Bahamas Blog

The Bahama Journal reports that Reuben Rahming, President of the Public Transit Association of the Bahamas (PTAB), said he hopes the "accidental death" of a would-be bus robber would serve as a spark for the government to revisit some of the suggestions made to improve the country's public transportation system.

Here's the short story:
The bus driver returned to his vehicle to find a man stealing coins from the money bin. He chased the man out of his jitney but he didn't stop there.

The jitney driver then proceeded to chase the man (who was on foot) down the street and "accidentally" rammed the would-be robber into a cement wall, killing him.

This bus driver intentionally chased this man with his bus and caused the death of the man.

That's murder, not an accident.

What do you think?

Bahamian Owen Bethel likes to pretend he created a "must see" event, when, in reality, his fashion fiasco was an expensive mistake.

Bahamian banker Owen Bethel says his Islands of the World Fashion Week has "established the Bahamas as a location for fashion" and will become a 'must see' event on the international fashion calendar.

Well, it's nice to be enthusiastic about Bahamian events, but the enthusiasm must be grounded in reality.

After all, this is the same fellow who was certain that the Bahamas could create an indigenous film industry around a one-time production experience for Pirates of The Caribbean, at the now defunct Grand Bahama film studio.

Mr. Bethel, president and chief executive of the Nassau-based Montaque Group, which owns and financed the fashion week, said that based on feedback he had received it had enhanced both the prospects for creating an indigenous Bahamian fashion industry and the likelihood that major design houses and magazines would use this nation for shoots.

We can't even maintain the tourist industry we had, and this fellow wants to create a new tourism-focused industry. What for? So a whole new crop of visitors can come and experience our poor service and lackluster tourism product while paying some of the highest rates in the hemisphere?

I know of at least five film production crews that have "experienced" Nassau, and all have vowed never to return. Why?

Because shooting in this town is difficult and expensive. There is no truly professional modeling/acting agency, no film production personell, scarce equipment rentals and very little in the way of props and supplies. It is like the wild west, your crew is constantly subjected to rude service, demands for bribes and even criminal abuse.

One film crew had most of their equipment ripped off after a day's shooting. Another group was attacked and robbed. One director made arrangements with a boat operator only to be bilked for more money on the day of the shoot. He had to pay, of course, or the production would have ground to a halt. I could go on and on. The fact is, nobody would shoot in the Bahamas unless they had to; unless there was a Bahamian connection to the story or they needed specific underwater scenes.

Our "fashion industry" is in no better shape. Just like in film production, Nassau lacks the industry infrastructure essential for a an international fashion destination.

Mr. Bethel says the celebrity judges at this year's event had nothing but good things to say. Well, sure, after you paid their way to the Bahamas, treated them like royalty and wined and dined them for three days. Of course, they loved it! So did the journalists who received the same red carpet treatment. But what about the poor schmoes who weren't being comped and pampered by the Ministry of Tourism?

Describing the Islands of the World fashion show as a "first step on the route" to diversifying the Bahamian tourism product, Mr Bethel said that the Montaque Group had itself invested between $500,000 and $600,000 in the Islands of the World Fashion Week. Contributions from sponsors such as American Airlines and the Ministry of Tourism racked up the total outlay to between $1 million - $2 million.

The banker added that "in excess" of 700 persons attended the last two to three nights at Islands of the World Fashion Week.

Say what?!? With 700 attendees and a $1.5 million budget - that works out to $2142.86 per attendee.

One will quickly go broke trying to stimulate our failing tourism industry by bringing in tourists at $2,000 a pop.

I wonder who Mr Bethel has as clients for his investment counseling business? If that is the way he handles money, I'd be scared to have him handle my investments.

"I think it [the show] will go from four days to five next year - and we will have more culture, next generation and eco-fashion awards judged and presented," Mr. Bethel told Neil Hartnell from The Tribune.

Someone in marketing should tell Mr. Bethel that it will be hard to push eco-fashion in a country that allows the slaughtering and torture of turtles, and whose beaches are among the filthiest in the Caribbean.

I hate to always sound so cynical, but maintaining these types of distorted perspectives produces an "island mentality" that is dangerous to our nation's development. It makes Bahamians all too comfortable with our current (lousy) competitive position and impedes the motivation needed to improve our tourism product.

What are your thoughts?

The Bahamas legal system is in chaos because we have had a series of corrupt and incompetent Attorneys General. Time for a change.

Paul Adderley, Tennyson Wells, Alfred Sears, Alyson Maynard-Gibson, Carl Bethel, Michael Barnett and others, have all been either corrupt or incompetent.

In fact, in my opinion, the Bahamas has never had a competent, honest Attorney General. Therein lies our problem.

With crime spiraling out of control, a backlog of tens of thousands of cases, and corruption permeating every area of our legal system, it is time for real change. No more commissions, committees, rhetoric or promises... but real change.

The injustices that have been perpetrated on Tanya Cash, Lisa Wells, the Gallagher family, Harald Fuhrmann, Leslie Miller, the Damianos family and hundreds of other Bahamians and foreigners, must stop - if this nation has any hope of reviving our tourism industry after the economic crisis subsides.

As the chief legal officer of the nation, it is the responsibility of Attorney General Michael Barnett to take control of our legal system and restore law and order.

He must demand that the Police Commissioner weed the many, many, bad apples from our police force. Same with the Defense force, Immigration and Customs. Mr Barnett must work with the police to rout corruption from the the Supreme Court Registry, court clerks, public corporations and government offices.

He must investigate (and prosecute) the several corrupt judges and magistrates who work with corrupt attorneys to delay cases and return criminals to the street without any punishment for their crimes.

As the top lawyer in the nation, it falls to Mr Barnett to ensure that the Bar Association is living up to its mandate, and not acting as a shield for the many, many corrupt attorneys in The Bahamas.

If Mr Barnett is not up to this challenge, then he must resign... or be fired. We can no longer allow corrupt or incompetent Attorneys General to continue to sit on their hands while our society disintegrates because of our dysfunctional legal system.

What do you think?

An article in The Tribune informed me that jitney fares will be going up. Taxi fares too.

The paper reports that Minister of Works Neko Grant said that jitney fare increases "will range from 25 to 50 cents" while taxi-drivers will now be able to add an extra "three to five" dollars on to their tolls.

Currently, adults and children (not in uniform) pay $1 to ride the bus, while high school age children in uniform pay 75 cents and primary school age children pay 50 cents.

I do not take taxis very often. Maybe when I can't find a ride from the airport.

But jitneys, I take all the time, everywhere.

I think it is going to be a big inconvenience to the public and to the drivers considering the quarters that will be needed.

I rarely carry change. Now, I'll always have to have a couple of quarters in my pocket.

And some of those elderly women, with the BIG purses, who take f-o-r-e-v-e-r digging change from their bottomless bags will surely hold up the exit line on a busy jitney. That will certainly take more time than throwing a buck at the dude on the way out the door.

This new pricing also requires the drivers to carry a bigger change purse. They might end up giving out dozens of quarters in one ride. What if they run out of quarters?

Now would be a good time to move to little plastic "jitney cards" which could be bought anywhere (like phone cards) and are good for so many rides, or for a certain period of time.

Where are those guys who introduced that new Mango money card? What about a jitney card?

Whoa! I went into a City Market to do a little grocery shopping the other day, only to find the cupboards are bare. I mean the place looked like the day before a hurricane, yet there were no storms on the horizon.

They were out of everything. I went with a list of about ten items and could find only one of the ten items in stock.

It is pathetic. They must not be paying their bills, so maybe their suppliers have cut them off... or something.

No matter, it must be hard to run a grocery store without groceries.