VOL. 31 - NO. 65 THURSDAY - APRIL 11TH, 2019 FNM: “PLP

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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. 65 75 CENTSTHURSDAY - APRIL 11TH, 2019

FNM: “PLP DODGINGRESPONSIBILITYFOR FRAUD”The Free NationalMovement (FNM) yester-day said the OppositionProgressive Liberal Partyis dodging responsibilityfor the fraud taking placeat the National Sportsauthority (NSA) duringthe ChristieAdministration. In a statement, the

party expressed that thePLP may “never come togrips” the reality of suchcorrupt behavior. It said, “every time the

government turns anotherstone on corruption, thewoeful PLP tries to claimthere’s nothing to it. Allthree stooges of the PLP,

BY LEAH COOPERJournal Staff Writer

PLP CALLSFNM

ATTACK“STUPID”

Responding to an attackby the Free NationalMovement over theOpposition’s position onthe Auditor General’sreport on the operationsof the National SportsAuthority, theProgressive LiberalParty says, “The FNM'sChairman is a laugh aminute. Today becausethe PLP has unmaskedtheir fake and phonycampaign to discreditthe PLP's record in

sports, they are doublingdown with phony rageand fake rectitude andthe worn out personalattacks. Their statementtoday attacking the PLPis disgraceful.”The Chairman of the

PLP, Senator FredMitchell in a statementsaid, “they seek in it todefend the nonsensicalinnuendos from thisAuditor General's

g See page 3...g See page 3...

MINISTER’S COST ONHOUSING DISPUTED

Former Chairman of TheBahamas MortgageCorporation (BMC) AlexStorr yesterday labelledHousing MinisterRomauld Ferriera’s com-ments on housing pricesunder the previousadministration as nonsen-sical, erroneous, andbaseless. According to Minister

Ferreira, homes con-

BY LEAH COOPERJournal Staff Writer

g See page 4... 4 Alex Storr 4 Minister Ferreira

Murphy NamedCommissionerof Corrections

National SecurityMinister, Marvin H.Dames has announcedthe appointment of ActingCommissioner, Charles L.Murphy as Commissionerof The Bahamas

Department CorrectionalServices, with effect from29th January, 2019.Mr. Murphy was iden-

tified as the successful

g See page 4...

4 Charles L. Murphy

40 Migrants apprehended

in LittLe inagua

4 Haitian migrants being transported aboard HMBS Durward Knowles after they were apprehended in the southern Bahamason April 9, 2018)

A group of Haitian nation-als were apprehendedafter their vessel ran

aground of Little Inaguaon Tuesday morning,according to Immigrationand Defence Force offi-cials. A total of 40 migrants

are now detained at theCarmichael RoadDetention Center, follow-ing the apprehension. Royal Bahamas

Defence personnel said

"acting on informationreceived, HMBS DurwardKnowles, under the com-mand of Senior

BY LICEC BASTIANJournal Staff Writer

g See page 3...

Section A REGULAR_Section A Tues 4/10/2019 11:33 PM Page 1

The directive has beengiven for the NationalSports Authority audit tobe the focus of a policeinvestigation, butOpposition ChairmanFred Mitchell insistedthere are deficiencies inthe report that showed anumber of discrepanciesin the accounting of theaffairs of the authority.“I have a specific

experience as Ministerof Foreign Affairs wherethe Auditor General said$1 million dollars wasmissing and $1 millionwasn’t missing, it turnedout not to be so.” “There are others too;

there was one done onUrban Renewal, that wasdebunked because all anaudit is, is when youshow up on the day withyour auditors, it’s whatyou find on the day youget there. Look at the

Oban file that has gonemissing under thisadministration. “Our point it that you

can make these alarmistheadlines that money ismissing, that things aregone, and things haven’tbeen done and I’ve saidbefore, that I will put myhead on a chopping blockabout this particular mat-ter that it is impossiblefor money to separateitself from the Treasurywithout the proper paper

work being in place,” hesaid. That aside, Mr.

Mitchell has made itabundantly clear that hehas no confidence in thePolice Force - underNational SecurityMinister Marvin Dames’direction - conducting animpartial, non-partisanand independent investi-gation.In fact, he’s convinced

that any investigationunder such circum-

stances will be tainted bypolitical bias and there-fore not worth the paperit is written on.He is then reiterating

the call for the Ministerto either resign or be dis-missed.“There is in the law,

and constitutional con-ventions, a previsioncalled a presumption ofregularity.” “So someone who is

not judicially con-demned, who can head

that department can thencome with a clean slateand a Minister is respon-sible for his personalconduct and that of hisdepartment.” “No Minister of

National Security wouldallow the Prime Ministeror Cabinet to direct whathe does, because he muststand on his own twofeet,” Mr. Mitchell said. The PLP Chairman’s

accusing the governmentof attacking the PLP.

BY BERTHONY MCDERMOTTJournal Staff Writer

A2 NationalNEWSThe Bahama Journal

Thursday - April 11th, 2019

DAMES CALLS OPPOSITIONS CRITICISM RIDICULOUSNational SecurityMinister Marvin Dames iscalling the Oppositioncriticisms of the new ShotSpotter Technology asridiculous, adding that itis not something heshould waste his timeresponding to.His comments came

after Opposition LeaderPhillip Davis said thatShot Spotter is a waste oftime and tax payer dol-lars. He added that thegovernment should lookfor preventative methodsinstead if detection meth-ods.In his response

Minister Dames said thereality is everything can-not be prevented.

“I want to assure youas I stand here now,we’re already beginningto see some positivereports in relation to ShotSpotter. “The police have

reported to me that sinceits implementation, theyhave been able to respondto matters even before thecitizenry called thepolice, within seconds.

That can save lives,”Minister Dames said. Shot Spotter is a gun-

shot detection system thatdetects and conveys thelocation of gunshots fir-ing using acoustics. In January the govern-

ment signed a contractwith Shot SpotterTechnology to implementthe gunshot detectionsoftware in The Bahamas.

The first phase of thesoftware has already beeninstalled. Some 92 sen-sors are installed in ran-dom, undisclosed loca-tions throughout theisland. At the time of last

m o n t h ’ sdemonstration, Directorof Customer SuccessAlfred Lewers said onaverage, Shot Spotter

customers notice a 37 percent reduction in gun fireactivities. The plan is for the soft-

ware to be installed inNew Providence, GrandBahama, and Abaco.As only the first phase

is completed, MinisterDames said the secondphase is expected to rollout in the next fiscal peri-od.

BY BERTHONY MCDERMOTTJournal Staff Writer

MITCHELL: DEFICIENCIES IN THE NSA REPORT


A3The Bahama Journal

Thursday - April 11th, 2019NationalNEWS

PLP CALLS FNM ATTACK “STUPID”report, but there is nosubstance there todefend. They know thatmoney does not and can-not just walk out of theTreasury. The conclu-sions they seek to drawfrom the report do notfollow and cannot besustained. The FNM'sassertions are plainlyfoolish on the face.“With the FNM, they

are like a broken record.Corruption is all theysee. They are experts atthe game of corruptionand crookedness.Bahamians say " it takesone to know one."Mr. Mitchell said, “We

tell them again: stopbeing stupid. The FNMhas wasted two years ofdigging up in the garbagecan and not governing.The FNM is running outof time to get anything

meaningful done.“This is the dumbest

government we haveever had. Our greatestproblem is they don'tknow how dumb theyare. They think they areso smart, but the evi-dence of using the Stateto lock up their politicalopponents shows whatknuckleheads they allare.“By the way Duane

Sands and Marvin

Dames should resign.They are both judiciallycondemned. They mustresign or be dismissed,”said Senator Mitchell.Meanwhile, the MP

for Exuma and RaggedIsland, Chester Coopersaid “the chairman of theFree National Movementis a hopeless creature,barely worth respondingto, but unlike him, I havea care about how myname is bandied about.

“I note that he hasclaimed I have dispar-aged the probe of theauditor general into theNational SportsAuthority, which heincorrectly identified asthe National SportsAgency in a press state-ment today.This is patently false.“I have made no com-

ment on the audit reportand have no plans to doso at this time.

“The chairman of theFNM should get a life;one in which histhoughts are not con-sumed with me.He and I are no com-

pany.He should focus his

efforts on better explain-ing the disastrous poli-cies of this falteringadministration asopposed to making upstories,” said Mr.Cooper.

LieutenantBertram Bowleg, appre-hended a 35-ft Haitiansloop off the south coastof Little Inagua Island. "A further search of the

uninhabited Island andsurrounding area led tothe apprehension of 34males and 6 females, whoall appeared to be in goodhealth."The migrants were

taken aboard the Defence

Force craft and transport-ed to Matthew Town,Great Inagua Islandwhere they were turnedover to ImmigrationOfficials for further pro-cessing." In February more than

30 Haitian nationals per-ished when their 40-ftvessel ran aground ofFowl Cay, near Man-O-War Cay, Abaco. With this latest appre-

hension, over 300Haitians have been appre-

hended this year by theRBDF for illegal entryduring four separate inci-dents.Meantime, according

to the Department ofImmigration, sixmigrants were charged in

a Magistrate's court yes-terday, five Females andone male, for illegal land-ing. It is not known if these

individuals were amongthe group apprehended onTuesday morning.

Brave Davis, his instru-ment Fred Mitchell andtheir newest protégéChester Cooper haveclaimed the NSA scandalisn’t a big deal and thatthe Auditor General con-spired to produce a falsereport.”It added, ““their accu-

sation against the office ofthe Auditor General isirresponsible and should-n’t go unnoticed. Rather

than rejecting the corrup-tion that stains theirimage, the PLP makes theunbelievable claim that itdoesn’t exist, which is alie that not a soul in TheBahamas believes.“Any reasonable politi-

cal party would under-stand the benefit indenouncing its ownwrongdoing and movingforward to improve itsimage and maintain rele-vance, but the PLP’s pridecoupled with their mar-

riage to corruption, keepsthem driving towards theedge of the cliff.”, theFNM said. It added, “every time an

instance of corruption isexposed, Davis and therest of the PLP’s miser-able leadership attempt tosay it’s nothing to it; ofcourse, nearly everyinstance of corruption istied to them or else theywould certainly make adeal out of it. This is theparty that spent five years

turning corruption into anart form, allowing ourgovernment to lose mil-lions in revenue whileenriching themselves, andnow they are grasping tohang on to the system thatallowed their corruptionto flourish.”The governing party

also said that the PLP,instead of assisting withthe modernization andstrengthening of govern-ment agencies, are “cryingconspiracy” every time

the government opens aninvestigation. It said, “The FNM

remains hopeful that thePLP will soon understandthat the folly of their waysis out in the open andhighlighted for everyoneto see. There is no sense inpretending that the actionsat the NSA never tookplace, and it is negligibleto state a bold-faced liethat these investigationsare theproduct of a conspiracy.”

“Brave Davis and hisPLP cohorts have turnedtheir backs on Bahamians,but the FNM remainshopeful that they will soonturn their back on the cor-ruption that pollutes ourNation and holds opportu-nity hostage. Your FNMgovernment will continueworking to make corrup-tion a relic of historybecause Bahamiansdeserve a government thatworks for them.”, itadded.

FNM: “PLP DODGING

40 MIGRANTS APPREHENDED

gg Continued from / PAGE 1...




There has been a Globalrecall of Honda and Acuravehicles for airbagreplacement as deploy-ment can seriously injureor cause a fatality.With just over one mil-

lion Honda and Acuravehicles manufacturedbetween 2001 and 2016having faulty airbags, theNassau Motor Company(NMC) along with USHonda dealers are check-ing and replacing theseairbags for free during a“Free Airbag RepairEvent”.US certified technician

and Assistant Manager atHonda, USA RafaelLoya, says there’s a defec-tive component on Takataairbags that can result inserious injury or death ifand when deployed.

"In the event of anaccident this componentcalled the inflator canactually end up rupturing,causing severe injuries

and fatalities. "So we’re here to

replace those inflatorswith a new one. It’s free ofcharge for Honda andAcura owners," Mr. Loyasaid. The repairs, which

takes about 45 minutes, istaking place on thegrounds of the former CityMarkets on Wulff andVillage Roads. According to the Honda

manager, not all cars mayrequire the replacement,while some cars mayrequire both airbags to bereplaced."Some cars require dri-

ver’s side, some carsrequire passenger or both. "It’s very important that

anybody who has a Hondavehicle or Acura get theirairbags repaired, for free."So far we’ve had good

response we started offyesterday [Tuesday], wefixed about right over 200airbags; our goal here is tofix right around 1,500through Saturday. "We invite anybody

who has a Honda andAcura vehicle to come[and] check the call to seeif it has a recall; if youneed the recall, we have awaiting area for customersso that they can wait whiletheir vehicle is beingrepaired," Mr. Loya said.With more than 290

injuries worldwide beinglinked to Takata inflatorsthat could explode, spray-ing metal shrapnel insidecars and trucks, Mr. Loyasaid that over 300 vehicleshere in Nassau have beenchecked and fixed andtheir goal is to fix around1,500 by Saturday. "We know, in The

Bahamas, there’s a lotmore vehicles and we’reconsidering the vehiclesnot just sold in the localmarket, but we’re alsolooking at the vehicles thatwere imported from theUS or from other areas;we want to fix that as welland those are also for free."This morning

[Wednesday] it’s been aslow start, we don’t know

if it’s the weather. So farwe’ve done about 50repairs. "We have the capacity

to do over 300 repairs.We’ve brought over 17technicians from the USplus the local staff from

Nassau Motors, so com-bined we have over 30 or40 people supporting theevent," Mr. Loya said.Mr. Loya advises that

if Honda and Acura own-ers can not get to theexamination center to

simply logon to hond-abahamas.com/recal l ,enter the VIN number toknow if a replacement isneeded. The "Free Airbag

Repair Event" endsSaturday at 5pm.

BY LICEC BASTIANJournal Staff Writer

A4 The Bahama Journal

Thursday - April 11th, 2019 NationalNEWS

Honda Recalled For Faulty Airbags

ENDOWMENT FUND NAMED FOR CANON WARREN ROLLEA deserving student willbenefit from an AnglicanPriest’s major milestone.An Endowment Fund is tobe established at theUniversity of TheBahamas in honour ofCanon Warren Rolle’s

Golden Jubilee. The announcement was

made by Saint AgnesAnglican Church by HenryDean, Chairperson of theEndowment FundCommittee. According toMr. Dean, the awardee canstudy any discipline.However he or she musttake Divinity Courses also.

He said that theEndowment is not limitedto students from NewProvidence, as familyislands students needmuch assistance with fur-thering their education.The Endowment willbegin in September 2019,for the Fall Semester.Also present at the Press

Conference wereArchdeacon KeithCartwright representingthe Anglican Diocese ofthe Bahamas and Turksand Caicos Islands, FatherJames Moultrie and Ms.Janice Munnings, a repre-sentative of the CanonRolle Endowment FundCommittee and also a rep-

resentative of theUniversity of TheUniversity of theBahamas. They all spoke highly

about Canon Rolle, whowas a teacher at St. John’sCollege who taught Fr.Cartwright ReligiousKnowledge. A Mass will be held on

April 28th at 5 pm to cele-brate and commemoratethe occasion of CanonRolle being in the priest-hood for 50 years.A grateful Canon Rolle

said he was pleased to helpUniversity of the Bahamasstudents and he admon-ished everyone who can, tocontribute to the cause.

BY LISA KNOWLESJournal Staff Writer

COALITION TO SAVE CLIFTON HONOURS SEVEN Seven persons werehonoured yesterday byThe Coalition To SaveClifton on the twentiethanniversary of theorganization. The hon-ourees were presentedwith plaques for theirinvolvement in theCoalition.

In a gratification cer-emony at the Poop Deckat the Sandy Port,Coalition President Rev.Dr. C.B. Moss, said theevent was designated tobring together, in asocial setting, some ofthose who were instru-mental, firstly in saving,then protecting Clifton.He said the reception

was held to recognize

and award those whowent above and beyondand made extraordinarycontributions in thefight to save Clifton.“In the early 1990’s,

the priceless site ofClifton faced destruc-tion to make room for anexclusive upscale, gatedcommunity. In response,the Coalition to SaveClifton was formed.”

He said with the helpand support of many,many individuals, andorganizations toonumerous to mention,that project did not suc-ceed.Clifton is the only

place in the countrywhere three civilizationsoccupied the same pace,at different times; theywere the Lucayans, fol-

lowed by the loyalistsand the slaves fromAfrica. Rev. Moss lamented

that the coalition was, inthe past, referred to, inthe House of Assembly,as the tyrannical minori-ty, but he was happy toinform that it has now,in fact, proven to be thepatriotic majority.He said the reception

was held to give thoseindividuals and organi-zations an opportunityalso receive the grati-tude of the entire nation.“Sometimes we don’t

take time to do that, butone of the reasons whywe are assembled heretoday, and to just sharein that social interactionthat we enjoy, ” saidRev. Moss.

BY LISA KNOWLESJournal Staff Writer

HOUSING DISPUTEDstructed under the formeradministration were over-priced by tens of thou-sands of dollars. The Minister’s com-

ment was in response tothe argument that the gov-ernment should haveremained in the businessof building affordablehomes as opposed to sim-ply selling affordable lots. This followed the gov-

ernment’s decision a fewmonths back to provideservice lots in pocketsthroughout NewProvidence.Mr. Storr said, “I have

every confidence in theprofessionals at theMinistry of Housing whowere responsible for thepricing.“As everyone knows,

lending institutions willnot lend you a dime morethan a house is worth, andthis was never an issue

with any of the commer-cial banks. Their survivaldepends on this,” headded. He also said, “as a mat-

ter of fact, many of thesehouses were actuallyundervalued as manytimes infrastructure cost,actual land value, andother incidentals were notconsidered in the finalprice.”Mr. Storr suggested the

“awol” minister “get ahandle on his ministry andtackle pertinent issues”.These, he said, includes

the homes in Queen’s ParkSubdivision “that layvacant after being com-plete for over a year”; theminister’s failure to com-ment publically on the fir-ing of several experiencedexecutives at BMC, or themillions of dollars in rev-enue shortfall the corpora-tion will be facing becauseof the shift in the govern-ment’s housing policy.

He said, “in my opin-ion, the last issue willseverely hamper theirability to service theirupcoming due bondswithout help from analready overburdenedtreasury and will mostlikely mean more govern-ment borrowing to add tothe billions we alreadyowe.”Mr. Storr also suggest-

ed that the Minnis-Administration “correctthe abysmal course theyare on by shifting from apolicy that includes mak-ing untrue, negative alle-gations about the lastadministration and blam-ing the PLP for their veryown failures…”He further suggested to

shift to a course “thatdelivers real relief to theBahamian people as theirpolicies thus far have onlycreated grief and hard-ship.”


Murphy NamedCommissionerof Correctionscandidate out of nineapplicants after the postof Commissioner ofCorrectional Serviceswas advertised bothlocally and abroad lastyear. He succeeds for-mer Commissioner ofCorrectional Services,Mr. Patrick Wright, whoofficially retired on 29thAugust, 2018. An offi-cial Handing OverCeremony at TheBahamas DepartmentCorrectional Serviceswill take place onMonday, 15th April,2019 at 3 p.m. “I am very pleased to

appoint Mr. Murphy asCommissioner ofCorrectional Services,”said Minister Dames.“He has an impressiveprofessional record hav-ing served for nearly

four decades and willlead the process oftransformation at theinstitution”, he said.A native of

Mayaguana, Mr.Murphy began hiscareer at then HerMajesty’s Prison on11th August, 1980 as aPrison Officer and wasawarded the covetedBaton of Honour as theMost OutstandingRecruit in his squad.His career steadily pro-gressed over the 38years from Corporal in1993 to ActingCommissioner in 2018.During his extensivecareer he served in vari-ous capacities includingDirector of Maximumand Minimum, FemaleCorrectional andRemand HousingFacilities, DisciplinaryTribunal Judge,

Inmate’s Rehabilitativeand Pre-release Unit,Commandant of StaffTraining andD e v e l o p m e n t ,Correctional Manager atThe Security ProcessingCentre with the over-sight of visitation andproperty intake, and wasa member of theInterviewing Panel forRecruitment and thePromotion Board.Mr. Murphy earned a

Master of Arts degree inPublic Administrationfrom McHari’sInternational College, aBachelor of Arts degreein PublicAdministration from theUniversity of TheBahamas and anAssociate of Arts degreein Law and CriminalJustice from theUniversity of TheBahamas.


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VOL. 31 - NO. 65 THURSDAY - APRIL 11TH, 2019 FNM: “PLP