Absolutely unbelievable. Minister Symonette should resign and absent this the Prime Minister should fire him for incompetence. If this man was deported over two weeks ago how can he say publicly “Now, we do not normally deport these people, that is why this case is interesting and I will be disappointed if that is what happened.”

How as minister does he STILL not know what happened to this man and where he is? Heads need to roll, someone has to be held accountable for this incompetence. Otherwise nothing will ever improve with no accountability.

Which bank do you deal with now? I agree these fees are ridiculous and we should boycott.

The dept of Immigration is a rogue dept. onto itself. It seems miraculously to operate outside the laws of the Bahamas. I think it is more out of ignorance more than maliciousness, my limited experience with them makes me wonder if these officers have undergone any training at all, perhaps not even graduated from high school. What are the minimum academic standards for these officers, have they been educated as to the constitutional rights of Bahamians? It really is pathetic and dangerous to give such power to a mass of apparently extremely ignorant people.

I ask the Tribune to interview minister Symonette and put him on record regarding the basic rights of Bahamians and all persons regarding their interactions with this rogue department. It is unacceptable in a modern, supposedly civil and democratic society. How hard would it have been to have at least one intelligent, educated, competent supervisor address this situation in a civil and constitutional manner?

Tal is “ some kinds wooden looking types subversives” a euphemism for Fred Mitchell :) ?

The solution to this problem is very simple though never tried. Simply enforce the law. I am all for deporting illegal immigrants but do it in the proper way. Whoever harbors illegal immigrants should be charged. Who hires these illegals.... Bahamians. I for one have never hired a Haitian legal or otherwise, can you say the same? Yet we have govt after govt who refuses to enforce the law and charge Bahamians who hire illegals. So Fred Smith is not the problem, the problem are Bahamians who hire illegals and a corrupt, lazy, inept govt that refuses to enforce the law.

Dearest Tal unfortunately they know English better than you!

We are indebted to Mr. Smith for advocating for basic human rights when our government seems all to ready to trample over them. Bahamians better stand up and demand their rights before goverernments take them away. These roadblocks are illegal and no one without good cause can question me about my citizenship. The dept. of Immigration acts like a law onto itself.
I had an experience where a group of immigration officiers were standing by the side of the road, I paused in traffic and one off these hoodlums they have working there tried to open my rear door and sit in the backseat of my car, thankfully traffic had moved and I hit the gas leaving him with his arm outstretched standing in the middle of the road. He never identified himself, or asked me anything, just tried to jump into my car. As a Bahamian I find these actions unacceptable and shameful and illegal. Please train these people and stop infringing on the rights of Bahamians. Follow the law and respect our rights. Bahamians better wake up or soon they will be traveling with their passports in their back pocket in their own country.

Excellent analysis. Cable a once wondrous company could very well be crushed by its debt obligations and not survive. They are at the mercy of its bankers, no more issuing preference shares as the market is tapped out. It is time for real answers and not the “ spin” management has been feeding shareholders these last two years, who cares if revenues are increasing and at an all time high if expenses are increasing even faster and there is quarter after quarter of losses.

I suspect the first quarter statement which should have been released by now is more red ink, conveniently it has not been approved by the board of directors so is unavailable for this AGM tonight, miraculously it will be available tomorrow! See the notice posted below by the Jamaica stock exchange:

Cable Bahamas Limited (CAB) has advised that its First Quarter Unaudited Financial Statements have not yet been approved by their Board of Directors. CAB states that it is anticipated that the Board of Directors will approve its quarter one unaudited financials, which will be submitted to the Jamaica Stock Exchange no later than November 17, 2017.

Emera has forced this through at every quarter with no regard for Bahamian minority shareholders. It has been a process that has not been independent, transparent or fair. It claims it was approved by “ independent” directors, one of whom is Michael Moss the former chairman of BEC and current director of ICD. How can he possibly be independent if he is paid an annual fee from Emera as a director?

It is said KPMG has reviewed the offer and deemed it fair. How can KPMG be independent and fair if it has been paid by Emera to conduct this review?

I contacted CFAL about this offer and they pitched to me how Fair it was and actively encouraged me to accept the DRs, they failed to mention of course that it was subject to a 25% tax. CFAL happens to be the manager and contact for this proposed offer. How are they independent and how can their advice be trusted when they too have been compensated by Emera as manager?

This has been forced through at every point. Emera has spent so much money and forced this through because they know these shares are worth so much more than $8.85. If they paid $8.20 for 50 % of ICD in 2008 when the GBPC had old inefficient engines and a dilapidated infrastructure how in hell in 2017 after a new modern efficient plant and completely new transmission infrastructure can the shares only be worth $8.85. It defies logic, but this is what happens when a dishonest company has systematically suppressed the share price by refusing to pay fair dividends. Who will stand for Bahamians?

Will this government truly protect minority investors? How do you empower Bahamians if foreign corporations are allowed to act in this way? I call on the govt to demand a truly independent review of this transaction and either block this deal entirely or force Emera to increase its buyout offer to truly compensate Bahamian investors for what these shares are worth.

Mr. Collins should save his lies for unsophisticated shareholders who do not know better. This is absolute hogwash. The reason the share price has not risen over $8.20 over the past ten years is that Emera has suppressed the dividend that could and should have been paid to Bahamian shareholders. They knew full well that if they kept the dividend yield at 2% or lower the share price would not increase. Now that debt has been paid down and massive equity built up in the company Emera wants to buy thes shares on the cheap. It is stealing without a gun. They are even trying to avoid paying the paltry dividend that is due now with this buyout.

Emera has a stated dividend payout rate of 73% and the regulated profit of ICD is 8.5 million per year. With 10 million shares outstanding that is an EPS of .85. 73 % of that is a dividend payout of .62 per share. This is what Bahamian shareholders have foregone all these years with Emera never paying more than .14 per share per year. What an absolute ripoff. If this was paid out the yield would be driven down to at least 4% which equates to a share price of $15.50. This is what these shares are actually worth and Emera knows it, so they want it on the cheap.

We need the govt to block this deal or at the least stand up for Bahamian shareholders and make a emera substantially increase this buyout to a fair price. The FACTS above show Emera is trying to steal these shares at $8.85.