Exactly Economist - what a load of nonsense. Violations of the Immigration Act are like any other crime. You are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. These changes will not withstand a constitutional challenge. Its just hot air.

Ok I hear you. My response would be that 1. Both the board and the consultants were nothing more than rubber stamps for whatever that Christie cabinet wanted to do. 2. I know for a fact that FOCOL is all up in this, and that explains precisely why - coincidence, coincidence - Christie's boys got the recommendation in the first place. I see the decision to reconsider the contract as an effort to correct the original nepotism and find out which is really the best option. I think it is a good move.

Transparency is important, agreed. Still I don't understand what you are saying now regarding PLP consultants recommending NF. At the start, you that "a highly competent Board and consultants BOTH have recommended Shell". The public should be able to see and understand both plans, sure, but I see no reason to automatically assume the NF plan is a bad one, or that Jamaica has been poorly served through this partnership. Just take it from the private sector in the form of Red Stripe Beer:

"Back in August 2015, New Fortress Energy signed a contract with JPS to deliver LNG to supply gas for its LNG powered plants in Bogue, Montego Bay and now the new plant at Old Harbour. In addition to the power sector, manufacturers are also going the route of LNG. Red Stripe, a beer manufacturer, estimates that conversion to gas to power its brewery operations will lead to savings of more than US$336,000 per year. According to the brewery, the project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 6,000 tonnes per annum. Gas will power Red Stripe's combined heat and power plant, boosting output by over 50 per cent. According to the Gleaner, Ricardo Nuncio, Red Stripe Managing Director, said that, ‘The sustainability and operational capabilities that are made possible by LNG make our partnership with New Fortress Energy a win for the environment and our business.’ "Red Stripe continues to focus on changing the way we operate throughout the entire supply chain so that we can deliver on our commitment to making a positive environmental impact," he said."

And yes, Shell Bahamas is definitely operated by Freeport Oil Company (FOCOL).

When it comes to your "Fortress may have connections, not sure, all sounds a bit sketchy" nonsense, you are clearly just trying to muddy the waters based on no evidence at all. Who you workin for Bahamianbychoice? Try and get your facts straight. Just a year after delivering LNG to Jamaica, New Fortress is getting a new billion dollar contract to expand services. If electricity costs went up, why are the Jamaican people and government so willing to invest heavily in this company? You are clearly spouting poisoned foolishness based on an agenda. Shell and its cohorts have made a toxic mess out of the Clifton area. They have shown zero desire to rectify the mess they have made, and BPL is clearly unable or unwilling to do so either. As I understand it, New Fortress will actually pay for the clean up. If that is the case, this deal is a no-brainer and any Bahamian who cares about preserving the country's natural heritage for the benefit of future generations will tell Shell to roll out.

@Bahamianbychoice – highly competent consultants??? BOL you must be joking. Christie those were famous for using consultants who accepted the filthy lucre and said whatever the government required. Rubis spill which poisoned God knows how many people, Bimini cruise terminal that ruined the environment only to fall into disuse within months, etc, etc etc. And lo and behold, the Shell bid that those “highly competent” consultants recommended will benefit the PLP cronies of FOCOL and no one else. These are precisely the people who have been shamelessly polluting at Clifton for decades with no consequences and with their political yes-boys and armies of “consultants” protecting them. Meanwhile, their bid calls for an LNG plant at Clifton Pier, which quite obviously should instead be closed and cleaned up before it poisons the surrounding environment beyond rescue.

@ Sickened - that is not the point. The point is that if the authorities can hold this man for three years without charge, even though it is totally illegal to do so, they can easily do it to you or I. If this is allowed to continue, what kind of country will our children and their children live in. Violent crime is terrible, but there is nothing worse than violence, oppression, false imprisonment by the state.

@stillwaters - What Bahamians want is meaningful empowerment in an atmosphere where they don't have to trade their safety, freedom or national patrimony for a menial, unrewarding job that represents a pathway to nowhere. We do not want anymore janitor or waiter jobs at projects that destroy our natural heritage forever to the detriment of future generations of Bahamians, just so we could be payed couple hundred dollars a week. We are tired of the neo-plantations, tired of the pocket-lining chicanery of politicians. We are tired of trading our liberty for subservience to some foreign 'boss'. Tired of trading our bonefishing pole for a janitors mop, as happened to countless formerly free and self employed Bahamians in Bimini. Do you know that there are around five hundred self employed and flourishing families in the fishing industry in Sweetings Cay, whose livelihood will be destroyed by this Oban nonsense. In short, we are tired of being treated as third class citizens in our own country. You have a problem with that?

SP - he does, all the time. This is from a recent article printed right here in this same paper:

A real solution to immigration

Now that the old approach has become politically unproductive, perhaps politicians might consider a real solution to the problem; one capable of producing tangible results in the long-term.

The first step would be to move immediately to clear the backlog of applications for citizenship and other forms of status that have lain dormant for decades.

Aside from the gross violation of the rights of these people during crackdowns, it is insanity to send armed, aggressive officers into communities in which thousands of undocumented migrants mingle with thousands of others who have various claims to status, including children with the right to apply for citizenship in the future. Chaos, wrongful detentions and the wholesale abuse of people’s rights are the only possible results.

The second step would be to vastly improve the efficacy of border control, part of which involves arresting and prosecuting immigration officers who are suspected of taking bribes to look the other way as undocumented migrants cross into our territory.

Once the government has done the above, the comparatively few people left who are still suspected of being undocumented migrants can be brought before the courts in a humane and orderly fashion, based on demonstrable probable cause and not on discrimination, then given a chance to argue their case, all of them being considered innocent until proven guilty.

The time has come for both political parties to stop playing politics with immigration – if for no other reason than their own political survival. This is much more so the case for the FNM than it is for the PLP.

However, whichever party ushers in a real and lasting solution to this issue that is humane, fair and effective might be capable of gaining a durable and lasting political advantage. It also happens to be the right thing to do.

Hear hear baldbeardedbahamian. We in this country are serial abusers of vulnerable people who ended up here out of desperation and in search for a better life. Did they break the law? Yes, but we treat them and speak of them worse than we do murderers and rapists for some reason. And this at a time when the rest of the world is growing up and treating migration as a human rights problem and not a crime. I know for sure that if this country turned into Haiti, I would also flee by whatever means possible to protect the life and safety of my family. People who go on about Haitians making life worse for Bahamians can point to zero proof that this is the case. Its all anecdotal. Across most of the world, it is recognized that immigrant populations, however they get there, boost and support an economy, doing jobs for pennies that no one else wants to do and allowing the local population to move up and occupy middle class jobs. If that has not happened in the Bahamas, look to your political leaders for failing the populace, not the Haitians. And if you want to send them back, fine, do so, but do so according to the law, not some made up policy that has slippery slope to dictatorship written all over it. Only people like Fred Smith can see above and beyond the petty minded smallness to see what is really going on here. The rule of law is the rule of law, two wrongs never make a right, and when your government starts breaking the law to attack a group you don't like, its only a matter of time before they turn that tactic on you.

As far as I can tell, Fred Smith and / or Callenders have never represented Amnesty or any foreign human rights organization. Can you provide a link to evidence, or is this just speculative fake news?