NATIONAL NOTES

May 1999 Table of Contents

NATIONAL NOTES

Iacocca Presents Electric Bicycles: Lee Iacocca, president of E V Global Motors of California and former chairman of Chrysler, presented 50 electric bicycles to the Hon Frank Watson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, and Commissioner of Police B K Bonamy on 18th March. The bikes - five are already here and the other 45 are to arrive over the next few months - were donated by Mr Thomas T Bachmann, chairman of the Orbitex Management Limited group of funds, and will be used by officers in Bahamas Blue, the bicycle unit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, boosting its bicycle count to 100. Mr Bachmann, who donated six cars to the Police Force in 1997, said he is giving the E-bikes to help take the bite out of crime. Manufactured in Taiwan and distributed by Mr Iacocca's company, the mountain bike can be propelled by pedal or a 400-watt hub motor, and has a peak speed of 15 mph; it also has a 24-volt lead-acid battery with a 20-mile range. Its ignition is on the handlebars.

Unions Demonstrate: When Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and other members of parliament arrived to do the nation's business on 24th March, there were extensive demonstrations by several unions that reached a level unprecedented in recent years. Charles Rolle, president of the Bahamas Electricity Workers Union, was arrested and detained for an hour after breaking a police line. The issue at hand was privatisation, the minority sale of present government corporations to the foreign private sector and the compensation due to any workers laid off through the process. Following the jostling of the prime minister a few weeks ago, the police presence was increased and it was sad to see them in riot gear with billies (truncheons) to subdue some of the best paid workers outside of the private sector. Members of the BCPOU - the union of BaTelCo - went on a nationwide work to rule to support the demonstration. "My government ran on the issue of privatisation in the last election," said Prime Minister Ingraham, "and we won. We won big." To those outside of direct discussions between the government and the unions, it appears that whatever seems to have been agreed upon between them is often misconstrued by one party or the other.

National Address by Prime Minister: Prime Minister Ingraham addressed the nation on 31st March in a live TV and radio broadcast. He thanked the Royal Bahamas Police Force for their high level of professionalism and restraint during the recent union demonstrations. These demonstrations, he felt, were unwarranted in their intensity as each dispute was under negotiation at the time. The Prime Minister noted that the intention to privatise had been laid down in the 1992 FNM Manifesto and should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Privatisation was in the national interest and essential to the country's continued economic success. "We are privatising BaTelCo to ensure improved service and to guarantee a state-of-the-art telecomminications system befitting our status as a premier vacation destination and as a leading financial services centre. And, through privatisation, we will also expand Bahamian ownership of our economy." The Prime Minister then outlined various voluntary retirement and disengagement packages available to BaTelCo employees.

Carifta Swimming Championships: The Bahamas swimming team took second place in the 1999 Carifta Swimming Championships with a total of 27 gold medals, 16 silver and 14 bronze. Jeremy Knowles won 13 individual gold medals, one in every event he entered, while Chris Vythoulkas won eight gold, one silver and one bronze.

It May Be Pocket-Change to Some, but... The Central Bank of The Bahamas released the quarterly economic review for the period ending December 1998 and indicated that the national debt was $1.73 billion, $34.5 million more than the December 1997 figure.

Good Times Are Here Again: In an address on the Business Outlook for 1999 for the island of Grand Bahama on 14th April at the Bahamas Princess Resort, Grand Bahama, the Honourable C A Smith, Minister of Tourism, remarked on The Bahamas in general. "The Bahamas has the third highest Gross Domestic Product per capita of any independent nation in the region, behind the United States and Canada. We have the strongest financial rating of any independent nation in our region. Our unemployment rate at just under 9% is at its lowest level in 30 years and we are headed towards full employment. Even wages are up and two and three day work-weeks in the hospitality industry are symptoms of a bygone era... Much of this is because the state of tourism has never been healthier or its future brighter.

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