Addressing the shantytown problem
thenassauguardian editorial
Tragedy hit a Haitian community in the Carmichael Road area on Sunday. A large part of a shantytown burned down, destroying more than 100 houses. Hundreds may now be homeless.
Shantytowns are a major problem in The Bahamas. In 2009, then Minister of State for Immigration Branville McCartney said that 37 shantytowns had been identified in New Providence alone.
With houses having been built too close together; with some homes being powered by stolen electricity connected by low hanging wires; and with large communities with inadequate or no sewerage systems, these shantytowns are public health hazards.
For some reason, especially in New Providence, the agencies of the government responsible for policing this problem have failed.
More aggressive action on this problem is needed in 2011 for the sake of the Haitians living in shantytowns and for the Bahamians who live nearby.
When proper sanitation and safety protocols are not followed, mass tragedy could ensue from fire or disease. Sunday’s fire could have led to the deaths of hundreds.
For the Bahamians who live near shantytowns, their property values are reduced because of the unsanitary communities next door. This is unfair to hardworking, honest citizens of the country.
The problem is, in part, that governments of The Bahamas have been unable to regulate effectively the flow of people from the failed Haitian state. Those looking for a better life have just set up communities on any vacant land.
Once the illegal structures are built, for humanitarian reasons, it is hard to destroy them. Where do you send the poor and stateless once their homes are removed?
We must not let genuine concern for our brothers and sisters from the south to overrule commonsense, however. Illegally built shantytowns need to be removed.
Those migrating to The Bahamas must find legal and safe accommodation. We cannot continue to ignore this problem. It is a matter of law, order and public safety.
No one in this country should be allowed to ignore public health and town planning regulations. The laws exist to keep us safe and to protect property rights.
The government just decided to enforce the seatbelt laws, which were originally enacted in 2002. It should next move to rigorously enforce the public health and property laws being violated by many who reside in shantytowns across the country.
12/29/2010
thenassauguardian editorial
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Sunday, December 26, 2010
Deconstructing the Haitian political crisis
By Jean Herve Charles
The Republic of Haiti is at a stalemate. A national election took place on November 28, 2010. It was encrusted with so much irregularity, government-led violence and polling manipulation, including international mishap and corruption, that the final results cannot be proclaimed. One of the most popular candidates, Joseph Michel Martelly, was relegated to the third place, denying him the right to a second round of balloting.
There was rioting, and protests all over the country. The candidates, the pundits and the electoral board as well as the international community are all shooting at each other, diverse formulas to redress this gross disrespect for the sacred principle of democracy, which is the right of the people to choose their own leader without interference.
Haiti, as most third world countries, is familiar with the strength of a long hand (national and/or international) that manipulates the electoral transition to ensure that political stability is equal to or tantamount to the status quo.
There was an election recently in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The people of St Vincent at home and abroad for the past five years in the media and out loud have cried out against the arrogance and the ill advised policies of their government. Yet at election time, the same Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves has been returned to power for the next five years, albeit with a slim majority.
Rene Preval, after two five-year, non consecutive mandates has led the Republic of Haiti with a desinvolture so pregnant with ineptness that all types of catastrophes are falling to his people, inundation with landslides, earthquakes with disastrous consequences, rampant disease such as cholera, causing thousands of deaths and immense hospitalization. Yet his slogan of political stability is translated into using all the state and international resources to put his own son-in-law into power to continue the culture of keeping Haiti in the state of squalor.
My eureka in the process of the deconstruction of the national and international link of the Haitian political crisis started in September 2009 at the Clinton Global Conference in New York. I was hobnobbing with world leaders when a personal friend introduced me to the mighty and the powerful of this earth as the next head of state of Haiti. One of them took my friend on the side and told her, “Do not listen to this lad; the next president of Haiti will be the wife of President Preval!” President Preval was not married yet to his present wife; the wedding took place in December 2009.
In the meantime, God himself got into the fray! A powerful earthquake on January 12, 2010 shook the land under the capital, Port au Prince, destroying most of the governmental buildings and killing more than 300,000 people. A plan B was designed by President Rene Preval. He would incubate the former Prime Minister Alexis as his successor. Alexis had a good following amongst the legislators, but he was decried by the people as a poor policymaker when they forced him out during the first stage of food riots that would circle the whole globe in 2008.
This choice was secretly endorsed by the international community. The American Democrat Party was ready to lend its best technicians in campaign practices to the Unity Party. I had no information or knowledge about the preferred candidate of the Republican Party.
At a conference organized by the OAS in Washington for the Haitian Diaspora to participate in the reconstruction of Haiti, I was warned by one of the operatives that my intrusion into Haitian politics was not welcome, Alexis was their man!
CARICOM, through their associate director Colin Granderson, was proposed and accepted to anoint, supervise, tabulate and give credence to the gross organized deception that the Haitian people have called a selection not an election. CARICOM has no funding for such operation.
Another plan was devised to have the American government and the American taxpayer pay for the macabre exercise. It did so to the scale of 12 million dollars, with no strings attach, with Mr Granderson doling out the dollars at his choice under the pretext of international observation.
Elizabeth Delatour Preval has other plans; she does not get along with Frederika Alexis, a strong willed lady in her own right. The reigning First Lady will not accept that the aspiring first lady occupies the National Palace. She put her veto to the choice. President Preval had to come up with option C. Jude Celestin, his aspiring son in law, was the nominee of the brand new party, Unity, reconstructed overnight as the Senate and the assembly deserted the president in his choice.
Massive resources of the national treasury brought some of them in line; Jude Celestin had an open checkbook to plaster the country with posters and giant billboards. His credentials for the top job of the nation has been honed by the president who created the CNE (outside of the governmental scrutiny) to build roads and provide national sanitation. He was also in charge of collecting the bodies after the earthquake.
The people of Haiti have decided to grant a failing grade to the Preval government that exhibited any constructive leadership under the lowest standard of good governance during the last five years. The balloting of November 28, 2010 reflected that evaluation.
Yet, through national and international connivance, (OAS, CARICOM and the Canadian expert in charge of the tabulation) a massive fraud was concocted to position the candidate of the government as eligible for a second balloting.
The people of Haiti as one have stood up to stop this gross violation of their rights. The political crisis has since been in full force. The Haitian Constitution has provision for such a crisis. A new government must be in place on February 7, 2011 to replace the Preval administration. In his spirit of callousness, he has avoided during the last five years to name a chief of the Supreme Court who by law would be named the next chief of state in case of political stalemate.
The Constitution foresees also the investiture of the oldest judge of the Supreme Court as president in case the chief judge is not available. The Haitian civil society, the international community, the political parties will agree to nominate a prime minister who will organize a government in the spirit of the Constitution to organize new elections and lead the transitional reconstruction of the country.
The people of Haiti have exhibited, according to the Wall Street Journal, a saintly patience and resilience during the successive waves of national trauma. Haiti is not St Vincent and the Grenadines; its patience with an arrogant and inept leader, unwilling and unable to hear and empathize with its suffering, is not without limit!
Stay tuned next week for an essay: One year after, taking stock of the Haitian situation: Building Corail or rebuilding Haiti!
December 25, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
The Republic of Haiti is at a stalemate. A national election took place on November 28, 2010. It was encrusted with so much irregularity, government-led violence and polling manipulation, including international mishap and corruption, that the final results cannot be proclaimed. One of the most popular candidates, Joseph Michel Martelly, was relegated to the third place, denying him the right to a second round of balloting.
Haiti, as most third world countries, is familiar with the strength of a long hand (national and/or international) that manipulates the electoral transition to ensure that political stability is equal to or tantamount to the status quo.
There was an election recently in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The people of St Vincent at home and abroad for the past five years in the media and out loud have cried out against the arrogance and the ill advised policies of their government. Yet at election time, the same Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves has been returned to power for the next five years, albeit with a slim majority.
Rene Preval, after two five-year, non consecutive mandates has led the Republic of Haiti with a desinvolture so pregnant with ineptness that all types of catastrophes are falling to his people, inundation with landslides, earthquakes with disastrous consequences, rampant disease such as cholera, causing thousands of deaths and immense hospitalization. Yet his slogan of political stability is translated into using all the state and international resources to put his own son-in-law into power to continue the culture of keeping Haiti in the state of squalor.
My eureka in the process of the deconstruction of the national and international link of the Haitian political crisis started in September 2009 at the Clinton Global Conference in New York. I was hobnobbing with world leaders when a personal friend introduced me to the mighty and the powerful of this earth as the next head of state of Haiti. One of them took my friend on the side and told her, “Do not listen to this lad; the next president of Haiti will be the wife of President Preval!” President Preval was not married yet to his present wife; the wedding took place in December 2009.
In the meantime, God himself got into the fray! A powerful earthquake on January 12, 2010 shook the land under the capital, Port au Prince, destroying most of the governmental buildings and killing more than 300,000 people. A plan B was designed by President Rene Preval. He would incubate the former Prime Minister Alexis as his successor. Alexis had a good following amongst the legislators, but he was decried by the people as a poor policymaker when they forced him out during the first stage of food riots that would circle the whole globe in 2008.
This choice was secretly endorsed by the international community. The American Democrat Party was ready to lend its best technicians in campaign practices to the Unity Party. I had no information or knowledge about the preferred candidate of the Republican Party.
At a conference organized by the OAS in Washington for the Haitian Diaspora to participate in the reconstruction of Haiti, I was warned by one of the operatives that my intrusion into Haitian politics was not welcome, Alexis was their man!
CARICOM, through their associate director Colin Granderson, was proposed and accepted to anoint, supervise, tabulate and give credence to the gross organized deception that the Haitian people have called a selection not an election. CARICOM has no funding for such operation.
Another plan was devised to have the American government and the American taxpayer pay for the macabre exercise. It did so to the scale of 12 million dollars, with no strings attach, with Mr Granderson doling out the dollars at his choice under the pretext of international observation.
Elizabeth Delatour Preval has other plans; she does not get along with Frederika Alexis, a strong willed lady in her own right. The reigning First Lady will not accept that the aspiring first lady occupies the National Palace. She put her veto to the choice. President Preval had to come up with option C. Jude Celestin, his aspiring son in law, was the nominee of the brand new party, Unity, reconstructed overnight as the Senate and the assembly deserted the president in his choice.
Massive resources of the national treasury brought some of them in line; Jude Celestin had an open checkbook to plaster the country with posters and giant billboards. His credentials for the top job of the nation has been honed by the president who created the CNE (outside of the governmental scrutiny) to build roads and provide national sanitation. He was also in charge of collecting the bodies after the earthquake.
The people of Haiti have decided to grant a failing grade to the Preval government that exhibited any constructive leadership under the lowest standard of good governance during the last five years. The balloting of November 28, 2010 reflected that evaluation.
Yet, through national and international connivance, (OAS, CARICOM and the Canadian expert in charge of the tabulation) a massive fraud was concocted to position the candidate of the government as eligible for a second balloting.
The people of Haiti as one have stood up to stop this gross violation of their rights. The political crisis has since been in full force. The Haitian Constitution has provision for such a crisis. A new government must be in place on February 7, 2011 to replace the Preval administration. In his spirit of callousness, he has avoided during the last five years to name a chief of the Supreme Court who by law would be named the next chief of state in case of political stalemate.
The Constitution foresees also the investiture of the oldest judge of the Supreme Court as president in case the chief judge is not available. The Haitian civil society, the international community, the political parties will agree to nominate a prime minister who will organize a government in the spirit of the Constitution to organize new elections and lead the transitional reconstruction of the country.
The people of Haiti have exhibited, according to the Wall Street Journal, a saintly patience and resilience during the successive waves of national trauma. Haiti is not St Vincent and the Grenadines; its patience with an arrogant and inept leader, unwilling and unable to hear and empathize with its suffering, is not without limit!
Stay tuned next week for an essay: One year after, taking stock of the Haitian situation: Building Corail or rebuilding Haiti!
December 25, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
Friday, December 24, 2010
HURRICANE ANNA NICOLE WREAKS HAVOC IN THE BAHAMAS
Rough Cut
By Felix F. Bethel
“…cry havoc…”
Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 15:15
SUBJECT: HURRICANE ANNA NICOLE WREAKS HAVOC IN THE BAHAMAS
This cable describes how an eventful residency by the late model Anna Nicole Smith left several key institutions in the Bahamas in disarray and even managed to reinvigorate the country's media.
SUMMARY: Several months into her Bahamian residency, American B-list celebrity and regular entertainment television fixture Anna Nicole Smith has changed the face of Bahamian politics.
1. Not since Category 4 Hurricane Betsy made landfall in 1965 has one woman done as much damage in Nassau. Lying in disarray in her wake are Doctor's Hospital, the Coroner's Court, the Department of Immigration, local mega-lawyers Callenders and Co., formerly popular Minister of Immigration Shane Gibson, and possibly Prime Minister Christie's PLP government.
2. At the eye of a series of scandals over her Bahamian residency application and the death of her son, Anna Nicole has inspired a revitalized Bahamian media to take aim at a system that too often rewards the privileged….”
With this –then –as background; I speak of havoc and shame and rot and corruption to the core in this land that is mine.
Welcome to a corrupted, cruel place; a place where greed, slime and crime routinely cavort.
Take note that, with Christmas lurking in the shadows; and with my pocket as tight as ever –and with some of my children far, far away in countries far away from these troubled shores - I have today decided to take a kind of break from thinking about love affairs; my own creeping decrepitude – or for that matter, about Out East and the old days when I grew up young and green in one of yesterday’s fetid nigger-yards.
Happily, the break I take is liberally assisted by information coming my way from somewhere out-there in Cyber-Space; that same space that has allowed so very many Negroes to take a chance on losing even more of their hard-earned money to the magicians who own the so-called Web-Shops.
And so, the break I take concerns information purportedly coming from the United States Embassy; information involving some of this land’s most prominent citizens; and for sure, information that mesmerizes.
And since, I still remember what happened to Rodney Smith in the aftermath of his decision to rip off a speech made by John Sexton; I have decided to tell you [up-front and direct] that the words I quote are not mine.
1. The Anna Nicole affair has severely damaged Shane Gibson's political career, tarnishing one of the PLP's brighter stars. It also killed the Coroner's Court and may lead to changes in the laws allowing foreign property owners to obtain Bahamian residency.
2. Whether the scandals also determine the fate of the PLP in coming elections is still to be seen, but a newly energized media holding the government accountable will almost certainly make the campaign more difficult for the incumbent party. END COMMENT. ROOD
3. In Anna Nicole's wide swath of destruction, one entity has flourished -- the Bahamian media. At Post's quarterly media reception in October, a newspaper editor gushed about the increase in sales on days when Anna Nicole coverage is featured.
4. Not since Wallace Simpson dethroned a King and came to Nassau has an American femme fatale so captivated the Bahamian public and dominated local politics.
5. On August 11, Anna Nicole Smith filed for legal residency in The Bahamas as a result of her alleged ownership of a local home, pursuant to local immigration law permitting residence for persons owning homes of $500,000 or more. In September, the application was granted and Anna Nicole allegedly provided a $10,000 check directly to Immigration Minister Gibson at a meeting at her home.
6. According to Anna Nicole, Minister Gibson personally approved her residency permit on September 20. In response to concern over the timing of the approval -- residency approval typically takes years in the Bahamas -- Gibson and PM Christie sought to reassure the public. They said that Anna Nicole was treated as any other applicant, noting glibly that the Ministry of Immigration should not be criticized for "improved efficiencies in government for which it deserves praise."
7. (SBU) Gibson's protestations of distance with the matter were shattered by a prominent local law firm and a local gossip publication. Callenders and Co., the law firm that handled Anna's home purchase and residency application, said it delivered a $10,000 check from Anna Nicole directly to Gibson at Anna Nicole's residence, and that it communicated to Anna Nicole repeatedly on Minister Gibson's government cell phone.
8. The resulting public furor over Gibson's favoritism has been strong. Before Anna Nicole came to Nassau, Minister of Immigration Gibson enjoyed strong public support as a result of his aggressive anti-immigrant policies. His midnight raids of Haitian communities and restriction of residency options for Haitians was widely applauded by a Bahamian public fearful of losing Bahamian opportunities to illegal immigrants. The Anna Nicole scandal has recast Gibson as puppet of the privileged rather than defender of the common people of The Bahamas.
9. In response to the public outcry and mounting calls for Gibson's resignation, the Government promised a review of procedures in the Department of Immigration at the same time it fired back at Callenders and Co. for its role in the affair -- tactics that have brought criticism to others but have not helped turn the tide of public opinion.
10. During a November meeting with Poloff, an opposition Free National Movement Central Committee member gleefully reported polling in Gibson's parliament district foretold a clear FNM victory in coming elections. Local newspaper and radio feedback on Gibson has been brutal.
11. Even in the normally friendly Bahama Journal, Christie and Gibson have been roasted and a poll of the Journal's largely PLP readership showed 90% disapproval with Government handling of Anna Nicole.
11. At the heart of Gibson's problems is the fact that Anna Nicole received residency in a matter of days, when the process normally takes many months or years. His reported direct receipt of the $10,000 check for residency represents another flagrant violation of the normal process, leading to bitter denunciations of the whole process by which residency is granted to persons for buying property here.
12. Gibson and the PLP have not been the only victims of Hurricane Anna Nicole. Following the death of her son in Nassau's Doctor's Hospital on September 10, international media descended upon Doctor's Hospital, which carefully guarded Anna Nicole's privacy in the face of heavy criticism.
13. The quality of care at Doctor's came under fire for its treatment -- or more pointedly its complete lack of treatment -- of Anna Nicole's son while in Doctor's. For the record, Doctor's Hospital is regarded as the finest medical institution in the country and has enjoyed an excellent reputation among the expatriate community.
14. The criticism of the hospital was nothing compared to the criticism of the Bahamas Coroner's Court. The Court, which served to review death cases and determine cause, was under heavy fire for its inability -- or unwillingness -- to provide a cause of death for Anna Nicole's son.
16. It had yet to issue a statement when a US pathologist issued a report concluding that a toxic cocktail of drugs caused the death, leading to speculation that the government was protecting Anna Nicole from embarrassment by delaying its findings.
17. Before the Coroner's Court concluded its inquest, the government disbanded the inefficient Court and fired the Coroner…
There was even more, but suffice it to say – even now- I cry havoc at what the flunkies, lackeys, blood-suckers and pimps have made of this land that is mine.
Merry Christmas to all-a-yinna from Bettul.
December 23, 2010
The Bahama Journal
By Felix F. Bethel
“…cry havoc…”
Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 15:15
SUBJECT: HURRICANE ANNA NICOLE WREAKS HAVOC IN THE BAHAMAS
This cable describes how an eventful residency by the late model Anna Nicole Smith left several key institutions in the Bahamas in disarray and even managed to reinvigorate the country's media.
SUMMARY: Several months into her Bahamian residency, American B-list celebrity and regular entertainment television fixture Anna Nicole Smith has changed the face of Bahamian politics.
1. Not since Category 4 Hurricane Betsy made landfall in 1965 has one woman done as much damage in Nassau. Lying in disarray in her wake are Doctor's Hospital, the Coroner's Court, the Department of Immigration, local mega-lawyers Callenders and Co., formerly popular Minister of Immigration Shane Gibson, and possibly Prime Minister Christie's PLP government.
2. At the eye of a series of scandals over her Bahamian residency application and the death of her son, Anna Nicole has inspired a revitalized Bahamian media to take aim at a system that too often rewards the privileged….”
With this –then –as background; I speak of havoc and shame and rot and corruption to the core in this land that is mine.
Welcome to a corrupted, cruel place; a place where greed, slime and crime routinely cavort.
Take note that, with Christmas lurking in the shadows; and with my pocket as tight as ever –and with some of my children far, far away in countries far away from these troubled shores - I have today decided to take a kind of break from thinking about love affairs; my own creeping decrepitude – or for that matter, about Out East and the old days when I grew up young and green in one of yesterday’s fetid nigger-yards.
Happily, the break I take is liberally assisted by information coming my way from somewhere out-there in Cyber-Space; that same space that has allowed so very many Negroes to take a chance on losing even more of their hard-earned money to the magicians who own the so-called Web-Shops.
And so, the break I take concerns information purportedly coming from the United States Embassy; information involving some of this land’s most prominent citizens; and for sure, information that mesmerizes.
And since, I still remember what happened to Rodney Smith in the aftermath of his decision to rip off a speech made by John Sexton; I have decided to tell you [up-front and direct] that the words I quote are not mine.
1. The Anna Nicole affair has severely damaged Shane Gibson's political career, tarnishing one of the PLP's brighter stars. It also killed the Coroner's Court and may lead to changes in the laws allowing foreign property owners to obtain Bahamian residency.
2. Whether the scandals also determine the fate of the PLP in coming elections is still to be seen, but a newly energized media holding the government accountable will almost certainly make the campaign more difficult for the incumbent party. END COMMENT. ROOD
3. In Anna Nicole's wide swath of destruction, one entity has flourished -- the Bahamian media. At Post's quarterly media reception in October, a newspaper editor gushed about the increase in sales on days when Anna Nicole coverage is featured.
4. Not since Wallace Simpson dethroned a King and came to Nassau has an American femme fatale so captivated the Bahamian public and dominated local politics.
5. On August 11, Anna Nicole Smith filed for legal residency in The Bahamas as a result of her alleged ownership of a local home, pursuant to local immigration law permitting residence for persons owning homes of $500,000 or more. In September, the application was granted and Anna Nicole allegedly provided a $10,000 check directly to Immigration Minister Gibson at a meeting at her home.
6. According to Anna Nicole, Minister Gibson personally approved her residency permit on September 20. In response to concern over the timing of the approval -- residency approval typically takes years in the Bahamas -- Gibson and PM Christie sought to reassure the public. They said that Anna Nicole was treated as any other applicant, noting glibly that the Ministry of Immigration should not be criticized for "improved efficiencies in government for which it deserves praise."
7. (SBU) Gibson's protestations of distance with the matter were shattered by a prominent local law firm and a local gossip publication. Callenders and Co., the law firm that handled Anna's home purchase and residency application, said it delivered a $10,000 check from Anna Nicole directly to Gibson at Anna Nicole's residence, and that it communicated to Anna Nicole repeatedly on Minister Gibson's government cell phone.
8. The resulting public furor over Gibson's favoritism has been strong. Before Anna Nicole came to Nassau, Minister of Immigration Gibson enjoyed strong public support as a result of his aggressive anti-immigrant policies. His midnight raids of Haitian communities and restriction of residency options for Haitians was widely applauded by a Bahamian public fearful of losing Bahamian opportunities to illegal immigrants. The Anna Nicole scandal has recast Gibson as puppet of the privileged rather than defender of the common people of The Bahamas.
9. In response to the public outcry and mounting calls for Gibson's resignation, the Government promised a review of procedures in the Department of Immigration at the same time it fired back at Callenders and Co. for its role in the affair -- tactics that have brought criticism to others but have not helped turn the tide of public opinion.
10. During a November meeting with Poloff, an opposition Free National Movement Central Committee member gleefully reported polling in Gibson's parliament district foretold a clear FNM victory in coming elections. Local newspaper and radio feedback on Gibson has been brutal.
11. Even in the normally friendly Bahama Journal, Christie and Gibson have been roasted and a poll of the Journal's largely PLP readership showed 90% disapproval with Government handling of Anna Nicole.
11. At the heart of Gibson's problems is the fact that Anna Nicole received residency in a matter of days, when the process normally takes many months or years. His reported direct receipt of the $10,000 check for residency represents another flagrant violation of the normal process, leading to bitter denunciations of the whole process by which residency is granted to persons for buying property here.
12. Gibson and the PLP have not been the only victims of Hurricane Anna Nicole. Following the death of her son in Nassau's Doctor's Hospital on September 10, international media descended upon Doctor's Hospital, which carefully guarded Anna Nicole's privacy in the face of heavy criticism.
13. The quality of care at Doctor's came under fire for its treatment -- or more pointedly its complete lack of treatment -- of Anna Nicole's son while in Doctor's. For the record, Doctor's Hospital is regarded as the finest medical institution in the country and has enjoyed an excellent reputation among the expatriate community.
14. The criticism of the hospital was nothing compared to the criticism of the Bahamas Coroner's Court. The Court, which served to review death cases and determine cause, was under heavy fire for its inability -- or unwillingness -- to provide a cause of death for Anna Nicole's son.
16. It had yet to issue a statement when a US pathologist issued a report concluding that a toxic cocktail of drugs caused the death, leading to speculation that the government was protecting Anna Nicole from embarrassment by delaying its findings.
17. Before the Coroner's Court concluded its inquest, the government disbanded the inefficient Court and fired the Coroner…
There was even more, but suffice it to say – even now- I cry havoc at what the flunkies, lackeys, blood-suckers and pimps have made of this land that is mine.
Merry Christmas to all-a-yinna from Bettul.
December 23, 2010
The Bahama Journal
Thursday, December 23, 2010
WikiLeaks, wiretapping and democracy
By Rebecca Theodore
All eras contain words that more or less accurately define them. There is very little doubt, in my opinion, that democracy and national security are the words that characterize our present time. Democracy is an internal form of government within states and gives the power of the government to the people.
National security, on the other hand, maintains the survival of the nation state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy. However, the trend appears to be moving towards a new communication revolution, leaving critics in contemplation as to whether it is an obvious good and positive sign.
If democracy is a government that includes the right to free press, and allows for individualism and freedom of opinion among its citizens, then democracy’s natural place is civil society, as it interprets democracy more as a civic culture of association, participation and mobilization.
To state, as Kamla Persad Bissessar has done, that “the SIA's wiretapping operations in Trinidad and Tobago without the people’s consent is contrary to democracy, is representative of dictatorship and illustrate the dark and sinister side of any government,” ignores the fact that there must be a useful criticism of democracy in a constructive way, which is something the system needs in order to keep growing to produce an honest transmission of the truth.
Government diplomats and high ranking government authorities, who knowingly tell lies to influence serious events, and who misrepresent the trust and honour given to them as public servants, threaten the very process of democracy because, to start with, democracy was born out of the reality of res publica, public issues, or public life.
If we are going to evolve within the realms of democracy, then we should start by acknowledging that our interest in public life and common good is a long way from that of the fathers of democracy, as everything seems to be shrouded in private life rather than public life. Today, our current democracy is much different from the Athenian model, which was concerned with knowledge, wisdom, debate, and discussion and possessed a civic culture that we just simply lack. Citizens actively participated in the public life of the polis -- thus the origin of the word politics.
Not only do I join the chorus with Texas congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul on the WikiLeaks debacle that in “a free society we are supposed to know the truth and if truth becomes treason, then we are in big trouble,” but also share the thoughts of social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville in evaluating human society, as he provides us with a simple, clarifying, and thought-provoking parameter that the future of humankind is linked to democratic society and not to aristocratic society.
Democratic society promotes the level of human development, emphasizes individualism and the pursuit of personal happiness. Since it favours equality before freedom, a democratic society favours public sector expansion, which will provide government with the resources it needs to equalize conditions between classes or income. Ministers of government, members of the judiciary, trade unionists, editors, journalists and businessmen are not all that constitute the people. Everyone should be involved in the decision making process.
In the court of public opinion, the alleged actions of former prime minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning, and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange are drowned in a sea of terrorism and dictatorship, whereas if we examine the dubious coin carefully, we will at once notice that they have made the Caribbean and the world a better place for democracy.
It is important to understand that spying on law-abiding citizens, under the guise of battling crime and ensuring national security, is something that has been happening all the time. How doomed could we have been to the Owellian drama? It just got out of control in Trinidad and Tobago.
On the other hand, Assange’s imprisonment for publicizing secret cables, exposing crimes and conspiracies carried out by US officials is nothing more than a psychological protective mechanism loaded with political overtones. There is no evidence that either Mr Assange or Mr Manning committed a crime in Australia the US or Trinidad and Tobago.
The wiretapping and WikiLeaks has not comprised the national security of Trinidad and Tobago or the US because the public right to know should not be censored. If the debates over the wiretapping and WikiLeaks are about the role of secrecy then, while most world governments would argue that they must be allowed to conduct their dealings with a certain amount of secrecy, it is my contention that full transparency is also a better way to cure the ails of a democratic society as it determines who the biggest law-breakers are and also encourages democracy in the public interest.
It cannot be doubted that the advancement of new technological changes emboldens civil society with ways to act in which our forefathers could not and this might very well be a new challenge in information technology. As to whether the instigators of the wiretapping and Mr Assange have boldly gone where no one has gone before, it is clear that they have empowered conspirators with new means to conspire a new wave of literacy and trigger a communications revolution regardless of Trinidad and Tobago’s Communications Bill 2010 or Assange’s imprisonment.
One way or another, the communications revolution is upon us. It has already exploded and the only real question is whether we will realize it in time to stop another WikiLeaks controversy or another wiretapping saga.
Richard Holbrooke in Foreign Policy has admitted “The chances of catastrophe grow as organizations grow in number and in size and internal communications become more time-consuming, less intelligible, and less controllable...” Hence, we must be prepared for the coming of the communications revolution.
December 22, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
All eras contain words that more or less accurately define them. There is very little doubt, in my opinion, that democracy and national security are the words that characterize our present time. Democracy is an internal form of government within states and gives the power of the government to the people.
National security, on the other hand, maintains the survival of the nation state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy. However, the trend appears to be moving towards a new communication revolution, leaving critics in contemplation as to whether it is an obvious good and positive sign.
To state, as Kamla Persad Bissessar has done, that “the SIA's wiretapping operations in Trinidad and Tobago without the people’s consent is contrary to democracy, is representative of dictatorship and illustrate the dark and sinister side of any government,” ignores the fact that there must be a useful criticism of democracy in a constructive way, which is something the system needs in order to keep growing to produce an honest transmission of the truth.
Government diplomats and high ranking government authorities, who knowingly tell lies to influence serious events, and who misrepresent the trust and honour given to them as public servants, threaten the very process of democracy because, to start with, democracy was born out of the reality of res publica, public issues, or public life.
If we are going to evolve within the realms of democracy, then we should start by acknowledging that our interest in public life and common good is a long way from that of the fathers of democracy, as everything seems to be shrouded in private life rather than public life. Today, our current democracy is much different from the Athenian model, which was concerned with knowledge, wisdom, debate, and discussion and possessed a civic culture that we just simply lack. Citizens actively participated in the public life of the polis -- thus the origin of the word politics.
Not only do I join the chorus with Texas congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul on the WikiLeaks debacle that in “a free society we are supposed to know the truth and if truth becomes treason, then we are in big trouble,” but also share the thoughts of social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville in evaluating human society, as he provides us with a simple, clarifying, and thought-provoking parameter that the future of humankind is linked to democratic society and not to aristocratic society.
Democratic society promotes the level of human development, emphasizes individualism and the pursuit of personal happiness. Since it favours equality before freedom, a democratic society favours public sector expansion, which will provide government with the resources it needs to equalize conditions between classes or income. Ministers of government, members of the judiciary, trade unionists, editors, journalists and businessmen are not all that constitute the people. Everyone should be involved in the decision making process.
In the court of public opinion, the alleged actions of former prime minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning, and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange are drowned in a sea of terrorism and dictatorship, whereas if we examine the dubious coin carefully, we will at once notice that they have made the Caribbean and the world a better place for democracy.
It is important to understand that spying on law-abiding citizens, under the guise of battling crime and ensuring national security, is something that has been happening all the time. How doomed could we have been to the Owellian drama? It just got out of control in Trinidad and Tobago.
On the other hand, Assange’s imprisonment for publicizing secret cables, exposing crimes and conspiracies carried out by US officials is nothing more than a psychological protective mechanism loaded with political overtones. There is no evidence that either Mr Assange or Mr Manning committed a crime in Australia the US or Trinidad and Tobago.
The wiretapping and WikiLeaks has not comprised the national security of Trinidad and Tobago or the US because the public right to know should not be censored. If the debates over the wiretapping and WikiLeaks are about the role of secrecy then, while most world governments would argue that they must be allowed to conduct their dealings with a certain amount of secrecy, it is my contention that full transparency is also a better way to cure the ails of a democratic society as it determines who the biggest law-breakers are and also encourages democracy in the public interest.
It cannot be doubted that the advancement of new technological changes emboldens civil society with ways to act in which our forefathers could not and this might very well be a new challenge in information technology. As to whether the instigators of the wiretapping and Mr Assange have boldly gone where no one has gone before, it is clear that they have empowered conspirators with new means to conspire a new wave of literacy and trigger a communications revolution regardless of Trinidad and Tobago’s Communications Bill 2010 or Assange’s imprisonment.
One way or another, the communications revolution is upon us. It has already exploded and the only real question is whether we will realize it in time to stop another WikiLeaks controversy or another wiretapping saga.
Richard Holbrooke in Foreign Policy has admitted “The chances of catastrophe grow as organizations grow in number and in size and internal communications become more time-consuming, less intelligible, and less controllable...” Hence, we must be prepared for the coming of the communications revolution.
December 22, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
Monday, December 20, 2010
Caribbean narco-triangle: The US-Cuba-Jamaica connection
By Norman Girvan
Among the most fascinating documents to come out of the WikiLeaks revelations is a cable allegedly sent by the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, Jonathan Farrar, on August 11, 2009.
The document is a virtual diplomatic bombshell. It could prove a source of embarrassment to all three governments concerned—the US, the Cuban and the Jamaican.
The Americans are believed to have made determined efforts to keep the WikiLeaks cables out of the regional media, especially those originating in their Caribbean embassies. The content of the despatch, however, has been splashed all over the Jamaican media.
In Jamaica’s domestic politics, it will be another embarrassment for the Bruce Golding-led Administration, whose credibility in fighting narco-trafficking is already on the line. Earlier this year there was a huge uproar of the government’s reluctance to extradite to the US an alleged drug lord entrenched in the Prime Minister’s own political constituency, with strong ties to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party. The Opposition People’s National Party has already weighed in on this point.
The cable details a number of instances where the Cuban anti-drug police and Ministry of Interior officials report a less than enthusiastic response from the Jamaican authorities to their appeals for cooperation in stemming the use of Cuban airspace and territorial waters for shipments of narcotics -- notably marijuana -- from Jamaica.
Jamaica’s Minister of National Security has angrily denounced the accusations of non-cooperation. According to the published report, however, he did not deny that the specific incidents mentioned in the leaked cable actually took place.
For the US authorities, the implications of the content of the cable are intriguing.
Cuba has been consistently demonised by US government officials and media, to the point where it has been officially designated as a state that sponsors terrorism.
Yet the U.S. Coast Guard Drug Interdiction Specialist assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana is reported as having had multiple meetings and conversations with Cuban Ministry of Interior officials over a period up to August 2009.
The contact included a two-day trip to Camaguey, where the senior US official received a briefing on a Jamaican drug flight en route to the Bahamas which had to make an emergency landing. The crew of three were in detention by the Cubans.
US officials held individual and collective conversations with up to 15 officials of Cuba’s Interior Ministry, including on provincial trips outside of Havana. US officials appear to have been granted generous official and physical access to Cuba.
A recurring complaint of the Cubans was lack of Jamaican cooperation in information sharing. On one occasion a meeting was arranged between Cuban and Jamaican anti-narcotics officials. The meeting was reportedly arranged by the UK Defence Attaché and held on a British naval vessel assigned to drug interdiction duties, which was then in the Port of Havana. The cable says that at the meeting, the Jamaican officials “just sat there and didn’t say anything”.
On another occasion in May 2009, the Cuban Border Guard, acting on real-time information supplied by the Americans, intercepted a Jamaican go-fast vessel and seized 700 kg of Jamaican marijuana. This operation is actually referred to as a “joint-interdiction”.
Joint interdiction? The US and Cuba? Is this the terrorist state that poses a threat to the national security of the United States?
(A separately leaked memorandum recently published in the United States shows US military strategists expressing grave concern about US security should there be a ‘regime change’ in Cuba. One can now see why. To begin with, the kind of cooperation now taking place could not be counted on.)
Cuba, with one of longest coastlines in the island Caribbean, has probably the best system of coastal border security in the region.
The reason is straightforward. The island has lived for the past 50 years under constant threat of invasion from the United States. The Cubans never let their guard down.
There is considerable irony that it is this very system that is now proving to be an asset in protecting the security of the US against narco-trafficking.
As far as the Cubans are concerned, the revelations in the cable are a double-edged sword.
The Cuban government has always maintained that it is utterly opposed to narco-trafficking; and does everything in its power to prevent the use of Cuba for the trade and to cooperate with the US authorities.
The US does not deny this. But the extent and intimacy of the cooperation may surprise many in both countries. To that degree, the revelations are unlikely to harm Cuba.
There may be some, embarrassment, however, in its relations with the Jamaican government, which have in recent years been very cordial.
Just recently (December 8), Cuba-CARICOM day was simultaneously celebrated in Havana and in several CARICOM capitals with diplomatic receptions and speeches.
To be seen to be complaining to the US -- presumably in the hope that US pressure on Jamaica would succeed where Cuban pressure had not -- might not fit the image of friendship that Cuba has so carefully cultivated over the years.
Still, if the facts reported in the US cable are true, the Cuban frustration is understandable.
Why take the rap from the US for Jamaica’s inaction, especially when the stakes for Cuba are so high?
As for this coming to light, the Cubans have the perfect response.
Don’t blame us, blame WikiLeaks.
December 20, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
Among the most fascinating documents to come out of the WikiLeaks revelations is a cable allegedly sent by the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, Jonathan Farrar, on August 11, 2009.
The document is a virtual diplomatic bombshell. It could prove a source of embarrassment to all three governments concerned—the US, the Cuban and the Jamaican.
In Jamaica’s domestic politics, it will be another embarrassment for the Bruce Golding-led Administration, whose credibility in fighting narco-trafficking is already on the line. Earlier this year there was a huge uproar of the government’s reluctance to extradite to the US an alleged drug lord entrenched in the Prime Minister’s own political constituency, with strong ties to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party. The Opposition People’s National Party has already weighed in on this point.
The cable details a number of instances where the Cuban anti-drug police and Ministry of Interior officials report a less than enthusiastic response from the Jamaican authorities to their appeals for cooperation in stemming the use of Cuban airspace and territorial waters for shipments of narcotics -- notably marijuana -- from Jamaica.
Jamaica’s Minister of National Security has angrily denounced the accusations of non-cooperation. According to the published report, however, he did not deny that the specific incidents mentioned in the leaked cable actually took place.
For the US authorities, the implications of the content of the cable are intriguing.
Cuba has been consistently demonised by US government officials and media, to the point where it has been officially designated as a state that sponsors terrorism.
Yet the U.S. Coast Guard Drug Interdiction Specialist assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana is reported as having had multiple meetings and conversations with Cuban Ministry of Interior officials over a period up to August 2009.
The contact included a two-day trip to Camaguey, where the senior US official received a briefing on a Jamaican drug flight en route to the Bahamas which had to make an emergency landing. The crew of three were in detention by the Cubans.
US officials held individual and collective conversations with up to 15 officials of Cuba’s Interior Ministry, including on provincial trips outside of Havana. US officials appear to have been granted generous official and physical access to Cuba.
A recurring complaint of the Cubans was lack of Jamaican cooperation in information sharing. On one occasion a meeting was arranged between Cuban and Jamaican anti-narcotics officials. The meeting was reportedly arranged by the UK Defence Attaché and held on a British naval vessel assigned to drug interdiction duties, which was then in the Port of Havana. The cable says that at the meeting, the Jamaican officials “just sat there and didn’t say anything”.
On another occasion in May 2009, the Cuban Border Guard, acting on real-time information supplied by the Americans, intercepted a Jamaican go-fast vessel and seized 700 kg of Jamaican marijuana. This operation is actually referred to as a “joint-interdiction”.
Joint interdiction? The US and Cuba? Is this the terrorist state that poses a threat to the national security of the United States?
(A separately leaked memorandum recently published in the United States shows US military strategists expressing grave concern about US security should there be a ‘regime change’ in Cuba. One can now see why. To begin with, the kind of cooperation now taking place could not be counted on.)
Cuba, with one of longest coastlines in the island Caribbean, has probably the best system of coastal border security in the region.
The reason is straightforward. The island has lived for the past 50 years under constant threat of invasion from the United States. The Cubans never let their guard down.
There is considerable irony that it is this very system that is now proving to be an asset in protecting the security of the US against narco-trafficking.
As far as the Cubans are concerned, the revelations in the cable are a double-edged sword.
The Cuban government has always maintained that it is utterly opposed to narco-trafficking; and does everything in its power to prevent the use of Cuba for the trade and to cooperate with the US authorities.
The US does not deny this. But the extent and intimacy of the cooperation may surprise many in both countries. To that degree, the revelations are unlikely to harm Cuba.
There may be some, embarrassment, however, in its relations with the Jamaican government, which have in recent years been very cordial.
Just recently (December 8), Cuba-CARICOM day was simultaneously celebrated in Havana and in several CARICOM capitals with diplomatic receptions and speeches.
To be seen to be complaining to the US -- presumably in the hope that US pressure on Jamaica would succeed where Cuban pressure had not -- might not fit the image of friendship that Cuba has so carefully cultivated over the years.
Still, if the facts reported in the US cable are true, the Cuban frustration is understandable.
Why take the rap from the US for Jamaica’s inaction, especially when the stakes for Cuba are so high?
As for this coming to light, the Cubans have the perfect response.
Don’t blame us, blame WikiLeaks.
December 20, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
Saturday, December 18, 2010
With friends like the UN, OAS and CARICOM, the Republic of Haiti needs no enemies!
By Jean Herve Charles
The Republic of Haiti was present at the baptismal fountain at the creation of the United Nations in 1946. Its active and diligent diplomacy facilitated the emergence of several countries from colonialism or occupation to nationhood -- we can mention amongst others Libya, Ethiopia, Belgium and Israel as the direct beneficiaries of Haiti’s international leadership.
The Human Rights Charter was drafted by none other than the Haitian delegate Mr Emile St Lot, the Rapporteur of the 3rd Commission of the 94th Session.
Yet, in 1957, some ten years later, when the Duvalier dictatorship established its grip into the country, the UN did not come as a friend to help Haiti liberate itself from that repression, instead it spirited to Africa the best minds of the nation (those who could have forced a change of the status quo) for a nation building project in the Congo as that nation was emerging from its colonial status.
Those Haitian doctors, lawyers and teachers did such an efficient job in helping the Congolese to become nation builders that they were soon declared persona non grata by the same UN that cancelled their contracts. From there, the Haitian pioneers went to Quebec, Canada, where they helped the land of Cartier to become fully developed. They went also to the United States where they established themselves in Flatlands and Flatbush, New York, renovating and stabilizing the neighborhoods fled in haste by the Italians and the Jews.
In the meantime, in Haiti, successive governments, whether dictatorship, militarism or populism, have continued to engulf Haiti into an abyss where a return to the homeland could not be organized.
Against the good advice of learned veterans of the UN operation overseas, not to invite the UN into your country -- “the UN does not leave a country, once it has been invited in; nor the fate of that country will be improved” -- the government of Ertha Pascal Trouillot introduced the UN into Haiti to supervise the election.
The UN has managed since to remain in the country under different acronyms for the past twenty years. It is now under MINUSTHA -- a mammoth operation involving more than seventy countries.
With no concern for the environmental impact, MINUSTHA has flooded the Haitian capital with cars and other vehicles going and coming to and from no specific destination, with no specific purpose. The real concerns of the country in food and personal security, political stability and social integration have remained unattended. Yet the UN has stated as its purpose: “to be a critical factor in the consolidation of social peace stability and the rule of law in Haiti”.
Mr Edmond Mulet, the UN resident, has monitored against the advice of the Haitian civil society an election flawed in its conception and unacceptable in its final delivery. When the Haitian masses went on a rampage to manifest their anger at the outcome of the election that does not reflect the popular vote, the UN retreated to its barracks instead of protecting life and limb.
The lowest rank of the MINUSTHA professional draws a tax free salary of $81,508 per year while the senior staff commands a minimum of $166,475 annually.
To add insult to injuries, the French scientists have just proven that the UN Nepalese contingent was indeed the carrier of the cholera germ into Haiti, killing 3,000 people, sending 40.000 to hospitals and exposing the entire nation to the contagion.
The only compensation that Haiti may derive from the UN experience will be to benefit at the UN departure, of the war equipment, the cars and the trucks brought into Haiti, for the building of the country’s own army in the future. Haiti will need, though, a responsible and nationalist government to negotiate such an important and sensitive deal!
The UN stabilization force has not been a positive experience in the rest of the world either. After forty -- 40 -- years of regretful engagement in the Congo, the UN has been disinvited from that country.
President George W. Bush did try to reorganize the UN to make it more relevant to the pressing needs of the world poor, but Mr. Bush engulfed himself prematurely and regretfully in Iraq, compromising his credibility and aborting the American-led UN reorganization project. Le Monde, the French newspaper has recently described Haiti as the Waterloo of the UN Stabilization force!
May it rest in peace for the emergence of an effective UN nation-building force that will help poor nations of the world to educate their citizens, rebuild their infrastructure and create relevant institutions for their people!
The Haitian experience with the OAS and CARICOM has not been any better. Bundled together for the first time and only in Haiti, the joint operation was commissioned by the Preval government to supervise, monitor and tabulate the result of the election. The United States has offered a purse of 12 million dollars for the operation. The coffer was handed to a veteran of Haitian Affairs, Colin Granderson, who enforced the OAS imposed embargo that destroyed the flora and the Haitian economy some fifteen years ago.
He is now pushing the Haitian political crisis to another abyss. Mr Granderson, back in Haiti, embedded with the predatory Haitian government, is at the heart of the tabulation that provided the contested figures in the last election. He has been described as an opportunist chameleon who sought to sleep with the military when they were in favor, with the populist when the tables have been turned; he is now Preval’s best hope of legitimizing a criminal fraud. The delegation of a forensic international auditing firm will certainly shine light on the dirty hands who falsified the tabulation of the ballots.
Hopefully this time around, his stint in Haiti will be the last one!
The OAS has also taken on the responsibility of providing the Haitian people with electoral identification cards and the electoral lists. The operation has been conducted with such inefficiency, chaos and disregard for elementary safeguards that it seems it was pre-arranged to provide the snafu of the November 28 election day.
The combination UN, OAS, Caricom is instrumental in facilitating the negative Africanization process of Haiti where rival tribes have been killing each other for decades, while the spoils went to the former colonizer. With the vast majority of the Haitian people determined to bring about fundamental change in the country, the old guard loaded with the national and the international purse at its disposal will maintain the fight with all its might, even igniting and perpetuating a civil war in Haiti.
With friends like the UN the OAS and CARICOM, Haiti indeed needs no enemy!
Stay tuned for next week’s essay on “Deconstructing the latest Haitian political crisis”.
December 18, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
The Republic of Haiti was present at the baptismal fountain at the creation of the United Nations in 1946. Its active and diligent diplomacy facilitated the emergence of several countries from colonialism or occupation to nationhood -- we can mention amongst others Libya, Ethiopia, Belgium and Israel as the direct beneficiaries of Haiti’s international leadership.
The Human Rights Charter was drafted by none other than the Haitian delegate Mr Emile St Lot, the Rapporteur of the 3rd Commission of the 94th Session.
Those Haitian doctors, lawyers and teachers did such an efficient job in helping the Congolese to become nation builders that they were soon declared persona non grata by the same UN that cancelled their contracts. From there, the Haitian pioneers went to Quebec, Canada, where they helped the land of Cartier to become fully developed. They went also to the United States where they established themselves in Flatlands and Flatbush, New York, renovating and stabilizing the neighborhoods fled in haste by the Italians and the Jews.
In the meantime, in Haiti, successive governments, whether dictatorship, militarism or populism, have continued to engulf Haiti into an abyss where a return to the homeland could not be organized.
Against the good advice of learned veterans of the UN operation overseas, not to invite the UN into your country -- “the UN does not leave a country, once it has been invited in; nor the fate of that country will be improved” -- the government of Ertha Pascal Trouillot introduced the UN into Haiti to supervise the election.
The UN has managed since to remain in the country under different acronyms for the past twenty years. It is now under MINUSTHA -- a mammoth operation involving more than seventy countries.
With no concern for the environmental impact, MINUSTHA has flooded the Haitian capital with cars and other vehicles going and coming to and from no specific destination, with no specific purpose. The real concerns of the country in food and personal security, political stability and social integration have remained unattended. Yet the UN has stated as its purpose: “to be a critical factor in the consolidation of social peace stability and the rule of law in Haiti”.
Mr Edmond Mulet, the UN resident, has monitored against the advice of the Haitian civil society an election flawed in its conception and unacceptable in its final delivery. When the Haitian masses went on a rampage to manifest their anger at the outcome of the election that does not reflect the popular vote, the UN retreated to its barracks instead of protecting life and limb.
The lowest rank of the MINUSTHA professional draws a tax free salary of $81,508 per year while the senior staff commands a minimum of $166,475 annually.
To add insult to injuries, the French scientists have just proven that the UN Nepalese contingent was indeed the carrier of the cholera germ into Haiti, killing 3,000 people, sending 40.000 to hospitals and exposing the entire nation to the contagion.
The only compensation that Haiti may derive from the UN experience will be to benefit at the UN departure, of the war equipment, the cars and the trucks brought into Haiti, for the building of the country’s own army in the future. Haiti will need, though, a responsible and nationalist government to negotiate such an important and sensitive deal!
The UN stabilization force has not been a positive experience in the rest of the world either. After forty -- 40 -- years of regretful engagement in the Congo, the UN has been disinvited from that country.
President George W. Bush did try to reorganize the UN to make it more relevant to the pressing needs of the world poor, but Mr. Bush engulfed himself prematurely and regretfully in Iraq, compromising his credibility and aborting the American-led UN reorganization project. Le Monde, the French newspaper has recently described Haiti as the Waterloo of the UN Stabilization force!
May it rest in peace for the emergence of an effective UN nation-building force that will help poor nations of the world to educate their citizens, rebuild their infrastructure and create relevant institutions for their people!
The Haitian experience with the OAS and CARICOM has not been any better. Bundled together for the first time and only in Haiti, the joint operation was commissioned by the Preval government to supervise, monitor and tabulate the result of the election. The United States has offered a purse of 12 million dollars for the operation. The coffer was handed to a veteran of Haitian Affairs, Colin Granderson, who enforced the OAS imposed embargo that destroyed the flora and the Haitian economy some fifteen years ago.
He is now pushing the Haitian political crisis to another abyss. Mr Granderson, back in Haiti, embedded with the predatory Haitian government, is at the heart of the tabulation that provided the contested figures in the last election. He has been described as an opportunist chameleon who sought to sleep with the military when they were in favor, with the populist when the tables have been turned; he is now Preval’s best hope of legitimizing a criminal fraud. The delegation of a forensic international auditing firm will certainly shine light on the dirty hands who falsified the tabulation of the ballots.
Hopefully this time around, his stint in Haiti will be the last one!
The OAS has also taken on the responsibility of providing the Haitian people with electoral identification cards and the electoral lists. The operation has been conducted with such inefficiency, chaos and disregard for elementary safeguards that it seems it was pre-arranged to provide the snafu of the November 28 election day.
The combination UN, OAS, Caricom is instrumental in facilitating the negative Africanization process of Haiti where rival tribes have been killing each other for decades, while the spoils went to the former colonizer. With the vast majority of the Haitian people determined to bring about fundamental change in the country, the old guard loaded with the national and the international purse at its disposal will maintain the fight with all its might, even igniting and perpetuating a civil war in Haiti.
With friends like the UN the OAS and CARICOM, Haiti indeed needs no enemy!
Stay tuned for next week’s essay on “Deconstructing the latest Haitian political crisis”.
December 18, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
Thursday, December 16, 2010
...the health of the tourism industry and its myriad of impacts on The Bahamas
Surviving in These Hard Times
The Bahamas Journal Editorial
As in the case of any number of professionals working in the tourism industry, Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands has his finger on the pulse of this aspect of the nation’s economy; and here as everyone knows, tourism provides the very life-blood of this nation’s economy.
In good times, very many Bahamians flourished and prospered; thus that situation where today’s taxi drivers, straw vendors, jet-ski operators, hoteliers and a host of others are today parents and family to so very many of this nation’s professional classes.
Evidently, while this pattern might be maintained for a while yet, there are indicators suggesting that the industry will become more competitive; that it will demand more from those who work in it; and commensurately, that the government and its social partners should – as a matter of the most urgent priority – see to it that, this industry remains well-maintained.
Here we sincerely believe that, when all is said and done, Bahamians can and should be given a crash course in tourism; with the subject matter being focused not only on the safety and well-being of the tourist; but on the fact that, the tourist need not visit the Bahamas.
This is the fact that must be drummed in day and night and until such time as the vast majority of Bahamians get it that no one owes them anything; and that, they are obliged to work for every penny they take home.
This point is today being underscored by none other than, outgoing Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) President Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands.
This man –as we learn – “… is calling the year“ a mixed bag of revenue gains, higher operating costs, and global uncertainty”, even as most tourism indicators inched up in 2010…”
Sandy Sands goes on to note that, “Indicators in general moved closer to our 2008 pre-recession benchmark…”
Here we note – albeit in passing- that, he made these remarks while addressing members of the BHA at its 58th annual general meeting on December 3rd at the Wyndham Nassau Resort.
As he explained, “Projections for next year show continued marginal growth as we slowly pull out of one of the most difficult economic periods in decades.”
This is the unvarnished truth about that matter currently concerning the health of the tourism industry and its myriad of impacts on the Bahamas.
But ever the optimist, Sands suggested that, despite the current slew of challenges, BHA members could and should be optimistic about the future; this due to the fact that, “foundational steps which have been and are being undertaken,” [are taken together] leading or tending in the direction of an “…emerging interest in tourism investments in The Bahamas…”
Here take note that, Sands also indicated that, measures that were put in place in 2010 by the public and private sectors should steer the industry out of the doldrums quicker than many of the nation’s competitors.
As he also pointed out, “These include major airport infrastructure improvements well underway in Nassau and Abaco and the liberalization of the telecommunications industry…”
And so, the conclusion beckons that, despite much of the noise in the market, things are trending in a positive direction for our country.
But for sure, this is not to suggest for even a moment that things are set to bubble up and that happy days are somewhere right around the corner.
Indeed, every indicator – social and otherwise- suggests that, the Bahamian people are in for a fairly rough ride as they adjust their life-styles and expectations to what is being termed in the United States, the New Normal.
In this regard, and as in the case of so very many other Bahamians, we can attest and affirm that this has been a very difficult year; and that, it has also been a time when one’s faith has been tested.
But as in all things human, we give thanks not only in good times, but also in these times of trouble. As we have been taught – and so do we believe- hard times bring with them very important life-lessons.
Among the lessons that are there to be remembered is the one that suggests that we should lay aside some of what we have earned or harvested so that when the hard times roll in; we need not trouble ourselves with unnecessary despair.
But even as we take note of the truth inherent this nostrum, we know it for a fact, that very many Bahamians are today mired in distress precisely because they dared yield and cling to the illusion that, things would always be good.
In the ultimate analysis, then, the times are changing; and as they do, some of our people will gird up their loins, take pattern after other industrious people and thereafter make some things happen.
This they must do if they are to prosper in conditions where the New Normal is the pervading reality.
December 16, 2010
The Bahamas Journal Editorial
The Bahamas Journal Editorial
As in the case of any number of professionals working in the tourism industry, Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands has his finger on the pulse of this aspect of the nation’s economy; and here as everyone knows, tourism provides the very life-blood of this nation’s economy.
In good times, very many Bahamians flourished and prospered; thus that situation where today’s taxi drivers, straw vendors, jet-ski operators, hoteliers and a host of others are today parents and family to so very many of this nation’s professional classes.
Evidently, while this pattern might be maintained for a while yet, there are indicators suggesting that the industry will become more competitive; that it will demand more from those who work in it; and commensurately, that the government and its social partners should – as a matter of the most urgent priority – see to it that, this industry remains well-maintained.
Here we sincerely believe that, when all is said and done, Bahamians can and should be given a crash course in tourism; with the subject matter being focused not only on the safety and well-being of the tourist; but on the fact that, the tourist need not visit the Bahamas.
This is the fact that must be drummed in day and night and until such time as the vast majority of Bahamians get it that no one owes them anything; and that, they are obliged to work for every penny they take home.
This point is today being underscored by none other than, outgoing Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) President Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands.
This man –as we learn – “… is calling the year“ a mixed bag of revenue gains, higher operating costs, and global uncertainty”, even as most tourism indicators inched up in 2010…”
Sandy Sands goes on to note that, “Indicators in general moved closer to our 2008 pre-recession benchmark…”
Here we note – albeit in passing- that, he made these remarks while addressing members of the BHA at its 58th annual general meeting on December 3rd at the Wyndham Nassau Resort.
As he explained, “Projections for next year show continued marginal growth as we slowly pull out of one of the most difficult economic periods in decades.”
This is the unvarnished truth about that matter currently concerning the health of the tourism industry and its myriad of impacts on the Bahamas.
But ever the optimist, Sands suggested that, despite the current slew of challenges, BHA members could and should be optimistic about the future; this due to the fact that, “foundational steps which have been and are being undertaken,” [are taken together] leading or tending in the direction of an “…emerging interest in tourism investments in The Bahamas…”
Here take note that, Sands also indicated that, measures that were put in place in 2010 by the public and private sectors should steer the industry out of the doldrums quicker than many of the nation’s competitors.
As he also pointed out, “These include major airport infrastructure improvements well underway in Nassau and Abaco and the liberalization of the telecommunications industry…”
And so, the conclusion beckons that, despite much of the noise in the market, things are trending in a positive direction for our country.
But for sure, this is not to suggest for even a moment that things are set to bubble up and that happy days are somewhere right around the corner.
Indeed, every indicator – social and otherwise- suggests that, the Bahamian people are in for a fairly rough ride as they adjust their life-styles and expectations to what is being termed in the United States, the New Normal.
In this regard, and as in the case of so very many other Bahamians, we can attest and affirm that this has been a very difficult year; and that, it has also been a time when one’s faith has been tested.
But as in all things human, we give thanks not only in good times, but also in these times of trouble. As we have been taught – and so do we believe- hard times bring with them very important life-lessons.
Among the lessons that are there to be remembered is the one that suggests that we should lay aside some of what we have earned or harvested so that when the hard times roll in; we need not trouble ourselves with unnecessary despair.
But even as we take note of the truth inherent this nostrum, we know it for a fact, that very many Bahamians are today mired in distress precisely because they dared yield and cling to the illusion that, things would always be good.
In the ultimate analysis, then, the times are changing; and as they do, some of our people will gird up their loins, take pattern after other industrious people and thereafter make some things happen.
This they must do if they are to prosper in conditions where the New Normal is the pervading reality.
December 16, 2010
The Bahamas Journal Editorial
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