Shane Gibson, Frank Smith and Kenred Dorsett have not been treated any differently from any other person charged with a crime in a Bahamian court of law. For those that have memories long enough to remember, the "perp" or "Bank Lane" shuffle came about after the girlfriend of a defendant on his way to court on Parliament Street some years ago threw him a gun which he used to run away from his police escort. I've seen the handcuffs and manacles used to transport other men and women to court, some of whom had foot, ankle or leg injuries but not crutches. What makes Gibson, Smith or Dorsett any different from any of these other defendants other than in many cases the others did not have all the high priced legal talent that Gibson, Smith and Dorsett have and the other defendants were not former PLP parliamentarians? I guess being an ex-MP or ex-Senator entitles one to different treatment than every other criminally accused person who has appeared before the courts? To coin an old phrase, who died and made these men kings?

As one of the architects of Resolve, Chummo ought to know what he is talking about. Maybe that's why Perry Christie only went after this half heartedly because he realised or was advised of the negative impact. The problem that with this whole thing that the Minnis administration has inherited is that it's government that allowed this mess to happen and so now they have to find the least messy way to bail us out. When the USA had the subprime failures, there was all the talk about certain banks being "too big to fail". Well the government is in the position of of not being able to allow BoB to fail, particularly when all of the Canadian banks are downsizing and reassessing their position in the Caribbean. Royal Bank pulls out of Bimini; who else besides BoB is going to go in there? The Bahamians there deserve a banking system the same way as the Bahamians in Nassau. Aranha as the new chairman already realises that, which is why he's trying to set it up whereby the government covers the bank's costs of going into unprofitable or marginally profitable locations. If BoB is to continue and comply with banking laws, then these debts will have to be taken off its books through the Resolve PPV. Not the best solution but the best of a bad set of circumstances.

They can file all of the lawsuits that they want but they will need to prove evidence of malice and bad or no intent on the part of the police and the complainants if they hope to be successful. By the time their cases come to civil trial in 3 or 4 years time, his former parliamentary colleagues probably will have been tried in a criminal court by then and we will know if they are innocent or guilty. A civil court is unlikely to try these cases before their criminal trials occur.

There has to be a penalty for the unlawful, unjustified killing of one person by another. A life sentence or long sentence in jail might seem more humane than hanging but does not bring the deceased person back to life. It's unfortunate that the Privy Council has foisted the European/first world decision on us regarding hanging without regard for the opinions of residents of these islands. While the Brits may have decided in 1965 that abolishing hanging is the direction that they wanted to go, none of their former colonies in the Caribbean elected to follow suit. That should have told the Privy Council something. Leave us to decide for ourselves whether hanging is an appropriate penalty for some, all or no murders.

The whole work permit application process is nonsensical and devoid of any long term strategy for the growth, development and employment of Bahamians in replacement of so called foreign specialists. As I have said before, the work permit is not issued on condition in specified cases that the foreign specialist must train and mentor one or more Bahamian understudies to take over his/her position within a 3 to 5 year timeframe with measurable milestones involved so that Immigration and the Bahamian(s) can ascertain that training and mentoring is actually being provided. Then we have the pay disparities between Bahamians and work permit holders. Bahamians get their regular salary, maybe a pension plan, maybe a medical plan, maybe a bonus system. The work permit holder gets the same things PLUS moving expenses both ways, annual airline ticket(s) home, work permit fees, spouse and children residency permit fees, maybe a company vehicle or a vehicle loan, gasoline allowance, house/apartment rent, children's school fees, airline passage coming and going, and other benefits. I live from pay check to pay check while some of these folks live off the non-salary monies that they get while banking their monthly salary or sending it to their home country. Then there is all the secrecy and mysticism in the whole application process. Other than want ads large and small in the newspapers, some of which one can clearly understand what skills and specialties the potential employer is looking for, there are other ads which obfuscate who it is the employer is looking for beyond the applicant being fluent in one or more languages other than English. I was in Turks & Caicos some time back and was amazed that persons that persons there who were applying for residency permits (seemingly the foreign spouses of Turks "citizens) had to publish their names, nationality and other information with a photo in a local newspaper so that locals who might wish to object were aware of who was applying for what. It struck me that the Bahamas should have similar requirements for citizenship, residency and work permit applicants in this country. So Senator Henfield's proposal is not so far fetched as some people would like us to believe.

This whole issue is instigated by the real estate agents and hotels who are not getting anything out of the people who use AirBNB rentals so they wanted to ensure that not renting from or through them becomes as unattractive and as difficult as possible for the small timers who are trying to make a few dollars through AirBNB. Do landlords pay VAT on the rents that they collect? Like someone said above, more red tape to doing business in the Bahamas, more inconvenience, more time wasting, more restrictions on free enterprise, more opportunities for graft. This amounts to the government attempting to provide a solution where there is no problem. Fits right in with removing/reducing duties on salmon, etc. Makes one wonder where the FNM are getting their advice from - crazy PLP civil servants who have no interest in the government being successful with its agenda or big time monied supporters who have no interest in poor folks and only see this as "their time" to "get what's due to them" now that "their people" are in power. Careful D'Aguilar, not everyone sees these things through your glasses. Remember the old adage, follow the money - then ask, who benefits the most from imposing this new "tax"?

Yeah well only Dread Fred put his usual stupid interpretation on what Manchester had to say in his attempt to impress the people responsible for confirming his appointment. Americans have significant investments in the Bahamas, the Bahamas has close geographical proximity to the USA and has been/is a potential route for the transshipment of dangerous drugs and illegal immigrants. Given these and other factors, the USA as always will protect its political and citizens interests above all else. Reminds one of the Chris Rock movie where he became the Democratic nominee for US President and his opponent was famous for saying (almost in Trumpian fashion) "God bless America and no one else". It's all about them and God help everyone else.

Is there some kind of vigilante force at work in Nassau, killing off criminal defendants so as to circumvent the courts and the trial process, exacting their own justice? Reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie where this was the plot line. What we don't hear from the Police or the Attorney General is the numbers of persons arrested, charged and actually convicted for these random shootings and gun murders. So 100+ people were murdered in 2016 - how many persons were actually arrested and charged for each of those crimes and how many are still open investigations? How many of those arrested and charged for such crimes in 2016 were convicted and sentenced? How are the guns, particularly handguns, getting into this country and what are the Police and other Security Forces doing to close off these avenues?

The Bahamas Government has serious problems regarding how it is going to establish any degree of recognition as the lawmaking body for Freeport. I agree with Smith QC that they cannot give the GBPA or its licensees carte blanche on the renewal of any provisions of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. It is time for the government to establish what it's true role is in the entire gbpa/hca process. If I was PM Minnis or DPM Turnquest, I would conduct the same verification process with the GBPA licensees as is being carried out with civil servants. We keep hearing that there are 3,500 such licensees but the real issue to me is how many of them are actually in operation. Government has problems with companies like Cable Bahamas alleging that the Communications Act does not apply to them in Freeport and GB Powrer alleging that the Electricity Act does not apply to them anywhere in Grand Bahama. The country cannot have a situation where these and other national statutes apply to everyone except GBPA licensees. This is the time for the government to right the ship of state and get definitive clarity on how national laws apply within the Port Area of Grand Bahama. To my mind, it's stupid anyhow to have a free trade zone that covers thousands of acres and an entire city. Other free trade zones or free port areas in other countries are small in area, fenced in, manned by armed guards, have restricted access to the persons who work there or supply services to the tenants and are primarily for the export of duty-free manufactured goods. Time to rethink this whole concept and stop giving away everything including the kitchen sink to a concept which obviously needs refining from top to bottom 72 years after it was invented. Can't keep grafting minor changes onto an old bottle while trying to force new wine into it.

BoB can't close, at least not now. It is the only bank that will provide services in areas in the Bahamas which the Canadian banks no longer consider profitable. After effing up the bank, it's easy for you Nassuvians to say "close it down, it's essentially defunct". However, all Family Islanders are entitled to the same quality and level of services as Nassau. So, yes open a branch in a place like Bimini but it doesn't have to have a full complement of staff or necessarily offer loans right out of the gate. Either that or look at offering more electronic services that are less manpower dependent. Serious, if necessary merciless, efforts must be made to collect as much as possible on the delinquent loans.