in all worth-while endeavours,” addedMinister Ferreira.Mrs. Parker-

Edgecombe, on behalf ofthe residents of WestGrand Bahama, thankedboth the Ministry of theEnvironment and theMinistry of GrandBahama for “hearing theirplea” and coming togetherto ensure that the dump isfinally cleaned up.“In coming to office,

our constituents were veryconcerned about the eyesore of the dump andsince then, we have beenworking feverishly tobring a remedy to the situ-ation,” added Mrs.Edgecombe. “It is veryimportant that we keepour environment clean. Ibelieve that we are a prod-uct of our environmentand for West End, we donot wish to have anygarbage at all.“I take this opportunity

to appeal to the residentsof West End that in thecleaning up of this sitethat we move forwardtogether to ensure that ourcommunity is kept clean.We are going to worktowards making sure thatall of our surroundingareas are cleaned and thatincludes the entire WestGrand Bahama district.“So, you will see in the

coming weeks and in thecoming months thatintense clean-up cam-paigns will be underway.We do not think of justtoday, but we think aboutthe future and every dayto make sure that ourenvironment remainsclean.”Work on the clean-up is

expected to start as earlyas Monday, March 18,2019.Minister Thompson

invited every resident ofWest End to partner withthe government, as itworks to clean-up theenvironment and reducethe incidences of indis-criminate dumping in theWest End community.

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A4 The Bahama Journal

Friday - March 15th, 2019 NationalNEWS

In keeping with its man-date to provide traininginitiatives and opportuni-ties to heighten aware-ness, the Ministry ofPublic Works (MOPW)announced on Thursdaythat it is hosting twoworkshops to improvethe knowledge base ofcontractors.“One of the core prin-

ciples of this ministry isthe sharing of knowledgewith all of our stakehold-ers in order to improvethe infrastructure andconstruction practices inThe Bahamas,” saidMelony Roach, Director,MOPW.“We believe that an

informed contractor baseis of vital importance tothe delivery of service tothe country. It is all welland good for the MOPWto do designs that are tointernational and localcodes of practice andstandards but if the con-tractors do not transferour designs into properconstruction practicesthen all of our workwould have been in vainand we would have putthe safety of the generalpublic into question.”The Ministry, in con-

junction with theCaribbean DevelopmentBank (CDB) will host aNational Contractor’sWorkshop on “ImprovedConstruction Practices”,in New Providence atHoly Trinity ActivityCentre, Stapledon

Gardens, Tuesday,March 19, 2019, and inFreeport at the BahamasPublic Services UnionHall, Thursday, March21, 2019. The workshopsare free of charge andwill be held from 9 a.m.to 4 p.m.Selena Curry, Senior

Building Inspector, andTimothy Johnson, ActingChief Architect, partici-pated in a CaribbeanTechnology ConsultancyAgency Network train-ing initiative in Barbadosrecently that heightenedthe need to provideinformation for planningand building inspectorson the modality ofimproved constructionpractices.

Ms. Curry explainedthat the positioning ofCaribbean countries inthe heart of the hurricanebelt makes the regionsusceptible to the impactof disasters includingtropical storms, torna-does and hurricanes.“This sector is domi-

nated by artisans whoconstruct houses that arenot in keeping withbuilding standards andcodes primarily due totheir lack of knowledgeand government compli-ance requirements.“The housing sector isoften severely affectedby natural disasters inthe Caribbean regionconstructed by informalbuilding sector and usu-

ally operated outside thescope of formal con-struction industry prac-tices regulated by theplanning and buildingauthorities,” said Ms.Curry.“We received training

in ways that we can buildmore resilient houses towithstand a category 5hurricane. The hurri-canes are comingstronger and we are alsoexperiencing earth-quakes. We need to nowbuild our structures tomeet these challengesthat are caused by cli-mate change.”The objective is to

share the knowledge andexperience acquired byMs. Curry and Mr.

Johnson with artisans,small contractors, drafts-men, building inspectors,small contractors andanyone who may bebuilding a home or inter-ested in construction.“We now have

bankers who are buildingcontractors, [they are]coming from teaching,real estate; sometimesthey come with someskills and apprenticeshipand sometimes theycome with as little as noknowledge. They are outin the field and they arebuilding. The mandate isto train them and theycan go and train the laypersons on the jobs tobuild more resilienthouses.”

Ms. Curry outlinedsome of the challengesthat the Ministry is facedwith in construction ofhomes. They include:homes which are con-structed too close to theboundary, problems withthe layout of the propertye.g. finding out a proper-ty has cavities or blow-out holes, incorrectstrength of the concretemixture, selecting thebest foundation. “All of these we

would like to impart topersons to become morecognizant of the con-struction field. Theyprobably seem minor butwhen it comes to build-ing the house, these canlead to complaints and insome cases litigationsbetween the contractorand the homeowner,” sheadded.Antoinette Thompson,

Permanent Secretary,said the Ministrybelieves in empoweringemployees.“We know that it

makes a difference in ouremployees when weallow them to be empow-ered and we are doingthat for the profession-als, for the allied profes-sionals and the supportstaff,” she said.Interested persons can

register online at mopw-contractors@bahmas.gov.bs. On-site registrationis available. Space islimited.

Works Minister Offers Free Seminar to AssistSmall Contractors with Improved Construction

4 Pictured from left at the press conference to announce the workshops are Selena Curry, senior buildinginspector; Antoinette Thompson, Permanent Secretary; Melany Roach, Director and Damian Francis, Deputy

Director. (BiS Photo/derek Smith)

PMH Gifted 25 New Bedsprovide high qualityhealthcare.The Hospital is faced

with a 200- bed shortage.Public Hospitals

Authority DeputyManaging DirectorLyrone Burrows said thedonation comes on theheels of an ongoingappeal to replace oldpatient beds throughoutthe facility. He added that the

PHA is working onimproving wardsthroughout the hospital tosignificantly reduce thebed shortage issue. “We obviously have a

long term plan in terms ofthe expansion of thePrincess MargretHospital, which obvious-ly requires a significantamount of capital.

“We’re looking tobenefactors like the PMHFoundation , but as wellas the Bahamian public atlarge, and internationaldonors though our efforts. “In the first phase,

we’re talking in theregion of about $200 mil-lion that needs to be fund-ed to provide us with thenecessary expansion thatwe’re looking for,” hesaid. Mr. Burrows could not

say when phase one ofPMH’s expansion willbegin. However, heacknowledged that capi-tal funding is the mainissue.“Obviously, everyone

understands the positionthat the PHA is at interms of being able tomeet its day to day recur-rent needs. “It is something that

we have had in our strate-gic plan and we’re work-ing to get higher levels offunding from the govern-ment, but also fromdonors as well,” he said. A number of wards

were in need of repairadding to the bed short-age. Mr. Burrows saiduntil those wards are upand running again, one ofthe hospital’s strategies isto not hold any patientlonger than expected.“That is also a part of

engaging in the new Aand E development wherewe will be utilizing someof our public health clin-ics as our urgent care cen-ters,” he said. Twenty-three of the

new beds are earmarkedfor the ward FemaleMedical 1 and one eachfor the Gynae andMaternity wards.

Wilchcombe Disagrees Holding had won themulti-million dollar bid toredevelop and manage theWharf.However, Mr.

Wilchcombe is advisingthe government to take apage out of the NassauAirport Developmentmodel.“NAD really was the

idea, dealing with theproject were Bahamiansand we worked withVancouver in the firstinstance.” “So what we need is to

put a NAD together andthen we can seek a man-agement team that willwork with that Bahamiangrouping to call for themanagement of the prop-erty,” he said. Aside from that, Mr.

Wilchcombe contends thatGlobal Ports’ design forthe Prince George Wharfjust doesn’t create a senseof place.He said, “one of the

things when we negotiat-ed the airport withVancouver that was oneof the driving factors is asense of place, where’s the

sense of place at? “I need that to represent

the Bahamian people, sowith that if you thinkabout it, there will be newcost, a new paradigm, rev-enue and at the end of theday, I believe that theBahamian people shouldbe looking at it in a totallydifferent way. I don’tagree with the way we’redoing it right now,” hesaid. The former Cabinet

Minister does agree withthe government ‘s argu-ment that the port needs tobe improved.

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