How is it the government who claim to be a major shareholder in BTC ( via the "ghost" 51 %) liberalizing the telecom industry without first divesting itself of the 9% which was suppose to be offered to the public. People could talk about competition all they want but if I have top market share and the power to keep it which business person in their right mind would give it up! To me that just isn't sound business practice. The government need to divest itself of its BTC shares before they introduce direct competition with yourselves. That's the public money they playing with like it was monopoly money SMH.

The real issue is that the private sector can't keep up in a global economy with their outdated practices and unwillingness to properly train employees. While our educational system is definitely lacking and needs to be revamped, the private sector has a responsibility to ensure that their employees are properly trained. "40 % of the workforce" means that people are already employed so they at least had to meet some basic requirements. But spending on training to them hurts their bottom line in their eyes. If you look around at how 90% of the private sector operates most of them in any other part of the world would have been out of business ages ago. Most of them depend so heavily on political intervention until it is a joke. Don't be fool these businesses playing politics just like everyone else because it is a common fact that that is the way to do business in the Bahamas. Also if the Govt. would stop spending huge amount of the education budget on building contractors every year ( rewarding their croonies) and allocate the funds to resources which would help revamp and strengthen our failing education system (public and private) then maybe this country could move forward in a more positive direction. Our education system is based on "regurgitating information" ( which is so well suited for Law our so called noble profession) and not on knowledge building and logical thinking. This really is the crux of the matter. We are not teaching our children ( private and public schools) how to "think" but our education system is heavily rooted in memory. While you need some form of information retention what you really need is knowing how to use the information and that what is missing in our system.

We need to revamp our educational system and start focusing on nation building skills. Medicine , Law , Banking are over saturated in this country. We need to develop more industries so that everyone can have an opportunity to help in positive national development. Stop spending all the education budget on repairing schools ( siphoning monies to politically loyal contractors) and start using the money for research and development and implementation of ways to tailor our education system to suit our needs as a developing country.

For example we are surrounding by sea, The ocean is a backdrop to our lives yet more and more Bahamians can't swim and there is no push for development of marine research and the maritime industry. We should have have a high percentage of individuals in our country who are someway connected professionally with these industries not just fisheries.

We think we big time but now it is time to think out the box.

Lately I have been seeing males and females who are from two parent homes and families are above the poverty line. How do we explain that. The downward spiral of the male is just the beginning. Now we are seeing females taken to life of violent crime. Then we also have a marginalized sector in our country due to illegal immigration that stretching the problem even more.We always seem to be behind the curve.

We have become a "cliquish" society.Everyone wants to be a part of a group to have some feeling of worth. This goes for all classes in our society. It is natural for humans to gather collectively especially for survival but it becomes dangerous when instead of individual efforts orchestrated together to achieve a common positive goal you have the individual efforts to accomplished the selfish goals of one or just a few individuals. Our society has become of the sheep mentality, a prime breathing ground for gang activity. Individualism is frowned upon as everyone just wants to get by.Also if you aren't from our clique we don't worry about you.While you may be proud your children aren't doing what your neighbor children is doing don't forget they live next door to you.

Crime is a multifaceted problem, drugs , corruption , failure of our education system, breakdown of the family,outside negative foreign influence, economics and the list could go on and on. One of our biggest problem evident by the way we have become obsessed with the spread of bad news through social media is that we have become so focused on the problem with no real eyes on the solution. We are slowly becoming desensitize with most of us only hoping not to become victims. But one victim of crime is one victim too much.

We have our heads stuck in the sand and a lot of sand to go around.We could talk till thy kingdom come about what causes crime but until we as individuals realize that we must have a collective concerted effort to solve some of our issues and that the government, judicial, police church can't do it alone, this problem will only increase and get worst. Let's stop pointing fingers and come together to stop this violent cycle. This didn't happen overnight and most definitely it won't be solved overnight.

VAT putting us in trouble! Listen ,we been in trouble from 1967 the day we were sold on the fact that leaders we elect with their short term vision could take us some where.

A businessman accuse of price gouging and who wants to keep his reputation intact would address this matter immediately. And why everyone excuse is that they "off the island" what we still living in the 1800's with telegraph,wire and ting hey or he in Jabim somewhere where they still using pony express. In this day and age of instant communication being "off the island" is no longer an excuse. He right here bullskating thinking of some lies to tell the people.

What really interesting to this story is that Chris Mortimer president of Galleria Cinemas, deputy leader of the DNA say that he MAY make a statement when he comes back. He looking to one day run the country and practicing price gouging. Can't be serious. These businessmen in this country too spoil. They are just like these government workers who believe they have some entitlement to break the backs of the Bahamian people. They don't have a slice of creativity or innovation in their DNA just using politics and thiefin to increase their profits. The lot of them should be hung in Rawson Square. Mr. Mortimer appears that he practicing tiefin now what would happen if we vote him in?

Civilized countries who condemn capital punishment are hypocritical. They have used capital punishment for 100 of years, subduing their societies now they want developing countries to try some "magic pill" to curb the criminal mentality. Hanging may be over, but there is lethal injection.

"The Land of the Pink Pearl " L.D. Powles page 233 will dispel the claim the judge made
i.e. "Their evidence as to their connection to the slaves and former slaves of Ann Millar was stories they had been told by their ancestors, and based on that information they constructed their respective family trees,” Justice Hepburn wrote.
A Circuit Justice of the the British Colony in 1887 who would have been responsible for such matters says otherwise.

Our traditional models of job creation through tourism ,banking and the civil service is no longer viable based on our population growth. We need to start thinking outside the box and start to look into ways of taking advantage of the techno-economy and encouraging entrepreneurship. I remember a period when a large number of students were pursuing careers in computer sciences only to find out that much of their knowledge was not needed at that time. But now there has been a great shift towards people with this knowledge base and expertise all over the world.

We are surrounded by ocean yet all we know about the sea is fishing. With one of the largest ship registry in the world we have but a small amount of economic opportunities for locals. A few maritime careers have been created but the private sector seem to be more enthused about it than the government who seem to be just content on collecting their mandatory fees and taxes.

While I don't believe that government should not be giving handouts thus creating a welfare state, I believe they should put certain policies and mechanisms in place to facilitate diversification of the economy so that a broader base of the population can not only have jobs but actually create true wealth.

I tired of hearing about " Bahamians don't be into this or Bahamians don't be in to that", that's just a tired excuse and a cop out for those that have the power to make changes and to encourage mediocrity. And if we hearing this kind of talk from our leaders what then can we expect out of the general populace?

We must come to the conclusion that everyone cannot be a doctor or lawyer, professions which have become so over saturated in our country that they have become mere status symbols. Too many people vying for a limited amount of funds.

Louis Pasteur once said "Chance favors the prepared mind." Is our educational system designed to prepare young minds for these "out the box" opportunities? Has our colonial approach to education now becoming a stumbling block to our growth as a independent developing economy? Our regurgitation type education system stymies creativity and is based more on memory rather than knowledge building. Time for a change.