New ways of thinking needed to address crime, DPM Pratt says:


Bahamas Information Services -
Nassau, Bahamas:

NASSAU, The Bahamas – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security the Hon. Cynthia Pratt said that the traditional approaches to dealing with crime must be replaced with new ways of thinking “out of the box.”

“For example, from a government standpoint, we have conveniently compartmentalized the issues that affect our state into categories called ministries and departments,” Minister Pratt said. “But the problems that we face today are increasingly multidisciplinary, requiring greater and almost seamless inter-ministerial cooperation and coordination.”

Deputy Prime Minister Pratt was speaking at the first annual International Crime Summit on August 28, 2006. The Royal Bahamas Police Force, hosted the event under the theme “Enforcing the fight against crime, violence and social ills through global collaboration.”

The Deputy Prime Minister said it was “simplistic and wrong” to believe that the police, by themselves, can stop crime or that the Defence Force is able to solve the problem of illegal immigration, or that the prison service is able to reduce the high recidivism rate.

“What we have grown to realize is that the solution to the problem of crime is as comprehensive as the problem itself,” Deputy Prime Minister Pratt said. “The solution requires the deployment of our best minds, working together in synergy, to develop strategies and initiatives to bring remedial action to those conditions and circumstances that give rise to crime and give birth to criminals.”

Deputy Prime Minister Pratt said the State must deploy its entire machinery in this fight and the crime stakeholders must also develop and foster partnerships with “non-State actors, non-governmental organizations and all of civil society.”

“That is the bulwark that will surely strengthen our approach to dealing with the ‘hyrda’ called crime,” she said.

Deputy Prime Minister Pratt said that this comprehensive and holistic approach is “epitomized and given splendid expression” in the Urban Renewal Programme, the brainchild of Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie.

She noted that Prime Minister Christie said that while he was in Opposition, he “mused at the sad and depressed state in our inner-city neighbourhoods and how those residents lived a vicious cycle of birth, hopelessness, despair and death.”

She said this had crystallized in the Prime Minister’s mind the concept of an urban renewal programme -- a community-based initiative that micro-analyses the issues and circumstances that prevent residents from realizing their true potential and then, more importantly, bring about remedial action.

“When the Urban Renewal Programme was launched in 2002, many scoffed at the idea of using police officers to do what they described as mere social work,” Deputy Prime Minister Pratt said. “I believe that those persons would be hard pressed to argue that where the programme has been instituted, criminal activity has been reduced and residents generally feel better about their surroundings and their prospects for a more useful, productive and meaningful life.”

She noted that for three consecutive years, the Commissioner of Police and the Royal Bahamas Police Force have been the proud recipients of the distinguished International Association of Chiefs of Police Award for Community Policing.

“The spotlight has been put on this unique initiative and it has held up well to its glare and scrutiny.

“But, in spite of this, we recognize that a whole lot more needs to be done to rid our communities of crime,” Minister Pratt added. “We realize also that we have only skimmed the surface of the tremendous potential of the Urban renewal Programme.

“We now need to build on it and expand it. Its goal must be to remove those conditions that give rise to crime and prevent crime before it occurs.”

08/30/2006

crime

Ninety May Sue Minister:

By Macushla N. Pinder -
Nassau, Bahamas:

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell could be facing a legal battle as attorneys for accused drug kingpin Samuel "Ninety" Knowles threaten to take action after their client was extradited on Monday, despite a pending hearing in the Supreme Court.

Minister Mitchell signed the warrant of surrender, which cleared the way for Knowles’ extradition.

Roger Minnis, one of Knowles’ attorneys, who was there at the time Knowles was whisked away by a team of officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit, confirmed plans to sue the minister in his official capacity.

"What he did is really in contempt of court," Mr. Minnis claimed. "The question is whether or not the client would agree [to sue the minister]. So, we have to seek his instructions first…I really don’t know if he would agree to this."

In a letter addressed to Mr. Mitchell, dated August 29, Mr. Minnis and his colleague, Edward Fitzgerald, said they were "dismayed and shocked" by the minister’s conduct.

"This scenario amounts to the pre-emption of the judicial process by the executive. Moreover, this action was quite contrary to a specific undertaking given in open court before Justice Small that Mr. Knowles would not be extradited whilst legal proceedings were pending," the letter stated.

"We are proposing to take committal proceedings for contempt of court as a result of your actions. We are also further minded to take Mr. Knowles’ case to the Inter-American Organization for Human Rights."

According to Mr. Minnis, his client was taken away from Her Majesty’s Prison around 4pm Monday, shortly after Minister Mitchell signed the warrant of surrender for Mr. Knowles to face extradition charges in the United States.

"He never voluntarily surrendered into the U.S.’ custody. I got a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs around midday Monday and immediately drafted an affidavit and attached the letter I wrote to the minister. I also prepared the application for leave to do a judicial review and obtain an order prohibiting them from sending him," Mr. Minnis explained.

"I got to the prison about 2:30pm, was able to see him and he signed the affidavit. By that time, he had not gotten anything from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just yet. I went to explain the situation to the (prison) superintendent. On my way out, I met him in the (prison) courtyard and several senior officers were already preparing to turn him over to the DEU. Fifteen minutes later, he was gone. They took him out without incident."

Knowles, whose wife was visiting him at the time, reportedly appeared startled by the entire situation. He was not allowed to speak to his attorney.

"He appeared as if he had not really absorbed that this was happening to him," Mr. Minnis said. "He left in a pair of slippers, basketball pants and a t-shirt."

At last report, Knowles was being held at the Federal Detention Centre in downtown Miami, Florida.

The London-based Privy Council recently dismissed Knowles’ appeal, clearing the way for extradition.

The high court actually made two separate rulings because Knowles’ attorneys had filed two separate appeals since he is fighting two extradition requests.

The first was made on March 26, 2001, months after a federal grand jury in the United States indicted Knowles and others on counts of conspiracy to possess cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to import the same drugs in the United States between November 11, 1997 and December 8, 2000.

The second request was made on February 6, 2002. It charged Knowles and others with counts of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States between June 1995 and 1997.

There is however an outstanding application before the Supreme Court seeking his release, as pointed out by the Privy Council in its ruling.

Knowles’ application in Supreme Court was based on U.S. President George Bush’s reference to the accused as a drug kingpin.

His attorneys have maintained that such a label would prevent their client from receiving a fair trial.

The application was to have been heard in the Supreme Court by Justice Small on May 12 and 13, 2005. But that has not yet taken place.

Knowles’ attorneys recently appeared before Justice Lyons and secured a hearing date for the habeas corpus application to be heard on September 28 and 29, 2006.

It is a development that left many, including attorney Damien Gomez, wondering why the government pushed ahead with signing the warrant given that the Supreme Court matter is still outstanding.

"I am completely flabbergasted by what has happened," Mr. Gomez said when he called yesterday into the Love 97 programme, "Issues of the Day".

"This is inexplicable that the government would essentially render worthless the outstanding habeas corpus proceedings before the Supreme Court. There is no point in proceeding because there is no way that the order of the court – if it were granted – could be enforced," added Mr. Gomez, who is also a government senator.

Neither Minister Mitchell nor Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson could be reached for comment on the matter, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the formal announcement in a brief statement yesterday.

On "Issues of the Day", callers had mixed views on whether Knowles would be able to get a fair trial in the United States.

"Mr. Knowles should not have been sent to the United States," said one caller. "He will not have a fair trial."

But there were some who agreed with the government’s decision.

"If he has to be extradited to go ahead and face these crimes, let him go," said another caller.

"He would get a better trial in the States…That’s where all the drugs are going. It’s killing their people."

Mr. Knowles is expected to appear before a court as early as Thursday morning for a first time hearing.

30 August 2006

bahamian law

Health Care Expert Promotes Benefits Of Breastfeeding:

By Courtnee Romer -
Nassau, Bahamas:

International Breastfeeding Week may have come and gone without much fanfare in Grand Bahama, but Childbirth and Postpartum Association (CAPPA) trained Lactation Educator, Jennifer Williams, is pushing for greater awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding.

Mrs. Williams joined CAPPA – a non-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia which trains healthcare professionals and individuals to be childbirth and lactation educators – last year, and has nursed eight of her own children.

"I am a very strong breastfeeding advocate and my goal is to share what I’ve learned and to learn more and more, and share what I’ve learned with other mothers and families," Mrs. Williams said.

"I learned the hard way. I had eight children. All of them were breastfed and the time that I breastfed varied depending on the support I had, which is very important, and the knowledge that I had," she said.

According to Mrs. Williams, lack of knowledge and support are some reasons some women do not breastfeed. She said she breastfed her firstborn child exclusively, which means no water, liquids, or food, other than breast milk for the first five months.

But she said she was discouraged by a family member who thought the child should have been getting more nutrients.

However, she said armed with more knowledge and experience she continued to nurse, finding it the best decision, which resulted in her breastfeeding her last child up to three years of age.

"Breastfeeding is a natural part of childbirth," Mrs. Williams explained.

"During pregnancy your body is getting ready to breastfeed, so towards the end of pregnancy you’re ready to lactate, and once the baby is born it should be put to the breast within an hour and the reason that it’s better for the mother is that it helps the uterus to contract.

"The baby suckling on the breast causes oxytocin to be liberated, which is a hormone that tightens and contracts the uterus and that keeps the mother from hemorrhaging or bleeding to death," she said.

According to Mrs. Williams, there is no World Health Organization (WHO) or United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) breastfeeding statistics for the Bahamas.

However, she said that WHO advises that all mothers should exclusively breastfeed for six months and after that, the mother should add some solids or safe food and continue to breastfeed with these foods being added well into the child’s second year of life.

Some other benefits of breastfeeding include protecting against breast and ovarian cancer; it can provide up to 98 percent contraceptive protection if a mother exclusively breastfeeds for up to six months; it lessens chances of acquiring osteoporosis and postpartum depression; and it’s free and saves time, according to Mrs. Williams.

She also said parenting skills are improved and breastfeeding enables the mother to rest.

Mrs. Williams said when it comes to feeding babies breastfeeding is best, especially when one allows the child to nurse at the breast as opposed to extracting breast milk and feeding it through a bottle to the child.

For instance, she said that cranial and dental formation are improved due to the suckling action. Nursing also offers protection against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), it stimulates brain development of both sides and develops a strong bond between infant and mother, to name a few benefits, according to Mrs. Williams.

"Breast milk is always going to be better than artificial formula …the more you nurse the better it is, but if you can only nurse for a month that’s better than nothing," Mrs. Williams said.

Some common misconceptions that women have about breastfeeding, according to Mrs. Williams, are that the breasts will become deformed. However, she dispelled that myth by saying the breasts already become stretched during pregnancy and she has not seen any difference after having eight children.

Mrs. Williams, who intends to volunteer at the Rand Memorial Hospital and clinics to inform mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding, said she does not see any disadvantages at all to this natural feeding process.

"Unfortunately, things have changed in our society. Before we didn’t have health care professionals; it was mothers giving birth with mothers. We had midwives there; we were surrounded by women who breastfed, so it was all support and it was all you had," Mrs. Williams said.

"Now the whole artificial feeding began when women in high society started getting wet nurses because we didn’t have time to spend with our baby. So some people may look at the fact that you have to be with your baby as a disadvantage, but to me it would be a disadvantage not to be with your baby because your baby needs you," she said.

29 August 2006

health

Guyanese, Jamaican Immigrants Arrested:

By Darrin Culmer -
Nassau, Bahamas:

Immigration officials continued their efforts Sunday to keep up with the steady stream of immigrants travelling to The Bahamas illegally when they took into custody four Guyanese men, four Guyanese women and one Jamaican man, all of whom were believed to have entered the country without proper documentation.

Police Inspector Walter Evans said officers attached to Operation Quiet Storm – a joint police and immigration initiative – discovered the group around 4am Sunday onboard a vessel named ‘Liberty’ which was docked at Bayshore Marina.

In another phase of its ongoing campaign the immigration department repatriated 295 Haitian migrants earlier this month at a cost of $60,389.

During the month of July the Department repatriated 733 Haitian nationals, 26 Jamaicans, and 14 migrants of various nationalities.

Those figures brought the total number of repatriations for the year to 4,089.

Of that total 3,553 migrants were from Haiti, 337 from Jamaica and 75 from Cuba, the Department of Immigration reported.

28 August 2006

illegal immigration

Desalination important to providing potable
water to Bahamians, Minister Roberts says:


Bahamas Information Services -
Nassau, Bahamas:


NASSAU, The Bahamas – Minister of Works and Utilities the Hon. Bradley Roberts said recently that by using Reverse Osmosis, the Water and Sewerage Corporation is now able to deal with the one major problem that impacted the Bahamian environment: excluding salt from potentially potable water.

“With continuous improvement in water treatment technology today, we have another option, which is desalination, whereby through various processes, salt and other particles, are removed from seawater,” Minister Roberts said. “Desalination in the Bahamas today is usually provided by the specific process known as Reverse Osmosis, and by this means we can provide ourselves using our abundance of pristine seawater as a source. It is more costly than the natural options, because it is usually an energy intensive operation.

“In almost all our islands, we have had to start to make use of the desalination method in order to cater to the demands of our visitors and ourselves. Even slightly brackish water – ‘which is not in itself a threat to our health’ – is not now acceptable. We all want and demand high quality, pure water. ”Minister Roberts was addressing the Rotary Club of West Nassau at their luncheon meeting on the topic “The importance of clean water in the provision of piped water in the Bahamas.”

He said that, from a Bahamian perspective, provision of piped water as a utility operation, has been very much neglected, mainly because it was always easier to use a simple rainwater tank or shallow well, which would suffice for a household’s basic needs. This has now resulted in a proliferation of private wells, Minister Roberts said, which provides a supply; but raises the question on the quality of water.

“Our tourism business in these times demands high quality water supplies, and we ourselves have raised our standards so that only water that is regarded as “bottled water” quality is all that is acceptable for drinking,” he said. “If there is any major adverse incident, God forbid, like someone dying from drinking water in the Bahamas, no doubt this will have a rippling effect and is unlikely that we will stay in the tourism business for long.”

Minister Roberts said that through most of the 20th century, The Bahamas could only make use of water that was obtained from natural sources or rainfall collected below ground level overtime. This groundwater interfaces with sea water level and literally floats in “a delicate balance,” with groundwater quality varying from rainwater to fresh to brackish to seawater.

“If it was just brackish water that was available, we had to make do with that,” he said. “As far as treatment of this water was concerned, this was minimal and may or may not have included chlorination which is used to kill off any living organisms.” Minister Roberts said that the Water & Sewerage Corporation has brought more than one dozen Reverse Osmosis Plants into operation, supplying quality water on 10 of Bahamian Family Islands including New Providence. The other locations are Ragged Island; Bimini; Inagua; Great Exuma; South and Central Eleuthera; Moores Island; Abaco; San Salvador; and Staniel Cay, Black Point; and Farmer’s Cay, Exuma. “I am now in the process of bringing similar sources of supply to another four Islands, which would include Green Turtle Cay, Abaco; Acklins; Long Cay and Sweetings Cay, Grand Bahamas,” he said. Minister Roberts said that while reverse osmosis does remove micro-organisms and chemicals from water, that is not enough.

“The World Health Organization (WHO), whose policies we abide by, emphasizes the need to use chlorine because this has a residual effect and continues to disinfect,” he said. “It is a WHO requirement that we must chlorinate the water that goes into our distribution systems, so that there is a constant process of disinfection to prevent recontamination of the water.

“Bottled water is usually only treated by ozonation or ultraviolet and it is then up to the user to ensure it stays good. Sometimes, it does not.” “Many of you may not like the faintest trace of chlorine in the drinking water, but I’m afraid we must have it, according to the WHO,” he added. Minister Roberts said that, besides chlorinating the water, modern utility companies are also obliged to monitor the quality of the water in their piped water system. For every so many thousands of persons supplied, water quality must be tested in a laboratory a given number of prescribed times, every day.

“This is what the Water and Sewerage Corporation does – some 300 samples are taken every month and tested in New Providence and this requires some 6,500 separate analyses,” he said. “These tests are also carried out in the Family Islands but of course, the frequency is reduced for logistical reasons. The Public Analyst also tests the water on a similar frequency; so it is always quick to tell the Corporation, and other suppliers and private well users when the water fails the required tests.”

Providing piped potable water is not a simple task, Minister Roberts said. The procedures that are involved have developed over many years and no doubt they will continue to evolve into the future. “For this reason, we always need to keep abreast of current thinking, and technology,” Minister Roberts said. “Well-educated and trained staff will always be required in the water supply business and the current administration strongly acknowledges this.”

08/25/2006

health