There seems to have been a number of mismatched appointments with the new boards. Mismatched in terms of obvious conflicts with the legislated governance provisions. For this those technocrats (public officers) advising the policy makers must be held responsible. As regards the prudential regulators in the financial services sector, the governance framework in place was contrived and developed in response to serious concerns about the potential for political interference in the regulation of the sector. Hence none of the prudentially regulated sectors (banking, securities and insurance) have an executive chairman. Indeed the governance of the Insurance Commission followed that of the Central Bank. If changes to the governing legislation are to be contemplated, then due regard must be had to the IAIS standards promulgated for the regulation of insurance business to avoid The Bahamas falling afoul of the core principles. The Bahamas is the subject of periodic assessment against these standards.

The Bahamas needs a couple of important items right now:
1. A fully functioning autonomous Ministry of ICT and Innovation that will absord some of the pent up ICT skills and talent we have internally and within our diaspora.
2. A critical information infrastructure strategy to address cybersecurity risks
3. An updated digital government strategy that sets the vision and action plan for a modern Bahamas supported by ICTs, and to stop the absurd competition between Ministries on who can get the best stand alone information system, without regard to the importsnt need to have these systems "talk" to each other.

The Bahamss has also been falling consistently in rankings for the last few renditions of the UN eGovernment biennnial survey.

An excellent and important article in today's electronic world. Equally important is the fact that owners of websites that permit others to use their sites to perpetrate online abuse are just as guilty of related offences as the perpetrators of the abuse. Such website owners faciltate online abuse by providing the means for the abuse to happen and by broadcasting the abuse. In the case of defamatory statements the website owners are complicit in and liable for the publication of the statements. Fortunately recourse is available to address such illicit activity against both perpetrators and facilitators, but greater education and awareness for the public on these mechanisms is needed. This article is a good start within the Bahamian context and should be a headline item. Again well done Ms. Wallace.

To baldbeardedbahamian et al, the transaction to which you refer regarding NIB's acquisition of shares in BOB occurred in JUNE 2013. I joined NIB as Director in JULY 2013. Publicly available records, which are also available on the Internet, bears this out. I trust you have evidence to support your allegations since you will need it. And while we are at it, acquisition of the ambulances by NIB was approved by my predecessor long before I became Director at NIB. Do your research before making nonsensical accusations. Help to give the world a better impression of the intelligence level of persons in this country, which will also help to dispel the third world mentality view held of Bahamians. In the end, lets just stick to discussing issues rather than launching baseless attacks on people. At this particular juncture, the country desperately needs mature analytical reasoning to move it forward. It is understood that you and others have some beef about my appointment as Director of NIB. I would just be careful how you make unsubstantiated accusations to justify your beef since you and others will have to account for the accusations at some point. Again this is a sad reflection on us as a people, and evidence of why we continue to bask in the third world mentality spotlight.

Yup, an access to government information law (foi) would do nicely right now and one that has full retroactivity. It is the shroud of secrecy that allows skullduggery to take place. Opening up government processes, dealings, information and decision- making so that the public can understand how our government works, including the decisions that are made on our behalf will, in one fell swoop, catapult The Bahamas from the middle of the 20th century straight into 2017 and give citizens what they need to curb government abuse and excess. This law would be a significant damper on corruption in government.

Funny that......victimisation and bullying were D. Shane Gibson's weapons of choice to keep NIB and all staff members under control from May 2012 to May 2017. Still searching for the outcry and righteous indignation against his activities during that time - and his form of victimisation had a special brand of brutality to it.

Under the National Insurance Act, decisions on significant investments are largely reserved to the eleven member board and the Minister with responsibility for National Insurance. The Minister is obligated by law to consult with the Minister of Finance prior to making his deceision on such matters. NIB also has an investments policy guideline in place that prescribes how its investments may be made. Such a policy has been in place for over a decade. NIB investments are made on the recommendation of its in-house Deputy Director/Investments, who is a qualified professional. Investments made by NIB, outside of the very limited parameters delegated to the Director by the Board, require Ministerial approval. NIB also has an established Investment Advisory Committee at board level which is obligated to consider investment recommendations and in turn provides its recommendations to the eleven member NI board for approval. Perhaps NIB should publish the Investment policy guidelines so that the process and approvals for investments of the Fund may be better understood. Finally for many years NIB has had direct representation on the BOB board either through its Managing Director or its Chairman. The records of BOB will bear this out.