Except that we have seen this play from this playbook before. At the risk of being cynical, I really believe Rollins is goading his party to punish him so that he can resign to re-constitute his own party similar to Bran during the last election cycle. Having said that good for him as on the face of it he appears to have a little more substance than Bran, though I may be mistaken.

I think it is the other way around. When an employee is sick, once they have contributed to NIB they are entitled to the NIB sickness benefit. They are not entitled, based on my understanding, to full pay or any pay from their employer once they have exceeded their prescribed sick days, unless of course this is negotiated in their employment contract. So it is the employer not NIB that makes the decision. When they pay full pay they do so knowing full well NIB is obligated to pay the benefit once it is claimed.

@This is Ours, I won't recommend eating your hat. What Brave is conveniently not saying is that the NIB sick benefits are a legal entitlement once sickness is ascertained. If an employer through an employment contract also agrees to pay full sick pay as well that is a discretion of the employer and by the way not against any law. In my business I do pay my employees full pay during sickness, but with the understanding that if NIB is claimed then they are to reimburse the company with the NIB benefit. In my view, what is going on is certainly unjust enrichment but technically it is not against the law and is merely an employer contractually granting its employees an enhanced benefit similar to an employer granting 20 days vacation per annum instead of the, I believe, 7 days in the Employment Act. Successive PLP and FNM governments, as Brave is fully aware exercised their discretion to contractually grant these civil servants these enhanced benefits and Brave is now just being politically expedient and less than honest in shifting the blame to the civil servants who are merely following the terms of their employment contracts in most cases. As for their behaviour and the behaviour of Miller that is an entirely different matter.

You are spot on and don't forget Brave Davis conveniently and simultaneously taking the opposite position. With this government it is all about what is relative and expedient at any particular moment. There appear to no absolute principles by which they are governed. I guess that is Bahamian politics.

This situation has gotten way out of hand. The issues here are complex and not at all straight forward. As a practical and anecdotal matter receiving a full salary and national insurance benefits when sick evokes a justified negative visceral reaction of unjust enrichment as well as it sends the wrong societal message of giving incentives for not working. However, as a legal matter, I assume that these benefits are contained in the industrial agreement with BEC. Therefore, notwithstanding the negative visceral reaction of unjust enrichment, if Mr. Miller unilaterally varies the terms of that agreement one would suspect that this would naturally be vehemently opposed by the union as an abridgement of a contractual right and for the precedent that it sets.
I am equally swayed by both sides of the argument, however, in the final analysis I really believe that rule of law concerns should prevail. In my view, it does not serve any civilized society well to have the government or any individual unilaterally decide that because they perceive a previously agreed clause in a binding contract is unfair they have a right to vary or dishonor that clause or contract without any legal consequence. If everyone in society began behaving under this premise contracts would be meaningless sending us back to the Wild, Wild West. We must learn to disagree without being disagreeable and it is not just a matter of management style as some has suggested. There seem to be a trend, under both the PLP and FNM, of our government or its representatives treating fellow Bahamians with the utmost of disrespect and indignity while at the same time asking average Bahamians to treat each other with respect and dignity. Pure lunacy.

I agree with you and that is why, in my view, he has much work to do before he becomes fit for the office that he covets. In fact the reason why the government has handled the VAT issue so poorly is that when the IMF was peddling its nonsense no one in our government had the wherewithal to put critical questions to them to gain a full understanding of its ramifications. We simply took the IMF's nonsense hook, line and sinker and when the public began to ask critical questions the PM turned around like a little child and cried to the IMF for help to answer the questions as if we have ceded our sovereignty to the IMF.

Bran is a nice enough guy but he is no different from all of the other politicians we currently have on the scene in that they all want to wear the crown without bearing the cross. Has anyone actually read Bran's (DNA) recommendations to save $300 million dollars? The first is to "Reduce the Central Bank interest rate to one per cent". Wow! I don't know exactly what that means but I do know that the only interest rate that the Central Bank controls is the Discount (Bank) rate which is the interest rate at which it lends to banks. This rate has nothing to do with the costs of borrowing for the government, corporations or individuals. The reduction of the discount rate is primarily a monetary policy tool to provide liquidity to the financial system. In fact the Commercial banks are under no obligation to adjust their prime rate just because the Central Bank adjusts the discount rate. Further, how introducing a National Procurement Agency would prevent fraud, waste and corruption to the tune of $200 million annually is almost comical. The one point that he and I are in agreement on is that this government is on pace to be our worst government ever if they don’t get their act together very soon.

You are spot on! Unions in this country have become labour Cartels and impediments to a properly functioning labour market. Sadly it is these very same politicians who have used these unions and their leaders for their selfish political gains and now the entire country is paying the price. Having examined BEC's financials, the issues at BEC run much deeper than a labour or culture issue which Miller has been focused on. They have an inefficient, old, costly and technologically challenged generation plant, an ineffective distribution network, too much debt with no financial flexibility to finance the capital expenditure necessary and very very poor operational, executive and Board management and leadership. Although the three million dollars at issue in this case sounds like a lot in absolute terms and certainly creates good press for Miller, compared to the real costs drivers facing BEC this amount is virtually immaterial. Further, it would seem to me that this is an NIB issue and not a BEC issue.

Do not equate yourself with the average Bahamian to judge what they can or cannot discern. The fact that you readily admit that you cannot discern any qualitative differences between the two most likely speak volumes about you. According to the PM and AG Nygard has intentional lied by falsely claiming that he wrote our stem cell legislation which can cause reputational damage to the Bahamas. What do you have to say about that?

It is funny how you have totally contradicted yourself in answering @Banker. In your earlier post you indicated that Kerzner was making truck loads of money, however, in response to Banker you state that the "Paradise Island “cash cow” was mortally wounded" as you claim. So what is it, was he making truck loads of money or was the PI cash cow mortally wounded. FYI, as a basic economic postulate, returns or profits are not guaranteed merely by making an investment as you seem to suggest with Kerzner. Further, all above average returns or profits are almost always accompanied by above average investment risk, as has played out with Kerzner. Therefore, to try to paint a picture that Kerzner just made an equity investment and investment returns were guaranteed to follow is silly. Many Hoteliers have come to this country, invested millions and left without the shirt on their backs. Kerzner took a risk on the Bahamas when he invested over a billion dollars in our economy without any guarantee of returns or profits, as you yourself have pointed out above. Therefore, stop making stuff up to the extent of even contradicting yourself. Again I ask, how much has Nygard invested beacause that is what we are talking about. According to the PM and AG Nygard has intentional lied by falsely claiming that he wrote our stem cell legislation which can cause reputational damage to the Bahamas. What do you have to say about that?