When the proposed Bill to protect rape against their wives the Bahamas Christian Council was against of course the good majority male Pastors closed their eyes to the wutless no good husbands with economic power sweetheartin den lil girls and all jungalists and going home and wanting the wife to agree to sex. Failure of the Church to Church itself and fail to teach outside the Church building the Christian values leads to many not heeding tou shall not kill, tief etc as evident today. Many wives submit to get a few dollars to pay the loan and food for the children. Majority of single mothers do not have any male for some reason to come forward and put the baby's name for the father. Of course when the majority of males in Parliament came to put for the Bill against husbands raping wives time had run out and the vacation started. Of course despite all the publicity of the Equal Rights for women this Bill too was defeated and of course an almost equal number of men in population it simply wasn't all the women plus some men who out voted the Bill and worrisome that if all the females voted for Equality then why was the Bill defeated in almost all areas except Montagu? The Church and the politicians seem to work hand in hand. Its time. Thank you Bethel for standing up.

Rape is rape and should not be trivialized and it does not matter whether its done 1 or 100 years ago. We are not yet one of those African countries where people have their limbs chopped off and are expected to go on as though nothing has happened. The woman's body is her own and only she has the right to choose who she has sex with. This one sided anti women crusade must stop and women should be treated with the same rights as men. All of our ma's were woman deserving no less in justice as this woman.

As a messenger, Shepherd and Priest of our Almighty Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we are all a part of his flock including you and I.

As indelicate a way to describe the situation the good priest is correct. The situation has many facets first being what is the role of the church or Bahamas Christian Council being doing for years as they preach to their congregation, Sunday school for the kids on growing up, being sex before marriage, advise couples on being wed, marriage and on 'breeding'. Its not the women but the 'wutless' no good men wid suga on dey tongue also or perhaps the male first being responsible. Somehow it appears the children are given the Holiest of blessings with the adults standing and making even more vows. Collection is of course taken. Oftentimes the some 3,000 Church entities appear to be more focused on their own financial well being urging members of the needs of the Church buildings. Where is the Bahamas Christian Council on advising their members on what is is to be a church?, what has been going on? On another level govt officials have urged that illegals having babies are not to be used as passports or citizenship on turning age 18. Hilariously, we often see persons also seeking citizenship with public ads to inform the govt/minister in the papers claiming they live on Carmichael rd, East st etc or in some PO Box. Mind you the Banks will demand that one opening an $10. saving account need to provide two photo ids. On the other topical $10 bank fee for cashing a cheque, our good priest does sit on the BoD of the Central Bank and should also be speaking on this matter where customers face this unjust charge.The much admired liberation theology priest has a serious point in Economics 101 in that strategic planning involves the age groups in govt planning in health care, schooling needs etc and provision of skills to get the economy rolling. However there are many more challenges that can be readily addressed fron the govt pulpit to guide towards growth and stability like having public investigations into various areas like the Bank of the Bahamas and other entities where financial challenges seem apparent. On a strategic forward level perhaps with the stronger controls on the 'wall' between Mexico and the US be it physical or layered it will mean more Bahamian resources diverted to stop smugglers seeking alternate ways via the other porous borders, land, water and airspace of persons and drugs entering the US. This 'breeding' would not have an issue if the Church was really doing its job. Recommend the good priest go back in the pulpit or enter the political arena.

The CBOB needs to be seen to be working in the interest of the Bahamian people and not that of the foreign banks headoffices in the southern Caribbean. CBOB through management and Directorship should be able through moral suasion to control direction. Failure of the Mortgagees and loans should be investigated and fees should not be an excuse to raise profit to be exported and taxed bu southern countries where their head offices are located. The Bank of the Bahamas should be investigated by political aspirants who apparently want to be elected first to run our billion dollar Bahamian economy. No action forward so it should be no surprise that US foreign banks want to protect their interests with de risking and their correspondent banking business.

Quite transparent that all political aspirants comprising of seasoned business persons, doctors, lawyers etc are not immediately calling for a public inquiry to look into this continuous drain of the hardworking voters money and want to be first elected to run the billion dollar Bahamian economy and dealings with our trading partners like the United States. If political aspirants cannot see that something needs fixing with BoB then heaven help us all.

3 -4 full pages published in a daily on the annual balance sheet of the Bank of the Bahamas does not cut to the heart of the matter where hundreds of millions of scarce public treasury funds have to be tied up propping up this bank and the bank allowed to compete with those foreign banks following the rules! Worse with no trading activity on shares and some3,000 plus shareholders pensioners etc this must warrant some investigation. Given the smallness of the island it appears noone wants to bell the cat which leaves any investor bewildered. Looking at the capabilities of the large foreign banks and the apparent lack to guide then and after reeling from mortgage loan disaster, the authority should by now realize that bank policies from foreign headoffices the banks can do whatsoever via bank fees incl $10 dollar fee for cashing cheque, foreign departments deciding on Bahamian loans etc. Banks with harder rules can create excess liquidity from policies abroad. From a once major and dominant player and leader in Caribbean banking it is a disgrace we are servants. Incredible for political aspirants (and financial leaders) wanting to run the Bahamas with a multi billion GDP the silence on calling for a public investigation on the Bank of the Bahamas is puzzling. Out of some 4,000 bad mortgages in the entire system no banker has yet been charged for giving a loan which should not have been given and went bad and caused so much hardship, pain and misery to the mortgage customer, family, shareholders, investors, others looking to borrow funds, businesses with property as collateral, harder or uninterested in getting loans creating excess liquidity, and depressed our economy.

Most of Banking sector is controlled by banks with headoffices in foreign countries. Its simply make as much profits and the Bahamas being the largest portion of the Caribbean has been used like crop rotation. Its amazing we sacrifice our birthright to attract foreign investment and jobs and the employees go to the banks and the profits flow out. Banks HQ have the advanced capability of computing maximum yields among all Caribbean countries. What is likely to happen is that more Bahamian jobs will be shifted to other countries. Disappointed that no Commission of Inquiry has not been called for to look into bad mortgage loans and these are almost a billion dollars plus value of collateral tied up involved in mortgages should be in the billions. The Central Bank is well aware of the 45% TDSR total debt service ratios in computing loans and this needs to be examined especially with so many bad loans. If there is any wrong doing persons need to go to jail. Despite the numerous issues today it does not appear that any political aspirant wants this Commission especially when the Bank of the Bahamas a majority owned bank has had to have public taxpayer support.

The Bahamian dollar is on par because of a large amount of US in reserve and a number of other factors. Technically US$ earned and spent in the country is supposed to be turned over to the Central Bank and the common practice of going to the supermarket to change B$ for US$ when we are traveling is illegal or so it goes. The Chamber of Commerce in another article trying to involve all Bahamians in this again shows the naive thinking. Bahamians especially those who marched realize that someone has to tie the bell on the cat and which the Chamber should have been doing this instead of Chamber of kindergarten language. Apart from increased govt borrowing there must be talk stopping the hemorrhaging of funds such as the remittances of funds sent legally or illegally outside of the country, stop illegal shanty towns or parallel underground economy which operate like mini cities, stop or investigate millions allegedly missing from Road Traffic, investigate Bank of the Bahamas and if loans causing losses were given and fraud which if can be proven then show the world that there is punishment, treat the BOB like any other foreign bank operating by the rules meeting tier ratios, regularize banking that it is directed to benefit our Bahamaland instead of stripped and mined by policies of foreign headoffices in other Caribbean countries- Bahamians are tired of sacrificing birtright to encourage foreign capital to create second rate jobs and the banks give loans and the profits exported to other countries where it is taxed, instead of accelerated citizenship by purchase of residence couple it with other incentives like starting a business employing 10 Bahamians or similar job creation etc, Bahamians are now prepared to march knowing politicians or agencies for change are not working. All govts will do what they have to do and it is up to the opposition to correct them- not rubber stamp them, it is up to the Chamber to have the fortitude to challenge the govt. Sadly by these parties abdicating their responsibilities we are in this situation.Failure to act to do simple preventative measures to do better does not inspire anyone.

Absolutely mind boggling that Bank of the Bahamas has had its shares dropping affecting thousands of shareholders and causing 100 million govt support plus 40 million in share injection not to mention years of operating not meeting capital ratios while at the same time having govt existing share dropping and no mention of the Securities Commission. Kudos to you Hartnell for a well put together article as usual.