The Central Bank is useless. It has failed once again to do its job. There is a trail of banks that have gone into liquidation going back 35 years or so because the Central Bank has failed in its duty of oversight and enforcement.

Birdie, Mr. Raine never once mentioned the FNM because his letter was aimed at what is going on today. He is correct in what he is saying.

For your information, we change governments because we want something better. We elect a particular party because they say that they can fix things and make them better. That is why the PLP was elected. They said that they would stop the crime, make the economy better and reduce unemployment.

All he is saying is that this government has, so far, failed us on every front. Quite frankly, he is correct.

Birdie, open your eyes.

The only reason the lawyers are making any money is because immigration is not following the proper legal procedure.

If the Minister wishes to save the treasury he should get immigration to follow the law.

The only reasons that we have not is because Prime Ministers have been reluctant to hang and the courts took so long to handle many of the murder case that, by the Privy Counsel held that we ought not hang.
Also the evidence is that death penalty has never deterred crime as the person committing the crime does not think that he will get caught.
Look at the current tit for tat between the gangs. I kill you, you kill me approach has not deterred any killing, indeed it has increased it.
The solution, is to a large part, a better education (less rote and more thinking), better economic opportunities, and a population which is not mollycoddled (over protected) by the government.

The nationality of the person is irrelevant. If the person was Bahamian how would you deal with it?

You can't run to Immigration like a baby. Deal with the person as you would any other Bahamian.

If you look at Cayman, BVI and even Turks and Cacaos you will see that they are doing much better tan we are.
We have ad no major new investor in 10 years; Baha Mar, Atlantis and Bimini Bay were all signed on to before 2005.
Cayman has had the equivalent of two Atlantis' in the last 10 years, and with a population less than a quarter of The Bahamas
Also take a look at where The Bahamas now is with respect to the "ease of doing Business" ratings. We are going down hill rapidly.
Add to that that we are now only one tick away from "junk bond" status by the international rating agencies.
We are on the verge of economic disaster. Even James Smith is talking about us having to get used high unemployment.
No we don't need to change the immigration laws; we need to start complying with our laws.

I am not disagreeing with your desire to solve the problem.
The difficulty is that we are a sovereign nation and are required by international convention to behave like one.
We liked the idea of a Defence Force but played with it instead of using it. We, you and me, are now going to be required to pay the price for our governments (all of them) incompetence.
What the Minister is proposing would only make matters worse. Not only on the human rights side but, more importantly on the economic side.
If we do this our economy could well collapse as no one would feel safe to invest.
Many investors have indicated their extreme concern over the Governments interference in Baha Mar, this could be the tipping point.

Bluesky, we asked for our independence and with that comes responsibility. The protection of our boarders is one of those responsibilities.
When we became independent we had four 60ft. patrol boats. They spent most of their time tied up at Bayshore Marina in Nassau Harbour.
By 1978 or 1979 we had added a 108ft. patrol boat and another 60ft. patrol boat. By the early 1980's we had added 4 29ft Patrol craft. These Patrol Boats were paid for, in the large part by loans which we all paid for. They spent most of their time tied up in Coral Harbour.
Now for your information, there is no other purpose for a patrol boat other than patrolling the waters and protecting the rights of The Bahamas. Those duties include the prevention of other nationalities abusing our fishing rights and the prevention of illegal immigration.
As a nation the rest of the world expects us to do this. When we catch illegals or poachers they are to be dealt with in accordance with the recognized international norm.
We signed many treaties on Human Rights etc. so that means everyone goes to court.

And how does what he proposes save the Public treasury?

Why has he not shut down Bahamasair and save the Public Treasury over $30,000,000.00 a year? And stop the waste in the Public health system, and save the Public Treasury another $100,000,000.00 a year?

If you don't like someone it is not an immigration problem.
What would you do if the person was a Bahamian? You could not go running to immigration like a child running to Mummy.