Christie and his gang chose the "known to be corrupt" Chinese over Izmirilian, a long term resident of The Bahamas who was prepared to keep his dream alive by investing a further $80 million. By siding with his Chinese friends, Christie chose the interests of himself and his fellow conspirators, over the interests of the Bahamian people he was elected to serve. Treacherous, corrupt and downright wicked, doesn't even come close to describing this Third World bunch of incompetents. Sad, sad day for all Bahamians.

Tal you are still not reading my post! Nowhere did I say it was OK for any illegal immigrant to even be in The Bahamas!

illegal immigrants have no right to be in The Bahamas!
LEGAL immigrants have papers that say they have the right to reside in The Bahamas and therefore the right to rent decent affordable accommodation!

Tal, you are the one who is confused. Most civilized countries do not differentiate between LEGAL immigrants and citizens, with regards to their right to rent legal, affordable housing!!

Confiscation of the land on which these shanty towns have been built may be too extreme. Simply enforce the law; if landowners collect rents from illegal immigrants, legal immigrants or Bahamians, who build illegal structures on their land, the landowners are clearly breaking the Law! They can easily be prosecuted under numerous laws and by-laws pertaining to zoning, planning permission, sanitation requirements etc. etc.

To my mind the Landowners are clearly the real law-breakers and the shanty town dwellers are clearly the exploited victims!! The buck stops with the landowners; name, shame and prosecute these law-breakers and the existence of the shanty towns will become a thing of the past.

Successive Governments, as usual, have dragged their feet on the Shanty Town issue and because of this share the blame for the present dilemma, and have a responsibility to protect the legal Shanty Town residents from this type of exploitation.

Small, (800-1200 sq.ft), prefabricated (sectional, factory built) houses, set close together, on concrete foundations with proper, up to code, water, electricity and septic tanks need not be too expensive, and would provide adequate, legal and affordable low-cost housing for low income families, whether legal immigrants or Bahamians.

There is clearly a need for this type of REAL low-cost housing, and with Government supported low-cost financing could be a feasible and humane solution to a pressing social need.

The truth always hurts!

Sensible comment, Tal. The aftermath of a hurricane presents an opportunity and justification for a National Service Youth Corps.

Now that would be a real "teachable moment" for young Bahamians!! Roll up sleeves and get stuck in helping hurricane victims; meaningful experience, valuable lessons in selfless giving, opportunity to see how the World should work, with the more fortunate assisting the less fortunate. Etc. etc.

questions

1. How much funding does NEMA get each year.? What is Captn Russell's salary and what are his qualifications for this position?

2. How many full and/or part time staff does NEMA have?

3. Who signs NEMA's cheques and who oversees their accounts?

4. Our hurricane season lasts for 6 months; what does NEMA staff do for the rest of the year?

5. Does NEMA have an "Operation Manual" that defines exactly what it is that they do?

6. Is the above mentioned "Operation Manual" available for examination by the public?

7. Will Captn. Russell present to the HOA and to the Bahamian public a detailed day by day, and hour by hour account of exactly what the staff of NEMA actually did during the days leading up to the arrival of the hurricane, and during the days since?

8. What strategies and future plans has NEMA developed to properly protect Bahamians against the dangers and threats of a direct hit by a hurricane?

9. If such strategies and plans have been developed why were they not implemented?

10. The Bahamas Government and NEMA failed the Bahamian public miserably during the past two weeks. The private sector performed amazingly. What exactly does this tell us?

Letting ALL card carrying FMN's vote on the Leadership issue at an FNM convention would represent true democracy!!

But would HAM give this his blessing??? Hmmmm? ... The real question is, would he DARE to let TRUE democracy reign within the FNM, or would he instead adopt "the fix is in" tactics used by PGC to ensure that he becomes an "African Style", "Leader for Life", by appointing hundreds of "FNM Stalwart Councillors", in return for pledges of their support!

I predict that if it became known that card carrying, financial members of the FNM would be invited to elect the new FNM leader at a FNM Convention, then the number of FNM members would DOUBLE! and they would leave the convention, united behind their new leader, whomever that was, and they would go on to thrash the PLP at the next General Election, by a landslide!!!

Letting ALL card carrying FMN's vote on the Leadership issue at an FNM convention would represent true democracy!!

But would HAM give this his blessing??? Hmmmm? ... The real question is, would he DARE to let TRUE democracy reign within the FNM, or would he instead adopt "the fix is in" tactics used by PGC to ensure that he becomes an "African Style", "Leader for Life", by appointing hundreds of "FNM Stalwart Councillors", in return for pledges of their support!

I predict that if it became known that card carrying, financial members of the FNM would be invited to elect the new FNM leader at a FNM Convention, then the number of FNM members would DOUBLE! and they would leave the convention, united behind their new leader, whomever that was, and they would go on to thrash the PLP at the next General Election, by a landslide!!!

Letting ALL card carrying FMN's vote on the Leadership issue at an FNM convention would represent true democracy!!

But would HAM give this his blessing??? Hmmmm? ... The real question is, would he DARE to let TRUE democracy reign within the FNM, or would he instead adopt "the fix is in" tactics used by PGC to ensure that he becomes an "African Style", "Leader for Life", by appointing hundreds of "FNM Stalwart Councillors", in return for pledges of their support!

I predict that if it became known that card carrying, financial members of the FNM would be invited to elect the new FNM leader at a FNM Convention, then the number of FNM members would DOUBLE! and they would leave the convention, united behind their new leader, whomever that was, and they would go on to thrash the PLP at the next General Election, by a landslide!!!