RawBahamian. I know you are being cynical but you have a point. Successive Prime Ministers are to blame since Pindling's time in the creation of a culture of slackness and the lack of emergency policies and procedures. It looks like share chaos with the patrons giving the best advice which is obviously not headed by the workers. The video speaks volumes.
Like every other tragic accident, corruption or criminal activity the government will say they will investigate and when the investigation is completed they will report back to the Bahamian people.
The problem here is that they never complete most investigation and in most cases they never report back to the Bahamian people. Why? Under staffed? Lack of work ethic? Long lunch hours? Too many investigations? Lack of qualified staff? Culture of jobs for life and annual raises regardless of performance? Or all of the above.
The government will never tell you the real reason why a full report will probably never be issues. This tragic accident will be overtaken by some other absolutely incredible story in tomorrows Tribune.
What will the newspapers print tomorrow so we as the general public never get an official response and forget about the accident?
Let me guess:
1. Merchants prices go up 50% due to 12% VAT increase.
2. Webshops to stop paying taxes
3. A bunch of crime over the weekend
4. Shanty town tractor mows down houses and Fred Smith sues
5. 500 migrants escape as the boat sales slowly up the Bahama chain and lands quietly at the south western end of the island. No one saw anything for days as the large sale boat sailed through the Bahama islands.
6. More promises of crypto currencies for Grand Bahama.
Yes. Lets see what incredible stories arrive tomorrow.
Can’t seem to find any background info on this company, it’s directors or officers.
It’s as if they appeared out of the blue with no past.
They have wiped and scrubbed their internet presence clean. Obviously learning from the tragic Oban fiasco.
It is beyond belief that these guys have been awarded contracts for a digital ID for all Bahamians, a Cryptocurrency for Bahamians, blockchain for all government transactions...at best its pie in the sky BS and worst the naive minis admin is being conned.
Major conflict of interest to have a husband and wife team responsible for 2 of the 3 critical parts of the Bahamian financial system. It gets worse when you look at their lack of success in their track records.
Why can't some of these positions be advertised?
Why can't we get qualified people from the private sector?
Why do they just play musical chairs and all the gravy go to the select few?
1. Rolle implimented VAT and promised to reduce the national debt. It has skyrocketed. Now VAT is up 60% and everyone in complaining.
2. Under Rolle the commercial banking system is essentially dysfunctional for most Bahamians. E.g. incredible long lines in banks, inability to transfer funds between banks electronically, inability to have messengers deposit checks at bank - only the person who owns the account can deposit checks, limits on levels of electronic deposits, 4 days to clear a checks, extreamly high banking fees, bad service, lip service liberalization of exchange controls and ineffective capital markets so businesses can't raise working capital.
3. While national insurance now has a failed computer systems. National insurance investments have very poor performance. Ratio of administration to contributions way to high.
4. National insurance to run out of money in 2030 after this couple retires on full pension.
5. Push for Digial ID which no developed country will implement due to privacy issues. Orwealean ("1984") in character.
6. Implimentation of crypto Bahamian currency. An unproven technology subject to hacking.
OldFort2012. Please don't obfuscate an Electronic ID with a passport #, national insurance # or social security security #.
The Eletronic ID, coupled with block chain and an electronic currency is virtually Orwellian ("1984") in its concept. Under these technologies a centralized government database will have every piece of data on every Bahamian linking every asset, every certificate, every license, every transaction into one database. GIBC Digital will create the database so I believe it is naive to think they will not have access to the information.
No government on earth puts all the pieces of an individuals identity into one place...it will be difficult for it not to lead to abuse. Especially to persons who may think differently from the status quo.
Just look what happened to Travis. He was not consulted when they put the budget together, he was not consulted to comment on the completed budget. He had one alternative. Vote yes to a budget he had no input into or be fired. Travis represents the next generation of Bahamian and look how badly he has been treated. GIBC Digital represents the next generation of government technology. Dare not critize whomever has all of your data... or do so at your own peril. Remember with Block chain everything you have and have transacted will be centralized.
Bahamians need to stop aiding and abetting foreigners from potentially avoiding income tax in the Country of thier citizenship while falsely claiming phoney residency in the Bahamas just because you own a house.
As with most developed world countries Permanent Residency is subject to annual renewal based on a review to ensure the person is actually living in the Bahamas.
Example. A Canadian who is taxed by Canada on his residency and not citizenship buys a condo out west, does not live in it except for a couple of weeks in the winter (maybe) and then uses his Bahamian residency certificate to prove his tax domicile is the Bahamas and and thus avoids Canadian income tax which is based on residency and not citizenship. It makes the Bahamian Government possibly supportive of unfair tax competition. No wonder we are always getting black listed.
The increases in the RPT rates and owner occupied definitions closes this gap. The OECD will congratulate us!
To add insult to injury this same Canadian Bahamian resident then puts that condo out west on Air B&B and rents it out at $5,000 to $10,000 a month with no hotel licenses, no VAT, no national insurance, no business licenses in competition to small Bahamian hotel owners and local landlords who are catching hell with higher VAT.
The rent is normally paid in foreign currency outside the Bahamas so it does not even help the Bahamian economy.
Wealthy Bahamian professionals need to stop giving our country away. No wonder no matter how much the government increase VAT it will never be enough because so few rich people actually pay VAT on capital transactions.
Hey, des foreign carpet baggars almost as slick as Oban's dem. Check out dey website. Dey come from no where and land big big contract wit gullible Minnis & Co.
Come on bloggers lets do our due diligence and find out actually what Greg has actually accomplished in his life. I don't see one single proven project to his name. Yet he will now gather all the private information of every last Bahamian.
Fred Smith need to stop him collectin we data. I ain know what he ga do wit dat. He ain even got no address on his website or phone number. At least Oban's dem had shared office space somewhere.
If one lil cloud a rain knock out entire grid den when hurricane come we ga be mess right up.
12% VAT ain ga help, de jus lay of 250 workers an ge dem $20 million. So ain no money ta fix nuttin. Money leakin outta government as quickly as they can raise taxes.
It would be useful if the Tribune reporters do some simple challenging and investigative reporting on what government is saying and not simply reporting it verbatim.
The average reader of this report may come to the incorrect conclusion that blockchain, electronic banking, the government and the central bank will solve our major banking problems in the near term.
Nothing is further from reality.
To develop a closed electronic backing system for Bahamian dollars only with the safety and security of SWIFT, Zella, PayPal, ApplePay, WhatsApp (now starting up in India) is far beyond the intellectual capacity of our visionless leaders not to metion the hundreds of millions in development cost.
The question the Tribune should be asking is why the DRC (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) which is in the middle of a civil war, a per person GDP 1/100 the size of the Bahamas and had no infrastructure has a fully functioning electronic payment system!
I recommend the government stops construction of the new Central Bank building which will have tens of millions in cost overruns and use the money to hire some people with some vision to speak, execute and integrate our financial system into already existing, proven and safe global payment systems.
It will speed up commerce, disintermediate the Canadian banking and exchange control cartel and liberate our economy. This will allow our GDP to grow by more than 2% per annum. Currently of financial system is a hinderace to growth only profitable to the entrenched banks and government beaucrates with jobs for life. While the rest of us suffer with high levels of burgularies due to our cash based system.
You can’t create a secure electronic banking system for the Bahamian Dollar because it is not cost effective.
If the government creates a B$ only electronic banking system it will be subject to hacking the likes of what you see on many other B$ financial sites.
With exchange controls many Bahamians are blocked from settling local bills using PayPal and cell phone banking apps as B$ are not recognized globally.
This is why our banking system is so terribly backwards. What ever happened to the ACH project to electronically transfer funds between banks without having to physically visit a bank?
The promises and use of the words blockchain and electronic currencies by the politicians in a country where international agencies gives us very poor grades on E Government development is of zero value and utter nonsense.
But that never stopped government from making promises. Apparently the reason for the increase in VAT is to pay PLP bills from over 2 years ago. If you can believe that, the blockchain will solve all our banking woes.
For example, residency based on merit may allow an experienced foriegn police man to live, work and raise his family in the Bahamas without the risk of being deported if he does something unpopular with the impact of greatly reducing crime.
There is nothing in our residency laws which allows such a person to join our society which will greatly benefit our safety and peace of mind.
How does the purchase of a house by a rich foreigner benefit other elements of a good quality of life other than a jobs? Indeed most of the employees of the foreign home owner are other foreign work permit holders - Haitians for gardening, philipionos for house keeping and foreigner offshore bankers for business.
The Bahamians reaping the benefits are rich lawyers,real estate agents, bankers, government through work permit fees. Not the unemployed youth in Bain Town with no future.
In exchange for the house purchase we get some taxes and greater strain on our already dysfunctional education and healthcare systems from all the additional work permit holders coming in and living in Shanty towns to service rich foreigners out west.
The foreigner then rents out his house on air B and B for $1,000 a night and competes with Bahamian hotels providing jobs.
observer2 says...
RawBahamian. I know you are being cynical but you have a point. Successive Prime Ministers are to blame since Pindling's time in the creation of a culture of slackness and the lack of emergency policies and procedures. It looks like share chaos with the patrons giving the best advice which is obviously not headed by the workers. The video speaks volumes.
Like every other tragic accident, corruption or criminal activity the government will say they will investigate and when the investigation is completed they will report back to the Bahamian people.
The problem here is that they never complete most investigation and in most cases they never report back to the Bahamian people. Why? Under staffed? Lack of work ethic? Long lunch hours? Too many investigations? Lack of qualified staff? Culture of jobs for life and annual raises regardless of performance? Or all of the above.
The government will never tell you the real reason why a full report will probably never be issues. This tragic accident will be overtaken by some other absolutely incredible story in tomorrows Tribune.
What will the newspapers print tomorrow so we as the general public never get an official response and forget about the accident?
Let me guess:
1. Merchants prices go up 50% due to 12% VAT increase.
2. Webshops to stop paying taxes
3. A bunch of crime over the weekend
4. Shanty town tractor mows down houses and Fred Smith sues
5. 500 migrants escape as the boat sales slowly up the Bahama chain and lands quietly at the south western end of the island. No one saw anything for days as the large sale boat sailed through the Bahama islands.
6. More promises of crypto currencies for Grand Bahama.
Yes. Lets see what incredible stories arrive tomorrow.
On Boat fire: Six injured at PMH, four transported to Florida
Posted 1 July 2018, 2:35 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Can’t seem to find any background info on this company, it’s directors or officers.
It’s as if they appeared out of the blue with no past.
They have wiped and scrubbed their internet presence clean. Obviously learning from the tragic Oban fiasco.
It is beyond belief that these guys have been awarded contracts for a digital ID for all Bahamians, a Cryptocurrency for Bahamians, blockchain for all government transactions...at best its pie in the sky BS and worst the naive minis admin is being conned.
On 'This is the start of Silicon Island'
Posted 1 July 2018, 7:13 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Major conflict of interest to have a husband and wife team responsible for 2 of the 3 critical parts of the Bahamian financial system. It gets worse when you look at their lack of success in their track records.
Why can't some of these positions be advertised?
Why can't we get qualified people from the private sector?
Why do they just play musical chairs and all the gravy go to the select few?
1. Rolle implimented VAT and promised to reduce the national debt. It has skyrocketed. Now VAT is up 60% and everyone in complaining.
2. Under Rolle the commercial banking system is essentially dysfunctional for most Bahamians. E.g. incredible long lines in banks, inability to transfer funds between banks electronically, inability to have messengers deposit checks at bank - only the person who owns the account can deposit checks, limits on levels of electronic deposits, 4 days to clear a checks, extreamly high banking fees, bad service, lip service liberalization of exchange controls and ineffective capital markets so businesses can't raise working capital.
3. While national insurance now has a failed computer systems. National insurance investments have very poor performance. Ratio of administration to contributions way to high.
4. National insurance to run out of money in 2030 after this couple retires on full pension.
5. Push for Digial ID which no developed country will implement due to privacy issues. Orwealean ("1984") in character.
6. Implimentation of crypto Bahamian currency. An unproven technology subject to hacking.
I think I will stop there.
On New director for National Insurance Board
Posted 30 June 2018, 12:39 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
OldFort2012. Please don't obfuscate an Electronic ID with a passport #, national insurance # or social security security #.
The Eletronic ID, coupled with block chain and an electronic currency is virtually Orwellian ("1984") in its concept. Under these technologies a centralized government database will have every piece of data on every Bahamian linking every asset, every certificate, every license, every transaction into one database. GIBC Digital will create the database so I believe it is naive to think they will not have access to the information.
No government on earth puts all the pieces of an individuals identity into one place...it will be difficult for it not to lead to abuse. Especially to persons who may think differently from the status quo.
Just look what happened to Travis. He was not consulted when they put the budget together, he was not consulted to comment on the completed budget. He had one alternative. Vote yes to a budget he had no input into or be fired. Travis represents the next generation of Bahamian and look how badly he has been treated. GIBC Digital represents the next generation of government technology. Dare not critize whomever has all of your data... or do so at your own peril. Remember with Block chain everything you have and have transacted will be centralized.
On Government wants single digital ID for Bahamians
Posted 29 June 2018, 2:20 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Bahamians need to stop aiding and abetting foreigners from potentially avoiding income tax in the Country of thier citizenship while falsely claiming phoney residency in the Bahamas just because you own a house.
As with most developed world countries Permanent Residency is subject to annual renewal based on a review to ensure the person is actually living in the Bahamas.
Example. A Canadian who is taxed by Canada on his residency and not citizenship buys a condo out west, does not live in it except for a couple of weeks in the winter (maybe) and then uses his Bahamian residency certificate to prove his tax domicile is the Bahamas and and thus avoids Canadian income tax which is based on residency and not citizenship. It makes the Bahamian Government possibly supportive of unfair tax competition. No wonder we are always getting black listed.
The increases in the RPT rates and owner occupied definitions closes this gap. The OECD will congratulate us!
To add insult to injury this same Canadian Bahamian resident then puts that condo out west on Air B&B and rents it out at $5,000 to $10,000 a month with no hotel licenses, no VAT, no national insurance, no business licenses in competition to small Bahamian hotel owners and local landlords who are catching hell with higher VAT.
The rent is normally paid in foreign currency outside the Bahamas so it does not even help the Bahamian economy.
Wealthy Bahamian professionals need to stop giving our country away. No wonder no matter how much the government increase VAT it will never be enough because so few rich people actually pay VAT on capital transactions.
On 'Sales cancelled' fear if no VAT grace given
Posted 29 June 2018, 7:22 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Hey, des foreign carpet baggars almost as slick as Oban's dem. Check out dey website. Dey come from no where and land big big contract wit gullible Minnis & Co.
Come on bloggers lets do our due diligence and find out actually what Greg has actually accomplished in his life. I don't see one single proven project to his name. Yet he will now gather all the private information of every last Bahamian.
Fred Smith need to stop him collectin we data. I ain know what he ga do wit dat. He ain even got no address on his website or phone number. At least Oban's dem had shared office space somewhere.
https://gibcdigital.com/
On Government wants single digital ID for Bahamians
Posted 28 June 2018, 7:52 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Get your candles ready for hurricane season.
If one lil cloud a rain knock out entire grid den when hurricane come we ga be mess right up.
12% VAT ain ga help, de jus lay of 250 workers an ge dem $20 million. So ain no money ta fix nuttin. Money leakin outta government as quickly as they can raise taxes.
On Lightning strike causes island-wide outage
Posted 26 June 2018, 6:45 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
It would be useful if the Tribune reporters do some simple challenging and investigative reporting on what government is saying and not simply reporting it verbatim.
The average reader of this report may come to the incorrect conclusion that blockchain, electronic banking, the government and the central bank will solve our major banking problems in the near term.
Nothing is further from reality.
To develop a closed electronic backing system for Bahamian dollars only with the safety and security of SWIFT, Zella, PayPal, ApplePay, WhatsApp (now starting up in India) is far beyond the intellectual capacity of our visionless leaders not to metion the hundreds of millions in development cost.
The question the Tribune should be asking is why the DRC (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) which is in the middle of a civil war, a per person GDP 1/100 the size of the Bahamas and had no infrastructure has a fully functioning electronic payment system!
I recommend the government stops construction of the new Central Bank building which will have tens of millions in cost overruns and use the money to hire some people with some vision to speak, execute and integrate our financial system into already existing, proven and safe global payment systems.
It will speed up commerce, disintermediate the Canadian banking and exchange control cartel and liberate our economy. This will allow our GDP to grow by more than 2% per annum. Currently of financial system is a hinderace to growth only profitable to the entrenched banks and government beaucrates with jobs for life. While the rest of us suffer with high levels of burgularies due to our cash based system.
On Central Bank targets pilot digital currency
Posted 23 June 2018, 3:58 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
More promises which will go unfulfilled.
You can’t create a secure electronic banking system for the Bahamian Dollar because it is not cost effective.
If the government creates a B$ only electronic banking system it will be subject to hacking the likes of what you see on many other B$ financial sites.
With exchange controls many Bahamians are blocked from settling local bills using PayPal and cell phone banking apps as B$ are not recognized globally.
This is why our banking system is so terribly backwards. What ever happened to the ACH project to electronically transfer funds between banks without having to physically visit a bank?
The promises and use of the words blockchain and electronic currencies by the politicians in a country where international agencies gives us very poor grades on E Government development is of zero value and utter nonsense.
But that never stopped government from making promises. Apparently the reason for the increase in VAT is to pay PLP bills from over 2 years ago. If you can believe that, the blockchain will solve all our banking woes.
On Central Bank targets pilot digital currency
Posted 23 June 2018, 2:13 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
For example, residency based on merit may allow an experienced foriegn police man to live, work and raise his family in the Bahamas without the risk of being deported if he does something unpopular with the impact of greatly reducing crime.
There is nothing in our residency laws which allows such a person to join our society which will greatly benefit our safety and peace of mind.
How does the purchase of a house by a rich foreigner benefit other elements of a good quality of life other than a jobs? Indeed most of the employees of the foreign home owner are other foreign work permit holders - Haitians for gardening, philipionos for house keeping and foreigner offshore bankers for business.
The Bahamians reaping the benefits are rich lawyers,real estate agents, bankers, government through work permit fees. Not the unemployed youth in Bain Town with no future.
In exchange for the house purchase we get some taxes and greater strain on our already dysfunctional education and healthcare systems from all the additional work permit holders coming in and living in Shanty towns to service rich foreigners out west.
The foreigner then rents out his house on air B and B for $1,000 a night and competes with Bahamian hotels providing jobs.
On Tax change threat to Out Islands' 'survival'
Posted 22 June 2018, 2:40 a.m. Suggest removal