Nobody doubts that The Bahamas has an enormous crime problem. Already this year our tiny country of 375,000 persons has recorded at least 100 murders; the inhabitants of any small peaceful town of this size would be alarmed if their murder count was 5 per year!!

Obviously crime must become our Nation's top priority, and sufficient funds must be found to put in place all and every measure which can help reduce crime.

There are two parts to crime reduction;

1. First there is crime prevention, which involves utilizing skilled sociologists and social scientists who could help us understand more fully how an innocent child turns into a heartless killer. Once a list of social solutions has been identified, they must implemented using our social services, the Church, sports clubs and organizations, neighborhood activists, service clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Salvation Army, Red Cross etc. who would all work in a planned and comprehensive manner to identify at-risk children and young males and intervene in their lives in ways that would lift them up and put them back on track to a righteous way of life.

Family values should be taught in the schools and should become, once again, the bedrock of our country. Parents, Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts and all other family members should reach out to their at-risk relatives, and family interventions should become commonplace.

The often talked about, but never implements Youth Service Organization should be implemented and all young adults should give one year of compulsory service to their country.

Government should double or triple their funding of any worthwhile sporting or cultural organization that involves young Bahamians in worthwhile, character building activities.

2. The second part of crime reduction involves police work. Apprehending criminals must be stepped up, the court system should be enlarged so that justice is swift and certain. If more courts are needed utilize any available empty buildings; our courts do not have to be custom designed architectural masterpieces; temporary accommodation could serve a very useful purpose. Hire however many judges and court technical staff that are needed to quickly catch-up on the backlog of cases.

There should be zero tolerance for crime! The formula is well recognized; stamp out even petty crimes like tinted windows in automobiles, traffic offenses, domestic violence, customs violations, tax evasion.

Most importantly start from the top and prosecute ALL politicians who have engaged in corrupt practices.

In addition to fighting crime in a preventative and corrective manner, the economy MUST be developed in every possible manner, because unemployment always exacerbates criminal activity.

How can anyone, ex DPM or not, have ANY idea which party is likely to win the next General Election???

Too many Bahamians are still sitting on the fence, waiting for the parties to announce their slate of candidates, and decide, once and for all, who their leader is going to be, waiting for some kind of resolution re Baha Mar, waiting to see which corrupt politicians are thrown under the bus by the ruling elite plp/fnm "corruptocracy", waiting for Superman to leap into view, waiting for the new crop of career politicians to emerge on the scene, waiting to decide whether or not to emigrate, waiting to see if the self-elected leader of the DNA actually, finally, gets elected at his party's convention, waiting to see exactly who got the BEC bribe, and who he shared it with, waiting to see whether Mr. Winder, winds up or not, waiting to see what additional evidence of corruption emerges from Delaware, waiting to see how many politicians go to jail, waiting to see who's got the "biggest hams and turkeys", waiting to see how many numbers boys run as candidates, etc, etc,!!!

Only thing most voters are SURE about is who they are NOT voting for!!!

Perhaps the best chance for the PLP to be elected, is for PGC to support Sarkis, even if that means hanging CCA out to dry, and then do everything possible to get Baha Mar open!

Nothing else will do,.......and even this may not be enough!!

You are right, there should have been a major " showdown" in early 2014, when it was obvious to many that the project could never open on time. Too much leeway was given, and when suspicions re shoddy work first arose, this is when and where problems should have been dealt with.

If CCA had to be dumped, it would gave been SOOO much better to do this before staff were hired and the pre-opening publicity started. However, hindsight is always 20/20 vision!

Baha Mar was intended to be China's "signature project" in this region. They MUST find a way to get the development completed or their credibility, locally, regionally and globally will take a serious nose-dive!! In the final analysis the fault must be borne by the guilty party.

If CCA did shoddy work, and failed to complete construction on time as Baha Mar asserts, they HAVE to be made to take responsibility for their transgressions. I think the Chinese government are probably much more infuriated with CCA and ashamed of this monumental failure than many other governments would be. "Saving face" is extremely important in Chinese culture and Beijing won't take kindly to charges that a company with close ties to them acted in a way to bring shame and derision to their country.

The only solution is for CCA to be dumped and CEXIMB to provide the additional financing needed, thereby allowing the Chinese participants to save face and benefit from the project's eventual success.

In many ways The Bahamas have reached a fork in the road...so much depends on Chief Justice Winders decision on Sept. 4th. "To wind up or not to wind up, that is the question"!

But if the Opposition were to get on board and wholeheartedly endorse The New Baha Mar Plan, wouldn't that make it even harder for PGC to accept the plan??

We know that our Prime Minister CAN re-consider and change course, ("swimming in vomit"), but can he, even with his incredible negotiating skills, embrace The New Deal, put the Christie "spin"on the Baha Mar debacle, and do sufficiently well at this, to come out smelling like a rose???

History would perhaps judge him more kindly for his change of position, but the Bahamian voters in the 2017 General Election probably would not!!

Baha Mar's New Plan is obviously carefully crafted by experts and many feel it will succeed ...but only, obviously, with the full support of The Bahamas government. Firing CCA and having the remainder of the work done by Bahamian contractors would certainly boost the local economy, lift everyone's spirits and ensure that Nassau regains some measure of optimism regarding our country's future!

The Bahamas government have not told us what their current plan is, or even whether or not they still have a plan. Their original plan of countering Baha Mar's Chapter 11 filing with the "slap dash", "procedurally flawed", winding up action, has obviously back-fired. They initially sided with CCA against Baha Mar, and now if they give Baha Mar's Plan their blessing, that may be seen to be deeply insulting to their CCA friends, and may also upset the newly announced "The Point" development and whatever other deals are in the making.

If The Bahamas government sticks to their original plan and follows through with the winding up, even in a less forceful manner, we could all be in for a long, long wait until we see the Baha Mar debacle resolved. In all probability there will NEVER be a happy outcome and Baha Mar could be in "mothballs" for years!

Sometimes governments look their best when they admit that they were wrong, change their mind, and push on with the solution and outcome that obviously provides the most benefits for the greatest number of their people. Will this PLP government be big enough to eat a slice of humble pie and accept The New Baha Mar Plan? Do they REALLY have a choice?

To many Leeches ( Leechez ) sucking the blood of the nation!!

Baha Mar and CCA's business relationship was never "a match made In heaven", but rather a "shotgun marriage" insisted upon by cimexb. Mr. Izmirlian needed the financing, CIMEXB had the money to lend; but, cimexb insisted that cca/cscec get the contract to build the resort!!

Of course Baha Mar checked out the track record of CCA. The information is widely available on the internet, and anyone can easily learn about their history of corrupt practices regarding other overseas projects they have participated in, and also the fact that they were banned by The World Bank from doing any projects that the Bank was financing, from 2009-2015.

So it really isn't surprising that the "chickens eventually came home to roost" and the uneasy relationship between Baha Mar and CCA became savaged by irreconcilable differences. Bearing in mind the reputation of CCA, it is perhaps amazing, that CCA completed 97% of the project before it finally ground to a halt!!

I wonder what Cabinet members thought when they first learnt that CCA was the proposed contractor!!!!

Did they say, "Oh no, dear me, Sarkis is going to use a contractor known to be corrupt on his $3.5 billion project, this we cannot allow, in case they try their well known bribery tricks in The Bahamas!!?

Or did they start to jump up and down and say "Hell yes!!! Gravy train coming to town!! Yippee! And thank you, thank you, Mr. Izmirlian !!!"?