News

Minister Calls On Students to Hold Government Accountable for the Environment

Published

8 years ago

April 28, 2015

Bahamas, 27 April 2015 – In the midst of public uproar surrounding the government’s negligence to inform the public of the results of a 2012 underground leak at a local gas station, the Minister of Environment and Housing urged high school students to help the Government to correct its flaws.

Minister Kenred Dorsett made the call at the opening ceremonies for the third Earth Day Challenge sponsored by Ferreira & Company held earlier this week, which attracted more than 50 students from around the country. The event encouraged students to display environmental issues and provide solutions for them, something Dorsett said was quite a heartening experience for him.

“I was encouraged about the future of earth sciences in our country when I learnt that not only were you required to complete science projects, but you have to defend them and also find out if there were any laws that encouraged the activities of your project,” said Dorsett. “So now you can point out weaknesses to the Government and help us to make laws to support the environmental projects you studied.

Just last week, Dorsett and his government agency came under fire after it was revealed that an independent study completed by Black and Veach International (BVI) in 2014 indicated that an oil leak at the Rubis Service Station on Robinson Road exposed residents of the area and employees of surrounding businesses to harmful chemicals.
The report went on to say that while remediation efforts were appropriate for groundwater contamination, Rubis could have also acted on its off-site impacts. One of those harmful chemicals included Benzene, known to be a cancer-causing component. The initial complaint was made in 2012 and the results of the year-old report, were not released until last week after residents demanded answers.

Since last week’s revelation, Bahamians have strengthened their cry for a Freedom of Information Act to be passed, something environmental consultant and attorney Romauld Ferreira says he has been pushing for more than two years.
“The time to act is now,” said Ferreira, who is also a director of the environmental group Save The Bays. “Had there been a Freedom of Information Act in place, the people would not have been left in the dark for nearly two years. Now we have persons who have been exposed to deadly toxins, something that could have been avoided had there been a law for accountability and transparency in the first place.”
Shortly after making the call to the students, Dorsett admitted that the process of the release of the report should have been more transparent, but maintained that there was no conspiracy to conceal information from the Bahamian people. Dorsett has called the government’s handling of the Rubis matter “a teachable moment.”

Related Topics:environment high school students kenred dorsett

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Register of Interests of the Members of the House of Assembly

Published

4 days ago

September 29, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

#TurksandCaicos, September 29, 2023 – The Integrity Commission advises that the Register of Interests for Members of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly, as at 31st December 2022 has been completed.

Members of the House of Assembly are required by the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution, Section 103(2), and the Integrity Commission Ordinance (the Ordinance), as amended, Section 52(1), to file with the Commission, Statements of Registrable Interests. The Commission would, therefore, like to inform members of the public that, it has compiled the information contained in these Statements of Registrable Interests and has produced The Register of Interests 2022 for the Members of the House of Assembly, as at 31st December 2022.

The Register of Interests 2022 is now available for public inspection at the following locations:

House of Assembly in Grand Turk
Office of the Premier – Grand Turk and Providenciales
Office of the Integrity Commission – Grand Turk and Providenciales (during the hours of 8:30am to 4:30pm from Mondays to Thursdays and 8:00am to 4:00pm on Fridays.)
Office of the District Commissioner – Middle Caicos, North Caicos, Salt Cay and South Caicos.

The Register can be viewed at these locations during normal working hours or at a time that is convenient for the respective offices.

For further information or any assistance please contact the Integrity Commission:

By telephone at: 946-1941(Grand Turk Office) or 941-7847 (Providenciales Office) By e-mail at: secretary@integritycommission.tc or info@integritycommission.tc

Bahamas News

Grand Bahama to be CARGO HUB, as Bahamas & Qatar ink MOU

Published

4 days ago

September 29, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#TheBahamas, September 29, 2023 – With moves to deepen ties, governments of The Bahamas and Qatar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to solidify agreements in principle surrounding the development of aviation and other related services.

This is according to Chester Cooper, The Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investment and Aviation in a Facebook post.

This comes after The Bahamas Government in a press release on September 24th, revealed that Cooper, was set to meet with the head of Qatar Airways to have talks regarding “multiple mutually beneficial aviation opportunities for both countries.”

The release also said the deputy prime minister and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investment and Aviation are working on “forging strategic partnerships with several Middle Eastern countries to strengthen ties to The Bahamas and the Caribbean,” and this new signing is indicative of such efforts.

Following the September 25th signing, on September 27th, Kenneth Romer, Deputy Director General of Tourism for The Bahamas informed via Facebook some details of the agreement saying, “we have now established a framework for cooperation and formed strategic partnerships with Qatar Airways, Qatar’s Transport, Aviation and Investment Agencies and The Qatar Aeronautical Academy, that will benefit our country.”

Regarding further efforts for the improvement of The Bahamas, Cooper announced on Facebook again on Tuesday September 26th that both countries are working to make Nassau a passenger hub for Latin America and the Caribbean adding that talks are being held for Grand Bahama as a cargo hub.

Additionally, as the press release informed, Cooper is preparing for an on ground visit of Bahamasair domestic operations by Qatar Airways Technical team sometime in October.

Caribbean News

Guyana to build regional food hub

Published

4 days ago

September 29, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Guyana, September 29, 2023 – Guyana is making moves to become the primary food production center for the Caribbean, going ahead with plans to develop a USD$14 million regional food hub.

In fact, as reported by the Observer, the facility has already been identified on the country’s Soesdyke /Linden Highway.

Guyana seems to really want this to become a reality and Zulfikar Mustapha, Agriculture Minister, expressed this, highlighting what Guyana has over its Caribbean sister Islands.

“We want Guyana to be the food hub, the primary production hub of the Caribbean so that we could supply the Caribbean. What we have, our colleagues in the Caribbean don’t have. We have arable flat land and abundant fresh water,” he said, adding that with the multi-million dollar US investment, the country can, “modernise the infrastructure, and start ramping up the productions.”

Also, the Agriculture Minister pointed out that the project is geared to make for a more competitive local Agriculture industry as well as developing high-yielding varieties, pest-resistant and climate-resilient varieties.

Additionally, in the facility’s development, Guyana, Mustapha said, will work with Belize.

In fact, with more on Belize’s involvement, Dr. Ashni Singh, Finance Minister, informed that the Government is in talks with the Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley about sourcing inputs from northern Brazil and transporting them through Guyana to Barbados and vice versa.

Singh also reportedly revealed that the project will help develop the growing logistics industry in Guyana.

Considering regional food import cost, with this development, Guyana is the leading Caribbean Community country pushing ahead with plans to reduce the multi-billion dollar regional food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025, the Observer says.