Quite frankly this all appears to be quite confusing particularly as the Tribune ran a story yesterday that directly refutes the one today. The excerpt of the letter quoted above certainly appears to be extremely poorly written and unbecoming as an official commuincation from the Government of the Bahamas on such a politically sensitive issue. Further, the manner in which the execs of BPC has conducted themselves should give every Bahamian cause to pause and reflect. Notwithstanding the fact the the letter was poorly written it would appear, at least to me, to border on negligent for BPC to publicly state they they are in full compliance when the letter states that they were not. I suspect BPC has already been given verbal assurances that this is all a formality which has emboldened them that make these public statements to try to buttresss their declining stock price.

What utter nonsense. Lest you folks have forgetten, the FNM was soundingly and unceremoniously defeated during the last election. That's a clear signal the the old way needs to be changed. If you old guard want to help, you can be most helpfully in stepping aside and giving Dr. Minnis an opportunity to lead according to his vision and not get upset like little children. We need a strong opposition to combat the nonsense we have already began to see from this "all for me baby crew".

The FNM are responsible for all of the murders in the country, but please do not lock up the young misunderstood murderers because the prison conditions are just too rough and harsh for them. Well muddo, go figure!

The administrative mechanism to collect, supervise and enforce custom duty fees has not been fully figured out as yet, therefore, I wonder how long it would take to design and implement a robust collection, supervision and enforcement administrative machinary for VAT. This would be a nightmare in the Bahamas with its immense underground economy.

While you are talking about code of ethics, it would appear that a code of ethics may be useful for Archbishops as well! Just a thought.

Welcome to the real world, where loose lips sink ships, big talk don't hurt your mouth and ill-conceived actions and words have consequences. Duplicity and talking from two sides of your mouth may work during a campaign, but it does not solve problems and it is only sustainable when one is an arm-chair general. In the real world problems do not solve themselves, they require one to make tough and very often unpopular decisions. Good luck, we will need it.

@TalRussell, maybe you can begin your watchful vigil by naming and shaming those newly appointed Ministers, who as their first act in these difficult times, was to order new furniture for their government offices when they themselves can't afford new furniture in their own homes. Let the party begin.

@clear_eyed_no_regrets, very provocative yet profoundly interesting, insightful and creative blog. Good job, a true testament to the creative Bahamian spirit. I would add or elaborate on three further traits of our gal Democracy. The first is that she has an insatiable free spirit that pursues only her ideals and no one else's, no matter how powerful they may be. The second is that she always sincerely believes that she is doing the right thing and thirdly, notwithstanding all her faults, of all the other gals in town she is still our best hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Well I am pretty darked skin as well and me and my family have taken advantage of a "Fairer Society". However, I have found that a precursor to maximizing yourself is to stop blaming society and to stop blaming others, including ourselves for our perceived lot in life and take personal responsibility for our own progression.