ANGLICAN Archdeacon Father James Palacious told parliamentarians that they need to stop their “slackness” when it comes to adhering to the Public Disclosure Act. During the first parliamentary church service for 2020 at Christ Church Cathedral yesterday, Father James Palacious in his sermon gave a mixture of rebuke and praise to elected officials. He told them the public expects representatives to follow requirements of the Public Disclosure Act, which, among other measures, requires parliamentarians to disclose their assets, income and liabilities annually to the Public Disclosure Commission. “Of course as you pass legislation, we expect parliamentarians to obey the legislation that they themselves (pass). What is my child going to think, what are your children going to think when the prime minister or others keep saying ‘we are waiting for this or we waiting for certain people’? Come on, the law is very clear, if you want to invoke the provisions of the Westminster system, let’s invoke it straight across the board. We need compliance of the Members of Parliament, it’s as simple as that. See this kind of slackness really needs to stop. I repeat, it undermines people’s confidence in good governance,” said Father Palacious.

GRAND Bahama recorded its first murder for 2020 when a young man was shot dead on Tuesday evening in the “Ghetto” area of Freeport. Police have several people in custody assisting them with the homicide investigation, Superintendent Brian Rolle told reporters Wednesday morning at the scene of the shooting on Weddell Avenue. Supt Rolle, the officer in charge of Grand Bahama’s Central Detective Unit, said that sometime around 7pm on Tuesday, officers received reports of gunshots being heard in the area of Weddell Avenue, near Dragon Plaza apartments. On arrival at the scene, he said a male was found lying on the ground with multiple gunshots to the body.

A popular campaign that persuaded students to beautify their environment is offering civic groups a $10,000 cash prize for executing a project that helps make the Bahamas cleaner, greener and more pristine, Minister of Environment and Housing Romauld ‘Romi’ Ferreira told Rotarians on Friday.

The Rotary Club of East Nassau was the latest stop on the environment minister’s tour as he challenges civic groups to envision a different kind of Bahamas, one brimming with creative energy and free of environmental ills. Last week, Ferreira spoke to more than 2,000 congregants at four Big Harvest Church services and he has continued to make the rounds of neighbourhood associations.

“We just came off one of the hottest summers in record,” said Ferreira. “We just are recovering from Dorian which was the strongest hurricane in the north Atlantic since they have been keeping records so we know that this is an issue. The problem that we all face is that scientific data gives us valuable information but it can’t really tell us what to do, certainly what the right thing to do is. I’m posing a question to this Rotary club: what would be your right thing to do in response to the broader questions of climate change and our world changing and what we could do in our own communities in relation to the Be A Hero association competition.”

The popular caped crusader campaign launched in October 2018 by encouraging primary and junior high schools to identify a project that improves their school grounds or nearby communities. 

“That was our first task because we figured that if you’re 40-years old and you’re throwing garbage out of your car there’s nothing else we could do with you except to prosecute you and this is why we re-established the environmental prosecution unit,” Ferreira said. “The Be A Hero with the children was to get a critical mass of children believing that they could have a different country, different from the one that they are possessing right now and will possess in the future.”

Ferreira’s message is simple: there is no such thing as too small when it comes to the environment. Little things like removing litter and cultivating gardens make a big difference, especially when everyone gets involved. 

Now in its second phase, the Be A Hero campaign is inviting civic clubs, neighbourhood associations, church congregations, corporate groups or other organizations that want to participate to choose from one of three categories – designing and building a water feature or cooling station in a public space, cleaning up and beautifying a park, abandoned building or transforming other eyesore or creating public art from recycled materials, including abandoned vehicle parts. If using parts from vehicles or other debris that is cluttering an area, the trash has to be hauled away and properly disposed of as part of the new art project.

Minister of Environment and Housing Romauld ‘Romi’ Ferreira challenges Rotary Club of East Nassau members to take on a sustainable environmental recycling or beautification project for the Be A Hero community campaign, saying there is $10,000 in prize money donated by Royal Caribbean.

Minister Ferreira displays the Be A Hero community campaign poster explaining the ways in which the Rotary Club of East Nassau can participate in the challenge.

Deadline for entries is February 29 and all information is available on #Be A Hero social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Royal Caribbean International is donating the $10,000 cash prize. The initiative’s impressive list of popular heroes in the past year has included Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Jonquel Jones, Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, Buddy Hield, Kirkland KB Bodie, Wendi and Dyson Knight, Ed Fields and Nancy Kelly along with major corporate sponsorship from The Tribune, Atlantis, Kelly’s, McDonald’s, Bahamas Waste, Bahamas Wholesale Agencies, The Sign Man, Commonwealth Brewery and Seaside Media plus support from the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Education.

Super Value chief Rupert Roberts Jr. congratulates Minister of Environment and Housing Romauld Ferreira, at podium, on single use plastic ban concept saying consumers have purchased some 75,000 reusable bags since the ban started. Roberts did ask for government to consider other matters connected with the ban.

(Photos by Ronnie Archer for DP&A)

Peter Turnquest.Government debt is expected to swell to $8.2 billion by the end of this fiscal year, up from the $7.612 billion that was previously projected as the government seeks parliamentary approval to borrow $587.9 million to finance Hurricane Dorian recovery efforts, in addition to other [...]
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