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Bahamas Min. Finance vs opposition on Civil servant pay

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Bahamas, September 3rd, 2017 – Nassau – When civil servants did not receive their salaries for the month of August, they weren’t the only ones with something to say about it. PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts called it “highly unfortunate and heartless on the part of the prime minister”.

In response to Roberts however, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, K Peter Turnquest said, “it is unfortunate that Mr. Roberts did not take the time to avail himself of the facts with respect to the non payment of workers. That is, if his true intention was to ensure the well being of those employees.”

On the note of these employees’ well-being, Roberts argued that those affected were parents depending on funds to send their children back to school this week. He said, “while students and their parents suffer because of the terrible policies of Dr. Hubert Minnis which created unnecessary uncertainty, hardship and misery for countless Bahamian families, the prime minister and his foreign minister violated their own self-imposed policy on foreign travel and are enjoying cocktails in Atlanta at the expense of Bahamian taxpayers, hundreds of whom Minnis fired since coming to office.” Roberts even ended his statement by warning the prime minister not to trigger a revolt by civil servants through his actions.

Not affected by this statement, Turnquest rebutted, “do note that the Ministry of Finance continues to work through a litany of unresolved financial and human resource issues left behind by the former PLP administration so as to ensure that all legitimately engaged persons receive their due compensation. The government will not be distracted by idle and duplicitous voices who – when they had their time – squandered the people’s money, and cared little about the actual well-being of Bahamians.”

Despite both differring political view points, Turnquest promised that “the matter has been addressed with the requisite files sent to the respective banks for posting on Friday afternoon. Most if not all of these persons should receive their salaries today.”

Approximately three hundred and thirty two (332) contract workers from the Ministry of Education were not paid on time, due to the fact that their salaries had been “coded”, as their initial contract period had expired and the necessary adjustment had not been made to the system.

Story By: Kay-Marie Fletcher

Bahamas News

FBI and Bahamas looking into woman’s death  

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Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer  

 

 

#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – The FBI is investigating a woman’s ‘suspicious’ death on a Carnival Cruise ship in February.  The unnamed woman and her husband boarded the Carnival Sunshine on February 27th, for a trip to the Bahamas, but she was dead before they arrived in the port in The Bahamas.

The FBI said Carnival’s team had administered life saving measures when the woman was reported unresponsive, but they were unsuccessful.  The body and the woman’s husband were released to the Bahamian authorities when the cruise arrived in the country.  

In a statement shared with US media houses, Carnival Cruises claimed the death has been a natural one.  The Nassau Guardian said a source told them the police findings had concurred with that assessment saying it was a “normal sudden death of a tourist who wasn’t feeling well.” 

The FBI was waiting for the cruise and when it got back to South Carolina on March 4th, they immediately boarded and began to investigate the room based on ‘evidence of a crime.’  The FBI also searched the couple’s car.   

No updates have been shared to contradict the currently established cause of death.   

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Bahamas News

Why Sargassum Matters

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Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – “If you don’t like it, go to another beach!” Is what Aaron John, an Education Officer from The Bahamas National Trust jokingly tells our news team about sargassum blooms; his quip, motivated by the necessity of nature when pit against the notion that there is a real threat when the stinky seaweed makes its annual appearance. 

John can admit, he says, that Sargassum isn’t very pretty but life isn’t all about aesthetics and in this instance that ugly patch serves a purpose. 

“We love our sandy beaches, but in order to keep them we need Sargassum. When storms come, they wash away all the sand off the beach but sargassum acts as a mulch to protect the sand from water erosion. It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t feel good but we need it.”

He said it also provides a habitat for small crustaceans, crabs, and insects that are all necessary to our ecosystem and islanders have  found use for the weed.

“Historically, (in The Bahamas) we have been using sargassum as fertilizer, especially in the family Islands as far back as I know,” he said. “Birds don’t go on the beach unless there is Sargassum and what do they do? they feed – it’s beautiful.” 

He encouraged residents to just leave it be if they came across it.

Sargassum isn’t harmful to humans, except for people with respiratory issues who may find the rotten egg smell triggers asthma. Despite this, it’s not advisable to walk through the weeds which may hide sharp rocks and bottles or vulnerable animals.

Experts say Sargassum blooms began to increase in size around 2011 and have continued to get bigger and bigger since. This year‘s bloom is around 5000 miles long and 300 miles wide and visible from space.

“I know it’s not a general outlook, but I would like to change the perspective on sargassum,” John said, pointing out The Bahamas National Trust is actively working to decrease alarm over the less worrisome events like sargassum as it raises the profile on the environmentally devastating. 

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Bahamas News

Lease agreement approved for diaspora office     

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Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos’ Bahamas Diaspora Office is moving closer and closer to opening day, following the Cabinet’s approval for the signing of a lease agreement.  

The lease will be signed with FINCEN ltd in the Bahamas.  Several weeks ago, Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration confirmed to our news team that the location had been found and was being finalized; now a lease is approved at the Cabinet level.  

The interest in the TCI from TC Bahamians was evident in the diaspora meetings held in early February.  The two meetings held in Nassau and Grand Bahama were completely full and over-subscribed by hundreds.  

It’s interest which the Government hopes will translate to real life population growth, bolstering the local population before the native population ‘goes extinct’.  

The Opposition PDM is on the record with what it feels is a far more viable solution to a dwindling native population; seek out the country’s own citizens and bring them back home. 

Cabinet did not state when the office will open. 

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