A $200 fee for expedited service is reasonable and practiced around the world. A 12 week delay in receiving a passport is not reasonable at all.

Basically, for someone wanting to renew a passport, you have 2 options :
1. pay the regular fee and wait for 12 weeks
2. pay the regular fee, plus $200 more and get it in 48 hours.

No excuse for the gross inefficiency -- the $200 fee, in this case, is having to pay an extorted premium for government efficiency. If they can produce a passport in 48 hours, then why the 12 week wait?

Collect your pennies and pay the entire $1.08 in coins, counting slowly at the cash booth. Jam up the bridge all the way back to Shirley and Bay Streets. Give that a couple of days and see how quickly things go back to $1 again. The sheer stupidity of this government never ceases to amaze!

John, if the Bahamas government had not ran an end zone around Baha Mar in the Supreme Court yesterday, the Baha Mar workers would have been paid already! Because the Bahamas government insisted on postponing the case until Tuesday, no one will get paid.

And who knows when the Bahamas government will pay the employees of Baha Mar? They aren't very good at paying their bills anyhow.

And if the Bahamas government does pay the Baha Mar employees, it sets a dangerous precedence. Will the government now be responsible for paying all the employees of companies that fail? Where does this slippery slope end?

For god's sake, Baha Mar has said they will pay the salaries of the workers. Why can't the Bahamas government just let them do it instead of meddling and making things worse?

John, how long do you suppose the Bahamas government will continue to pay the salaries of Baha Mar workers -- especially if the bankruptcy courts and lawsuits take years to settle? You cry for the employees, but how long are you willing to support them with your taxpayer money?

ghostwriter, you do realise the $24 million owed BEC is not a new debt of Baha Mar's, right? You do know that it is the old debt that came with the purchase of Baha Mar when they bought the Crystal Palace, and that it was the government who allowed the $19 odd million to go unpaid for that long? And that that same government approved the sale while Phil Ruffin fled the island and didn't look back?

While Baha Mar has money owing, how about the $37 million that the Bahamas government owes Baha Mar for the roadworks?

By my math, the net is that the Bahamas government OWES Baha Mar $13 million.

Just as I thought! Explains a lot then.

Tal, as I understand it, that $24 is an old debt that Baha Mar inherited when they purchased the Crystal Palace. My only question is why did BEC allow it to go unpaid for so long by Crystal Palace? Whose fault is that?

Brent has been making a lot of noise lately. Does one suppose he might be prepping for a political comeback? That ship sailed a very long time ago!

As for contempt -- why would Izmirlian alert and share information with Christie at this point? At every turn, it has been clear that Christie is so deeply compromised with and to the Chinese that he cannot be trusted in any way, shape or form! I sure as hell wouldn't have given Christie heads up on the bankruptcy filing or suit.

This is the death knell for the PLP -- and they are running like cockroaches into the dark while trying to deflect, blame and shovel more lies and horse manure at the people of the Bahamas. It is Christie who has showed contempt to the Bahamian people! (and Brent has only shown his true character as a fool .... )

Maynard-Gibson is just looking for a way to meddle with the US Bankruptcy Court, as the Bahamas has been totally bypassed in the case -- for obvious reasons. This is just a ploy to get involved and meddle in the bankruptcy case. Does anyone actually believe she is acting out of good will?

Besides, BahaMar has just gotten permission from the trustee to use the 80$ million in funds to pay staff as well as keep Melia running. Why does the Bahamas government need to pay anyone?

Did I read somewhere that the $19+ million owed by BahaMar to BEC is not new debt, but the debt taken over when BahaMar purchased the Crystal Palace Hotel? Is that the case? If so, then it only means that BahaMar took over an old debt that was owed by the previous owners of the Crystal Palace. Why has yet another BEC bill been allowed to languish unpaid for so long? Why was it allowed to get to $19 million in the first place? Is this true?

Won't take sides???? The Bahamas government is already so damn compromised on both sides, they haven't got a shred of credibility in any case..

Does anyone remember the untold millions in loans Perry Christie went begging to China for? Come to think of it, has he ever disclosed the full terms and conditions of those loans? Umm, no. Sure would like to know, as would many Bahamians.