Numbers Houses Grow:

By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:




At least 29 web cafes in New Providence believed to be operating illegal numbers houses have business licenses, the Bahama Journal has learnt.

In fact, at numerous Over-the-Hill web cafes on Wednesday, customers going in and out were not ashamed or afraid to admit that they gamble and did not hesitate to call for the government to act and legalize what many say has become an accepted and major part of Bahamian culture.

The issue was also raised in the House of Assembly as Member of Parliament for Lucaya Neko Grant questioned whether the Consumer Protection Bill, which House members later passed, would require that web shops be registered businesses under the new legislation.

"Does this bill protect the consumers from these web shops?" Mr. Grant asked. "Will these web shops be registered [under the act]…Will they be registered or closed after the bill is enacted?"

V. Alfred Gray, the minister responsible for Consumer Protection, assured that there will be no protection for people who are gambling illegally.

"Those who buy numbers are taking changes; that’s the nature of the game they play," Minister Gray said. "Gamblers take risks. Are [FNM members] suggesting – and I hope they are not suggesting – that we have to protect criminals?"

He said the government was not attempting to confuse legalities with illegalities.

But for many who gamble, the time has long come for the government to legalize gaming for Bahamians.

"I feel that everybody deserves a chance to win," said Benjamin Seymour, a gambler who spoke with the Journal outside a web shop.

"The ghetto people at least [should be able to gamble]. It’s really rough. I play numbers. I try my hand a lot. I catch sometimes; sometimes I don’t catch, but I still play because 25 cents can give me $150. Who else would give you that?"

Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe, who is also responsible for gaming in The Bahamas, recognizes that illegal gaming is big business.

He said on Wednesday that it would be difficult for any government to convince Bahamians that it is serious about fighting crime if it turns a "blind eye" to the proliferation of illegal numbers houses in the country.

Minister Wilchcombe has reported that there are at least 45 illegal gambling houses in New Providence and 12 in Grand Bahama, and 60 percent of the population spends anywhere from $1.8 million to $2 million locally and abroad on games of chance each week.

Asked on Wednesday why the promised final report on the gambling study was never made public, Minister Wilchcombe said officials investigating the problem for several years found that it is even more complex than they originally thought.

"We are taking a serious look at it," he assured. "You don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction. You don’t want to fire and you don’t know what you’re doing."

He said a company out of London has been contracted to "look at the entire situation".

Chairman of the Gaming Board Kenyatta Gibson has reported that The Florida Lottery conservatively estimates that $US100 million is spent every year by Bahamians playing the Florida Lottery.

"This is money that we can keep here in The Bahamas," he once said in the House of Assembly.

But the government is likely to come up against strong reaction from the religious community which has for decades been voicing objections to any move to legalize gambling.

The argument from the church continues to be that gambling is a sin which destroys families and ultimately has a detrimental impact on communities.

Dorothea Knowles, a Christian who makes her living as a hairstylist, agrees.

"I think that if we say we’re a Christian nation, we can’t just talk that talk," Ms. Knowles said on Wednesday. "We have to walk that walk. I believe we should not legalize gambling."

Minister Wilchcombe said the government will consult widely as it continues to address the illegal gambling problem.

"We certainly would have to talk to the church to see where the church’s position is, to see [whether] it is changing any and then talk to the Bahamian people about what is going on," said Minister Wilchcombe, who has in the past said there should be a referendum for Bahamians to determine whether gambling should be legalized.

The minister has said repeatedly that the laws as they relate to illegal gaming should be enforced or gaming should be legalized for Bahamians.

"It has been a part of our culture for a long time," he noted. "It just didn’t happen overnight. We have for the most part turned a blind eye."

Freeman Ferguson, who said he gambles regularly, explained that spending $1 on a number could bring anywhere between $400 and $1,000.

"I play when I can afford about $5 or $10 out of my lunch money," Mr. Ferguson said.

He added that there are many people who use their winnings to feed their families.

"I think it’s a good help to the economy," said Mr. Ferguson, adding that he had just finished putting in his numbers.

He said numbers houses are growing in many communities and it is becoming easier for anyone who wants to, to try their luck.

Tyrone Stubbs, another Bahamian who spoke with the Journal on Wednesday, said he does not gamble, but he believes that any adult who wishes to, should be able to gamble legally in The Bahamas.

"We are a Christian nation, but if you look at it where you see a church there [is usually] a bar on the opposite side and they sell numbers," Mr. Stubbs said. "So I don’t see why they don’t legalize the gambling one time. We cannot go in the casino."

Kimberly Wright, an East Street roadside vendor, said she doesn’t gamble either, but she said, "It’s cheaper they make it legal."

The government, meanwhile, is facing new concerns as it regards gambling.

Several weeks ago, the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released by the US Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said there are more than 10 Internet gaming sites based in The Bahamas, although none is licensed with Bahamian authorities.

Cyberspace has created a number of difficult situations when it comes to finding ways to deal with illegal gambling, according to Minister Wilchcombe.

"We’ve been challenged," he admitted.

"We are acutely aware of it and are trying to find ways in which to deal with it. It is a problem and until it is legalized or we enhance the penalty for gaming, it’s going to be a difficult situation for us to deal with."

30 March 2006

Czech Officials Meet With AG:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas



The Czech press reported on Monday that authorities from the Czech Republic had traveled to The Bahamas to try to convince Bahamian officials to have Czech-born financier Viktor Kozeny extradited to his home country to face fraud charges.

But no Bahamian official would confirm this.

The Czech press said that Deputy Justice Minister Roman Polasek and two members of the Prague state attorney’s office left for The Bahamas on Friday and Mr. Polasek was scheduled to meet with Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson Maynard-Gibson, and prosecutor Francis Cumberbatch, the lead prosecutor in the Kozeny case.

But Mr. Cumberbatch, when contacted by the Bahama Journal on Monday, said he could not confirm or deny such reports.

Last night, the attorney general said that she did meet with the Czech officials, but she said the matter of Kozeny never came up.

The Czech press reported that Mr. Polasek was to try to convince Bahamian authorities that the Czech Republic had submitted the request for extradition before the United States and as such Kozeny, a Bahamas permanent resident, should be sent to the Czech Republic.

The United States is seeking to have Kozeny extradited to face money laundering and bribery charges. It is alleged that he bribed officials of Azerbaijan in an effort to take control of the state-owned oil company, which was undergoing privatization.

But Kozeny, who is being held at the maximum security section of Her Majesty’s Prison, continues to fight the extradition and is due back in court next week.

The extradition treaty that the Bahamas has with the United States allows U.S. officials to seek the extradition of anyone in The Bahamas believed to be guilty of a crime in the U.S. or against the United States.

It also allows Bahamian officials to seek the extradition of suspects residing in the United States.

Under the Extradition Application to Foreign States Order, which lists the countries to whom The Bahamas Extradition Act applies, the Czech Republic is able to seek extradition of anyone in The Bahamas to face charges in that country.

It is viewed as a binding agreement.

The Czech press said it may be good news for Kozeny if he is extradited to the Czech Republic because if he is sentenced in the United States, he may receive a life sentence, but in the Czech Republic he may receive a maximum of 12 years in prison.

Kozeny was indicted in October by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, New York. Bahamian police arrested Kozeny at his Lyford Cay residence after the United States issued the extradition request.

The prosecution has contended that Kozeny, a trained pilot who has citizenship in Venezuela and Ireland, would be a flight risk if released on bail.

Kozeny, Frederic Bourke Jr. and David Pinkerton have been charged in the United States with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it a crime to offer to pay, or to pay, foreign government officials in order to obtain or retain business.

The defendants are also charged with related crimes, including money laundering.

U.S. officials alleged that this particular crime came about as a result of wire transfers of millions of dollars to purchase Azeri vouchers and options, which in turn promoted violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Travel Act count, and the false statements counts each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the alleged violations.

The money laundering conspiracy and substantive counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the laundered funds.

Finally, the indictment contains a Forfeiture Allegation seeking the forfeiture by the defendants of $174 million that was allegedly involved in the charged money laundering offenses.

28 March 2006

Farrakhan Knocks Failures Of Religious Institutions:


By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:


Religious and other moral institutions are failing in their "stewardship of human life" given the many social problems that plague the western world, leader of the Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan declared while the special guest on the Love 97 programme "Jones and Company", which aired on Sunday.

His comments came after the show’s host, Wendall Jones, noted that "looseness and slackness are the way to go these days, especially among young people" and questioned whether religious institutions were failing in making their message relevant.

Minister Farrakhan said, "All of us have to look at the results of our preaching…The street is what needs the message of Christ, the message of Moses, the message of Muhammed. So the church and the mosque have to come out of the buildings into the streets to become socially conscience."

The popular and sometimes controversial 72-year-old Black American religious leader said this is what made the message of the late Dr. Martin Luther King so vibrant.

"He saw the wickedness of a social and political order," Minister Farrakhan said of Dr. King. "So he came out of the church to marshal forces to demonstrate against a social order that was unjust and wicked and he paid with his life."

He added, "The church has failed, the mosque has failed, the synagogue has failed and now many churches have gone the way of the world. We don’t preach what Christ said he accepts; we don’t preach the law that Moses brought down from Jehovah; we preach what is acceptable so that the plate on Sunday is filled, so that we can live good, but would Christ be pleased with us on our return?"

Minister Farrakhan, born Louis Eugene Walcott in Bronx, N.Y. to Caribbean parents, was reportedly reared in a highly disciplined and spiritual household in Roxbury, Massachusetts, but he said while he was hooked on the message of Jesus Christ, he was turned off by the segregated church in America.

"The thing that disturbed me [was] because my father was a Garveyite and my mother was on the fringe of the [Marcus] Garvey movement, my mother instilled in me a love for Black people, a desire to see Black people free, and growing up in the church in the United States, the most segregated hour was the 11 o’clock hour of service on Sunday,"

explained Minister Farrakhan, who went to school in the South in the 1950’s.

He said he saw the hypocrisy, not in the message of Jesus Christ, but in the practice of those who claimed that God is love.

"I never felt or saw that love demonstrated to Black people in America, Black people even in the Caribbean or in Africa," Minister Farrakhan said. "So I decided I needed to look elsewhere. I wasn’t looking to change my religion; I was looking for something that would address the needs of us as a people."

While he eventually became a Muslim, he said he never left his love for Jesus Christ or the Church.

"But my love for Jesus and my love for the Church made me want to be the type of revolutionary fellow that Jesus was, a man [who] spoke truth to power; a man [who] looked out for the poor and the needy; a man [who] healed the sick and made the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame walk and raise the dead to life," Minister Farrakhan said.

"That to me is the condition of Black people all over the world. We have eyes, but we can’t seem to see. We have ears, but we don’t hear. We have tongues, but we’re frightened to speak truth to power, so we live and die undeveloped, uncultivated, unrealized as a people made in the image and likeness of God."

He said that as he matured as a Muslim, he came to see the oneness of God and the oneness of religious.

"Though I speak in mosques, I preach in churches at 11 o’clock. I preach out of the Bible; I preach out of the Holy Koran because truth embraces truth. Truth kisses truth," Minister Farrakhan said.

"The prophets of God – Moses, Jesus, Abraham, Noah, Lot, Jonah, Solomon, David, Muhummad – if they were in the same room, they would embrace each other. They would hug and kiss each other, but here we are a people who say we believe in God and yet as believers in God sometimes we have done the most heinous and wicked things in the name of God."

Minister Farrakhan said it is his aim to break down "artificial barriers" which separate God’s people.

"These denominations have divided the family of Christ and these sects in Islam have divided the house of religion," he said.

Asked by Mr. Jones about some of the contradictions that exist in the Koran and the Bible, Minister Farrakhan said contradictions exist within the denominations of Christianity itself, but he indicated that there was no need for great concern in this regard.

"We don’t all see it the same way, but the beauty of this is that we can come together and reason together on truth," he said. "When we do that, we would find that we have many more truths that intersect, that make us companions of each other in the struggle for justice."


According to the official website of the Nation of Islam, Minister Farrakhan achieved fame in Boston as a vocalist, calypso singer, dancer and violinist. In February 1955, while visiting Chicago for a musical engagement, he was invited to attend the Nation of Islam’s Saviours’ Day convention.

Although music had been his first love, within three months after joining the Nation of Islam in 1955, Minister Malcolm X told the New York Mosque and the new convert Louis X that Elijah Muhammad had said that all Muslims would have to get out of show business or get out of the Temple. Most of the musicians left Temple No. 7, but Louis X, later renamed Louis Farrakhan, chose to dedicate his life to the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the website says.

The departure of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1975 and the assumption of leadership by Wallace D. Muhammad (now known as Imam Warithuddin Mohammed) brought drastic changes to the Nation of Islam.

After approximately three years of wrestling with these changes, and a re-appraisal of the condition of Black people and the value of the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan decided to return to the teachings and program with a proven ability to uplift and reform Blacks.

The popular leader and the Nation of Islam enjoyed a banner year in 1995 with the successful Million Man March on the Mall in Washington, D.C., which drew nearly two million men.

Minister Farrakhan was inspired to call the march out of his concern over the negative image of Black men perpetuated by the media and movie industries, which focused on drugs and gang violence.

27 March 2006

Haitians Supporting Own Economy:

By Quincy Parker -
Nassau, Bahamas:



Every year, Haitian immigrants living outside that storied but impoverished nation send as much as $100 million home, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In fact, since 1997, World Bank figures show that remittances from Haitians living abroad have accounted for nearly $1 billion infused into the Haitian economy. The World Bank is an international agency that acts as a source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.

The money supports thousands of families and, according to the IOM, provides "an important infusion of capital into the Haitian economy."

The Bahamas is now a member of the IOM, also an international body, this one concerned mainly with "maximising the positive relationship between migration and development."

In January, the IOM launched a project in Haiti aimed at helping that country’s government "provide support and protection to Haitian migrants" working in neighbouring countries.

"The project will provide technical support to the government on the formulation of bilateral labour migration agreements with neighbouring countries that are host to significant and growing numbers of Haitian labour migrants," IOM says.

Maureen Achieng, the chief of the IOM mission in Haiti, told The Bahama Journal that the $78,000 project will take seven months to complete.

"The Bahamas is an important country of destination for Haitians, and is figuring in the discussion of current Haitian labour migration trends," said Ms. Achieng.

"I expect that The Bahamas will be a country that the government of Haiti may at a later stage want to sign bilateral labour migration accords with."

The aims of the project, Ms. Achieng said, are to review the current trends; look at previous bilateral agreements, particularly with the Dominican Republic, as models; and finally to propose a model bilateral labour migration agreement that the Haitian government could use as a guide for discussions with "interested countries of destination."

The IOM notes a particular affinity for the Bahamas among Haitian economic migrants.

In an article published in July 2005, Gerard Pascua of the IOM writes that "Haitian immigrants by far constitute the largest migrant community in the Bahamas, with a distinct linguistic, cultural, and social tradition." He said that the comparative wealth and accessibility of the Bahamas act as "a pull factor for the destitute migrants from Haiti."

"As an archipelago…spread out over an area of 100,000 square miles of ocean, The Bahamas faces difficult challenges in monitoring and regulating migrant flows. Given the limited territorial size of The Bahamas, even relatively small numbers of Haitian migrants can have a disproportionate impact."

"In the case of the Bahamas, its proximity to Haiti and its strong economy has made it a favoured destination of Haitian migrants," IOM said in January, referencing a recent study conducted in conjunction with the College of the Bahamas that pegged the number of Haitians in the Bahamas at 30,000 to 60,000.

Also among the aims of the Haiti-IOM project are recommendations for clear conditions of contracting Haitian labour to foreign countries, pre-departure briefings for those labourers, support in the countries of destination through a trained "labour attaché" and post-return support.

The Bahamas is not the only country to struggle with "significant" numbers of Haitian migrants. The IOM estimates that there are about 500,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic, not including Dominicans of Haitian origin.

The IOM says that a trend of economic migration fueled by unemployment and underemployment in Haiti has been exacerbated in recent times by political instability and what the international agency terms "devastating environmental degredation."

The IOM estimates that one million Haitians left that country between 1957 and 1982, and says that during the 1950s and ‘60s, many were urban middle and upper-class opponents of the government of Francois Duvalier.

However, IOM says that "in the 1970s an increasing number of rural and lower-class urban Haitian left the country, many through irregular means, in search of better economic opportunities."

The World Bank lists Haiti as "the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most disadvantaged in the world, as social, economic and environmental indicators reveal."

According to the World Bank statistics, 65 percent of the Haitian population lives below the poverty line, and the average life expectancy is 53 years.

The World Bank said: "Despite a remarkable history as the first and only slave colony to gain national independence, and the second free republic in the Western Hemisphere after the United States, Haiti’s path to development and democracy has been hampered by political instability.

The early 1990s were marked by a military overthrow of the democratically elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide and a subsequent international embargo that sought to restore constitutional rule. During this period, activity in the textile and export-oriented assembly industries — responsible for over three-quarters of export earnings and a significant share of jobs — virtually ceased, tax collection and expenditure control systems collapsed, and maintenance of economic and social infrastructure was all but abandoned."

Ms. Achieng said this week that the project seeks to help the Haitian government "better manage labour migration flows for the benefit of the labour migrants themselves, but also for the receiving countries so as to ensure the flows are well-managed and are not in any way disruptive to host societies."

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Immigration, Thelma Beneby told The Journal that an announcement regarding a new Bahamas immigration policy is expected to be made in a short time.

25 March 2006

Bahamas Ambassador Says Cuban Dentists Controversy Could Have Been Avoided:

By Quincy Parker -
Nassau, Bahamas:


The nation’s top diplomat said Wednesday that in his opinion, the problems plaguing the processing of the two Cuban dentists recently released after 10 months at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre could have been avoided.

Joshua Sears is the Bahamas’ Ambassador to the United States, and he consulted on what turned into a seemingly contentious matter with American officials in South Florida.

Congressman Connie Mack and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of South Florida had vehemently called for economic sanctions against The Bahamas over the detention of Drs. David Gonzalez and Marialys Darias-Mesa.

"I think clearly in this case, in terms of process, some things could have happened differently which would have avoided this particular problem," Mr. Sears said.

According to Mr. Sears, The Bahamas did consult with Cuba over the fate of the two dentists, but did not ask Cuba’s permission.

"All I would say is that, as I have said, we have a treaty obligation with Cuba and that treaty requires us to act in a particular way. So clearly, if you want to honour the sanctity of that arrangement one would clearly have to talk with them and that’s what we did," Mr. Sears said.

"I wouldn’t say (we asked their permission to send the two Cuban dentists to Jamaica), no."

Mr. Sears would not say how long the consultation between the Bahamas and Cuba took, but said he was sure the Cuban government was satisfied with the outcome of the matter.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, while explaining the matter to the House of Assembly on March 15, thanked Cuba’s Foreign Minister Felipe Roquez, and Cuba’s Ambassador to The Bahamas Felix Wilson, for the Cuban government’s good will and harmony in the matter.

Mr. Sears assured that the ‘exception’ made in favour of the two Cuban dentists who were released to Jamaica instead of shipped back to Cuba will not affect The Bahamas’s future immigration policy.

After being escorted to Kingston by a pair of Bahamian immigration officials, Drs. David Gonzalez and Marialys Darias-Mesa boarded a Florida-bound jet, and were reunited with their families in Ft. Lauderdale.

"The minister was very clear in his communication to Parliament that this is an exception. We don’t expect, nor do we anticipate that we will be expected to do a similar thing," Mr. Sears said.

"This is a case where we think, certainly from our point of view, it’s an exception, but governments always have to act prudently because we have international obligations."

In Mr. Sears’ view, the question of the two dentists was a question of maintaining the integrity of a treaty relationship while "respecting the elements of humanitarian consideration."

While acknowledging the view that the matter ought to have been handled more swiftly, Mr. Sears said that "sometimes due process requires that kind of time."

He also noted that the government had to consider the question of setting a precedent. He said that once a vehicle (for migration) succeeds, it presents "a tremendous attraction for people to follow."

Regarding the vehemence of Congressman Mack and Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Sears pointed out that the two South Florida representatives have significant numbers of Cuban-Americans in their constituencies.

"And so what you saw being played out by them was (them) acting in response to their constituents’ interests," he said, adding that the American officials understood "without question" the difficulty The Bahamas faced in releasing the two Cuban dentists.

U. S. Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the top American diplomat, was in the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with foreign ministers from within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In a half-hour closed session with The Bahamas Cabinet, Dr. Rice reportedly thanked The Bahamas for the manner in which the matter of the two dentists was resolved.

24 March 2006