You overlook the financial problems the BUT has not least the so called pension fund with no accounting and funds used for other union expenses. On the other hand the union has rarely had any real say in disputes between teachers and the ministry, unfair and unjust dismissals and teaching conditions. As for the expensive annual AGM, all thats does is give union shop stewards a nice holiday package with little or any valid and practical decisions that can correct the poor working conditions, some lousy Princals, and question why the Ministry is still hiring Cubans who have been employed, and are now teaching (that is if they can communicate clearly in English). If you can visit Cuba, employ Cubans, get them to the Bahamas and out to the family islands why the hell are qualified Bahamian teachers waitiing.

So true Belinda son why are you not promoting home grown teaching talent and stopping this influx of Cuban teachers who often cannot even master the English language ?

So much nonsense at the top, ex deputy director Joel Lewis having his nice little jaunts to Cuba to recruit teachers often not qualified in the subject they were going to teach and a resident teacher with proven results either terminated or not rehired. . On Eleuthera there isa Cuban female teaching electrical installation who can barely speak english.. This "our little darlings" is bull when
We have mindless individuals at the top who have little or no grasp of reality and make hirings and firings on the basis of underhanded information. There are many talented residents on the family islands - use them first.

Perhaps start with the huge pile of curry in Palmetto Point, excavated at great cost for a massive hospital that was never going to be built, or weed out the few corrupt nurses selling medication, or profiting from emergency medical flights.

They will be lost or, broken in no time at all and you can bet no money or thought has been given to repair or maintenace.

This comment haa little to do with Mr Smith rather the absolutely crazy, inefficicient, lousy service of the Bahamian postal service. Years ago receiving a periodical was a waste of money as they were stolen at the post office .Fast forward 30 years and consider this example. . A Christmas card sent from Ft Laudedale on December 18th arrived three days later at the UK address. A brown envelope containing three Christmas cards sent from the UK to Eleuthera posted on December 3rd has yet to arrive???????? What the hell do these employees do all day or do they just leave bags of mail all over the place. A national bloody disgrace..

The state of electricity production has been deplorable for years but to blame the FNM is downright inaccurate. For the majority of years since independence this country has been ruled by the PLP and it is they without a shadow of a doubt who have spent spent spent on all sorts of hair brained schemes and with typical cultural attitude never considered the long term picture and putting aside reserves to pay for the inevitable replacements. Consider how long BEC employees were making an absolute fortune in overtime, consider all the wasted projects started like the hospital planned for Palmetto Point but never completed and the list goes on and on. Now the public is going to be faced with a double charge with household bills rising even higher than the exorbitant costs they now face and the increases in all services such as shops, and hotels due to higher operating costs. There should be a non partisan committee formed to name and shame the ministers and Permanent secretaries who over the years have contributed to these shameful wastes of public funds.

If only Belinda fought as hard for mistreated individual teachers as she did to get her job back then things would be a lot better. Add to the mix Lional Sands (retired) who would often tell a pack of lies to a teacher and as For Joel Lewis having nice trips to Cuba when unemployed or retired Bahamian teachers sit at home one wonders if anything will evet get better.

What unfortunately exists amongst a small minority of Bahamians and including immigration is the misguided belief that foreigners are sponging of the country and underestimating the contribution winter residents make. Twice in my life have seen absurd behavior of a jumped up power hungry immigration and customs officer. Back in the 80's a wealthy American couple who had a house in Exuma who paid their taxes, bought everything locally were arriving at the airport and had nothing to declare. Upon searching bags he discovered two home recorded VHS tapes, held them aloft in front of all the other passengers and announced " you lied and are smuggling".
End result they drove straight into George Town,put their house on the market and left on the next flight . Example 2. Eleuthera. Wealthy American residents who pay their taxes ,buy all their food gas on the island were granted only 30 days to stay. After many years they could not accertain why .End result house is on the market. That being said there are many excellent officers who go out of their way to make or foreign residents welcome but the few bad apples cost this country a lot of money.

Undoubtedly there are some but few really good Principals but there again there are Principals promoted through the sysyem because of who they know, which way they vote, member of masons or they have the gift of the gab but they have the people management skills of a retarded octopus. I know having worked with many who as soon as they become Principals are so lacking in leadership that they resort to pulling rank and usiing the ACR as a method of blackmail. There is a teacher on one family island who known for telling her class she wasn't going to f_ _ ing teach them and storming out of the classroom, was promoted from classroom teacher to senipr mistress when much better teachers who acted in a professional manner were overlooked. The system is a mess when a Principal who ran up a huge debt in one school is ,a deputy head in another school on charge of school finances. Mr Lloyd teachers get fed up with ignorant power hungry individuals, deal with it and demote those who are so inept.