I wonder if these bloggers watched the same hearing I did or have a grasp of what was said. Everything has been a resounding win for Fred Smith and for the rights of illegal immigrants. The government initially housed children in the detention centre, after criticism from Mr. smith they are no longer keep there but in a safe house leased from the Catholic Church - a win. The conditions of the detention centre was roundly criticized by Mr. Smith, now the govt has spent 1 million on upgrades - a win. It was criticised as being overcrowded now less than 200 persons detained there. Smith said Minister Mitchell was operating outside of the law, which he was, now He has been forced to bring legislation to fix this - a win. Most importantly this legislation creates a new class of pseudo citizens with all of the rights of a Bahamian except the right to vote. Those with belonger permits can be educated, have access to healthcare, enter and leave the as they wish, and work without a work permit. This is a huge win and is a radical change that will lead to tens of thousands of immigrants being regularized.
There is more but Fred Smith has won on every issue and we are better for it. I applaud the govt for trying to finally fix this mess, and after much arm twisting trying to do it humanely.

I wonder if these bloggers watched the same hearing I did or have a grasp of what was said. Everything has been a resounding win for Fred Smith and for the rights of illegal immigrants. The government initially housed children in the detention centre, after criticism from Mr. smith they are no longer keep there but in a safe house leased from the Catholic Church - a win. The conditions of the detention centre was roundly criticized by Mr. Smith, now the govt has spent 1 million on upgrades - a win. It was criticised as being overcrowded now less than 200 persons detained there. Smith said Minister Mitchell was operating outside of the law, which he was, now He has been forced to bring legislation to fix this - a win. Most importantly this legislation creates a new class of pseudo citizens with all of the rights of a Bahamian except the right to vote. Those with belonger permits can be educated, have access to healthcare, enter and leave the as they wish, and work without a work permit. This is a huge win and is a radical change that will lead to tens of thousands of immigrants being regularized.
There is more but Fred Smith has won on every issue and we are better for it. I applaud the govt for trying to finally fix this mess, and after much arm twisting trying to do it humanely.

Not surprised, so you are a racist and a coward. As for my heritage my loyalist family arrived from North Carolina in 1790, when did yours arrive and when can we deport you?

I make no apology for calling out SP's racist comments. No Bahamian should support or as you say "let slide" such racism, so I respectfully ask you to examine your conscience in this regard. I have followed all your comments on this issue and I have been meaning to make this point, that I do not feel we are that far apart on this issue of illegal immigration. I would like all illegal immigrants to be deported from this country. I just strongly advocate that it be done in a humane manner. That means not targeting children ( as requiring permits does), and targeting the adults who came here illegally in the first place. That means cleaning up the detention centre and deporting detainees as soon as possible. All our governments, including the present one have failed to enforce our laws leading to the difficult situation we are in.

You have my name already. Perhaps you have a problem reading or English is your second language, my reference to antisemitism in nazi Germany was in regards to the comments of SP not the govt. SP is certainly exercising their freedom of speech and that is their right that I support. I will condemn this racist speech however, that is my right. And the comments made by SP were racist do you deny that? Of course not because to advocate discrimination against a Bahamian simply because of their ethnic heritage as SP did is RACIST and needs to be condemned by all decent bahamians.

You should be embarassed to spew such vile racism toward an ethnic group of people. Reply to this post and print your real name and stand behind this filth, otherwise you are a racist coward. This codified institutional racism was tried before... In nazi Germany's with racist laws against another ethnic group the Jews. We all know how that turned out. Thankfully, saner heads will prevail, and we will try to correct our immigration problem in a humane way. As for real bahamians, I hope you are not a Bahamian because if you are your ignorant grouping and advocation of the racist penalization of a group of bahamians simply on the basis of their heritage is disgusting and embarrassing.

Yes, public shaming works. It is how we got Mr. miller to pay some of his electricity bill and our Governor General to pay her property taxes.

The public accounts committee should hold public hearings into the Bamsi contracts, and any other ones for that matter. We as taxpayers deserve to know if these funds were disbursed erroneously to Mr. Hanna either through negligence on the part of civil servants or through coercing of them by our political leaders. Call all the relevant parties to testify under oath and let the chips fall where they may, a precedent must be set if we are to improve governance in this country that if you are negligent or crooked your dishonesty will be exposed and that there will be consequences. Furthermore, can the tribune publish the names of the civil servants who vetted and approved the disbursement of funds erroneously to Mr. Hanna, we as taxpayers who pay these civil servants salaries deserve to know as we are their employers. If the contracts were tabled in parliament this should be readily available.

Mr. Miller is quite the dichotomy, he both revolts and amuses in equal measure supporters and detractors to no end.

These people are LIARS. It takes 10 minutes to pull these files and see if there is a valid insurance certificate attached.