Parliament of the Bahamas
The Parliament of The Bahamas is the bicameral national parliament of Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The parliament is made up by the Queen, an appointed Senate. It currently sits at Nassau, the national capital, the structure and procedures of the parliament are based on the Westminster system. Originally inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people, although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera, the Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. Bahamians achieved self-government in 1964 and full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations on July 10,1973, the Parliament as presently constituted was established by Chapter 5 of the Constitution of The Bahamas, which came into effect upon the countrys independence from the United Kingdom.
The House of Assembly is the lower chamber and it consists of 38 members, elected from individual constituencies for five-year terms. As under the Westminster system, the government may dissolve the parliament, the House of Assembly performs all major legislative functions. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party controlling the majority of the House of Assembly seats, the speaker of the House of Assembly is currently Dr. Kendal Major. The Senate consists of 16 members appointed by the Governor-General, the Senate is authorised by the Constitution to pass Bills in the same manner as passed by the House or it can make such amendments to the Bill should it consider it necessary. Those amendments will have to be approved by the House of Assembly, the Senate may even reject a Bill outrightly that had been passed by the House. She previously served as President of the Senate from 2002 to 2007, and succeeded Lynn Holowesko, Parliament is empowered by Article 52 of the Constitution to make laws for the peace and good government of The Bahamas.
Parliament maintains oversight of the Governments finances through the Public Accounts Committee, Parliament is the forum where public policy and matters of national importance are debated. Most of the laws passed by Parliament are for the modification or amendment of existing laws, Article 52 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to make laws by the passing of a bill. Most bills are introduced into Parliament by a Government minister, a bill must be passed by both the House of Assembly and Senate, and must be formally assented to by the Governor-General, before it becomes law. There are currently four main classifications of Bills, money, private member, a bill must pass through a series of stages in order to be passed by each chamber, with a vote taken at each stage. After the first reading, the Speaker orders the bill to be printed, it is numbered, circulated to members of Parliament. At the second reading, the principle of the bill is debated, at the committal stage, the entire House of Assembly sits as a Committee of the Whole House, with the Speaker leaving the chair and the Deputy Speaker presiding as Chairperson
The Bahamas
The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an archipelagic state within the Lucayan Archipelago. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence, the designation of the Bahamas can refer either to the country or to the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands. As stated in the mandate/manifesto of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Bahamas is the site of Columbus first landfall in the New World in 1492. At that time, the islands were inhabited by the Lucayan, although the Spanish never colonised the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera, the Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas, they brought their slaves with them, Africans constituted the majority of the population from this period.
Slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834, Today the descendants of slaves and free Africans make up nearly 90% of the population, issues related to the slavery years are part of society. The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, in terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas, with an economy based on tourism and finance. The name Bahamas is derived from either the Taino ba ha ma, alternatively, it may originate from Guanahani, a local name of unclear meaning. In English, the Bahamas is one of two countries whose self-standing short name begins with the word the, along with The Gambia. Taino people moved into the uninhabited southern Bahamas from Hispaniola and Cuba around the 11th century and they came to be known as the Lucayan people. An estimated 30,000 Lucayan inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus arrival in 1492, Columbuss first landfall in the New World was on an island he named San Salvador.
Some researchers believe this site to be present-day San Salvador Island, an alternative theory holds that Columbus landed to the southeast on Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 by National Geographic writer and editor Joseph Judge, based on Columbuss log. Evidence in support of this remains inconclusive, on the landfall island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayan and exchanged goods with them. The Spanish forced much of the Lucayan population to Hispaniola for use as forced labour, the slaves suffered from harsh conditions and most died from contracting diseases to which they had no immunity, half of the Taino died from smallpox alone. The population of the Bahamas was severely diminished, in 1648, the Eleutherian Adventurers, led by William Sayle, migrated from Bermuda. These English Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on an island which they named Eleuthera—the name derives from the Greek word for freedom and they settled New Providence, naming it Sayles Island after one of their leaders.
To survive, the settlers salvaged goods from wrecks, in 1670 King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in North America
Inter-Parliamentary Union
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is a global inter-parliamentary institution established in 1889 by Frédéric Passy and William Randal Cremer. It was the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations, the organization was for individual parliamentarians, but has since transformed into an international organization of the parliaments of sovereign states. The national parliaments of 171 countries are members of the IPU, the IPU has permanent observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. The IPU played an important part in setting up the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, over time, its mission has evolved towards the promotion of democracy and inter-parliamentary dialogue. The Liberal International considers this as an option, the headquarters of the union have been moved several times since its inception. The decision to admit or readmit a Parliament shall be taken by the Governing Council, associate Members The participating parliamentary assemblies other than national parliaments are the following, The organs of the Inter-Parliamentary Union are, the Assembly, meets twice a year.
The Assembly shall be composed of parliamentarians designated as delegates by the Members of the Union, no one delegate may record more than ten votes. The Governing Council shall normally hold two sessions a year, the Governing Council shall be composed of three representatives from each Member of the Union. The term of office of a member of the Governing Council shall last from one Assembly to the next, the Governing Council shall elect the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for a period of three years. It elects the members of the Executive Committee and appoints the Secretary General of the Union, the fifteen elected seats will be assigned to the geopolitical groups. Only parliamentarians from States where women have both the right to vote and the right to stand for election are eligible to the Executive Committee, the Executive Committee shall be the administrative organ of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Secretariat of the Union comprises the totality of the staff of the organisation under the direction of the Secretary General of the Union, the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments shall be a consultative body of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
As of March 2014, the Secretary General of IPU is Mr. Martin Chungong and he is the first African to hold the post in the IPUs 125-year history. He took over from Mr. Anders B, who had been in the post since 1998 until his retirement in June 2014. Standing Committee on democracy and human rights, President, Mr. O. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, African Group. Committee on human rights of parliamentarians, as the first Filipino and Asian to head it, she ran unopposed and takes over from Uruguays Monica Xavier. The IPU Assembly is the statutory body that expresses the views of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on political issues. Any proposal to amend the Statutes shall be submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Union at least three months before the meeting of the Assembly, the Secretariat will immediately communicate all such proposals to the Members of the Union
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is related to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, cronyism, parochialism, influence peddling, Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, though is not restricted to these activities. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents, the activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, some political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another, in some cases, government officials have broad or ill-defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually, a state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy, literally meaning rule by thieves.
Some forms of corruption – now called institutional corruption – are distinguished from bribery, a similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution. In politics, corruption undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes and it violates a basic principle of republicanism regarding the centrality of civic virtue. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government if procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, Corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance. Recent evidence suggests that variation in the levels of corruption amongst high-income democracies can vary depending on the level of accountability of decision-makers. Evidence from fragile states shows that corruption and bribery can adversely impact trust in institutions, although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting bureaucracy, the availability of bribes can induce officials to contrive new rules and delays.
Openly removing costly and lengthy regulations are better than allowing them to be bypassed by using bribes. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from competition. Corruption generates economic distortion in the sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes. Officials may increase the complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave the way for such dealings. In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigerias leaders between 1960 and 1999, University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers estimated that from 1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 Sub-Saharan countries totaled $187bn, exceeding those nations external debts. In the case of Africa, one of the factors for this behavior was political instability, and this encouraged officials to stash their wealth abroad, out of reach of any future expropriation. In contrast, Asian administrations such as Suhartos New Order often took a cut on business transactions or provided conditions for development, through investment and order
First-past-the-post voting
First-past-the-post voting method is one of several plurality voting methods. It is a common, but not universal, feature of voting methods with single-member electoral divisions, the method is widely used in the United Kingdom, United States and most of their current and former colonies and protectorates, and a few other countries. There is some confusion between highest vote, majority vote and plurality voting methods, all three use a first-past-the-post voting method, but there are subtle differences in the method of execution. First-past-the-post voting is used in two-round systems and some exhaustive ballots. First-past-the-post voting methods can be used for single- and multiple-member electoral divisions, in a single-member election, the candidate with the highest number – not necessarily a majority – of votes is elected. The two-round voting method uses a first-past-the-post voting method in each of the two rounds, the first round determines which two candidates will progress to the second, final-round ballot.
In a multiple-member, first-past-the-post ballot, the first number of candidates – in order of highest vote, if there are six vacancies, the first six candidates with the highest vote are elected. The Electoral Reform Society is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom which advocates abolishing the first-past-the-post method for all national and local elections. It argues FPTP is bad for voters, bad for government and it is the oldest organisation concerned with electoral methods in the world. States other than Maine and Nebraska use a form of simple plurality, first-past-the-post voting. Under a first-past-the-post voting method the highest polling candidate is elected, in this real-life example, Tony Tan obtained a greater number than the other candidates, and so was declared the winner, even though majority of voters did not vote for him. It is more likely that a party will hold a majority of legislative seats. In the United Kingdom,18 out of 23 general elections since 1922 have produced a single-party majority government.
For example, the 2005 United Kingdom general election results in Great Britain are as follows, It can be seen that Labour took a majority of seats, 57%, the largest two parties took 69% of votes and 88% of seats. Meanwhile, the smaller Liberal Democrat party took more than a fifth of votes, another example would be the UK General Election held on 7 May 2015, the Conservatives took 51% of the seats with only 37% of the vote. It should be noted that the Liberal Democrats suffered under first-past-the-post, the benefits of FPTP are that its concept is very easy to understand, and ballots can be easily counted and processed. Alternative methods such as rank-based voting require far more work or processing power to tabulate results than a single choice, supporters of FPTP argue that it is the electoral method providing the best governance. It trades fairness in representation for more responsible government and its tendency to produce majority rule allows the government to pursue a consistent strategy for its term in office and to make decisions that may be both correct and unpopular
Perry Christie
Perry Gladstone Christie, PC, MP, is a Bahamian politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Bahamas since May 2012, previously he was Prime Minister from 2002 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Bahamian elected parliamentarian, representing the Centreville constituency since 1977 and he is a former athlete. His Progressive Liberal Party is the party and the oldest Bahamian political party. Christie was sworn into office on 8 May 2012, christie’s athletic skills developed as a membS at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Kingston in 1962, when he won a bronze medal in the triple jump. Christie was a student at the Eastern SeniorDFSF School in New Providence, the University Tutorial College, Inner Temple in London, Christie is believed to have been the youngest Bahamian ever appointed to the Senate. Named as a Senator by Prime Minister Lynden Pindling in November 1974, in January 1977 he was appointed chairman of the Gaming Board, which regulates casinos in The Bahamas. During the June 1982 general election, he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Centreville, and was again appointed to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet.
A dynamic Minister, Christie moved tourism in The Bahamas to new heights, in 1984, however, he was dismissed from the Cabinet, and during the 1987 general election ran as an independent candidate. He retained his seat in the Centreville constituency, three years – in March 1990 – Christie returned to the fold of the Progressive Liberal Party, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Industry by the Prime Minister. In January 1993, following the PLP’s defeat in the August 1992 general election, Christie thus succeeded Lynden Pindling, who had led the PLP since 1956. After the new FNM government was sworn in, Christie was sworn in as leader of the Official Opposition. In November 2009, Christie was overwhelmingly elected, and returned as Leader of the PLP at its Annual General Convention, Christie was re-elected as Prime Minister of the Bahamas on 7 May 2012. Christie ran his campaign on reducing crime and The Bahamas has seen an increase in murders since his inauguration. Christie has brought programmes like Urban Renewal, Christie introduced Value Added Tax at a rate of 7. 5%.
The money raised from VAT was slated to pay off National Debt, no Freedom of Information Act has even been implemented under his government, although while in opposition he pushed for it. On 27 February,2017 Christie flipped the bird in front of a crowd at Fox Hill. Under Perry Christies current administration, many new initiatives are underway, PMH Critical Care Block - the Princess Margaret Hospital was expanded under the previous administration the building was open under Perry Christies leadership. To date the facility is not in full use despite being ready since 2013
Reality television
It differs from documentary television in that the focus tends to be on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment rather than educating viewers. The genre has various standard tropes, including confessionals used by cast members to express their thoughts, an early example of the genre was the 1991 Dutch series Nummer 28, which was the first show to bring together strangers and record their interactions. It exploded as a phenomenon in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor, Idols. These shows and a number of others became global franchises, spawning local versions in dozens of countries, Reality television as a whole has become a fixture of television programming. There are grey areas around what is classified as reality television, Reality television has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Much of the criticism has centered on the use of the word reality, Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are almost as old as the television medium itself.
Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s, queen for a Day was an early example of reality-based television. The 1946 television game show Cash and Carry sometimes featured contestants performing stunts, debuting in 1948, Allen Funts hidden camera show Candid Camera broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. In 1948, talent search shows Ted Macks Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts featured amateur competitors, in the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences involved contestants in wacky competitions and practical jokes. Confession was a show which aired from June 1958 to January 1959. The radio series Nightwatch tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, the series You Asked for It incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers. First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary Seven Up, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life.
Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the period, titled the Up Series, episodes include 7 Plus Seven,21 Up. The program was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot, however, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities. The first reality show in the modern sense may have been the series The American Sportsman, Another precursor may be considered Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom which aired from 1963 through 1988. This show featured zoologist Marlin Perkins traveling across the globe and illustrating the variety of animal life on the planet. Though mostly a travelogue, it was popular in syndication and new episodes were produced through the eighties. The 12-part 1973 PBS series An American Family showed a nuclear family going through a divorce, unlike many reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style
Free National Movement
The Free National Movement is a liberal political party in The Bahamas formed in the 1970s, led by Cecil Wallace Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Dr. Hubert Minnis and his deputy is Peter Turnquest and it is the largest opposition party in the Bahamas by number of seats in the Legislature. The FNM, led at the time by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, the Progressives won 29 of the seats in the legislature and thus the government, compared to the FNMs 9. Ingraham subsequently resigned, both as party leader as well as the Member of Parliament for North Abaco, the FNM was established at Jimmy Shepherd’s house on Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill in 1971. The Free-PLP were a group of eight MPs from the governing Progressive Liberal Party. Following meetings held at Spring Hill Farms, the FNM officially became a party in October 1971. The UBP partys leadership was predominantly white while blacks made up most of the citizenry, once out of power, its leaders decided that the partys time was at an end and they looked to the Free-PLP to form a new party that would follow a conservative party line.
The fusion was called the Free National Movement, the party grew in part by uniting independent black voters and the old UBP voter base. However, these were heady days for the governing PLP, who led the country to independence in 1973, in 1990, Hubert Ingraham took over the leadership of the party after the death of Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield. The FNM attacked the governing PLP on corruption charges and published a Manifesto, in the General Election of 1992, the FNM defeated its rival, the PLP, by wide margins, winning 32 of the 49 seats. The FNM Government privatized the government-owned hotels, which had fallen into decline since nationalization, private radio stations were allowed to operate, ending the governments broadcast monopoly. The FNM introduced local government and encouraged inward investment to grow the economy, the elections of 1997 saw the FNM re-elected in a landslide, with 35 of the 40 seats in a reduced House. After Ingraham vowed not to seek a third term in office, The party lost the 2002 elections, many voters, including FNM supporters felt that Turnquest was much weaker than Perry Christie, leader of the Progressive Liberal Party.
At the FNMs party convention the following the elections of 2002. The FNM went on to control of the House of Assembly in the elections of 2007. The FNM lost government to the Progressive Liberal Party once again in the 2012 general elections, outgoing Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced his retirement from politics following the defeat. He had served in Parliament for 35 years, winning seven times. Ingraham told supporters, I gave it the best I could and we had no indication from the general public they would go that way
Governor-General of the Bahamas
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is the viceregal representative of the Bahamian monarch. As the Queen cannot reside in all of her realms, she appoints representatives to carry out her duties as Queen of the Bahamas, governors-General serve their term as such at Her Majestys pleasure, but usually end their term within five years. They are responsible for appointing the Prime Minister as well as other government Ministers after consultations with the Prime Minister, government House in Nassau is the official residence of governors-general. The current Governor-General is Dame Marguerite Pindling, List of governors of the Bahamas List of Prime Ministers of the Bahamas Georgetown University
Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith was an American model and television personality. Smith first gained popularity in Playboy, winning the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year and she modeled for fashion companies including Guess, H&M, and Lane Bryant. Smith dropped out of school and was married three years in 1985. Her highly publicized marriage to J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she married the octogenarian mainly for his money. Following Marshalls death, Smith began a legal battle over a share of his estate. Her case, Marshall v. Marshall, reached the U. S. Supreme Court on a question of federal jurisdiction, Smith died on February 8,2007, in a Hollywood, hotel room as a result of an overdose of prescription drugs. Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston and raised in Mexia, Smith was the daughter of Donald Eugene Hogan and Virgie Mae Arthur and she had five half siblings, Donna Hogan, David Tacker Jr. Donnie Hogan, Amy Hogan, and Donald Hart. Smith was raised by her mother and aunt, Virgie subsequently married Donald R.
Hart in 1971. After Virgie married Donald, Smith changed her name from Vickie Hogan to Nikki Hart, Smith attended Durkee Elementary School and Aldine Senior High School in Houston. When she was in the grade, she was sent to live with her mothers younger sister, Kay Beall, in Mexia. At Mexia High School, Smith failed her freshman year and dropped out of school during her sophomore year. While working at Jims Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith, who was a cook at the restaurant, in 1992, Smith appeared on the March cover of Playboy magazine, with her name given as Vickie Smith. She appeared as the Playmate of the Month for the May 1992 issue, Smith next secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in a Guess jeans ad campaign featuring a series of sultry black-and-white photographs. During the Guess campaign Smith changed her name to Anna Nicole Smith, Guess photographers noticed Smith bore a striking resemblance to bombshell Jayne Mansfield and showcased her in several Mansfield-inspired photo sessions.
In 1993 before Christmas, she modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M and this led to her being pictured on large billboards in Sweden and Norway. A photograph of Smith was used by New York magazine on the cover of its August 22,1994, in the photo she appears squatting in a short skirt with cowboy boots as she eats chips. In October 1994, her lawyer T. Patrick Freydl initiated a $5 million lawsuit against the magazine claiming unauthorized use of her photo, and that the article damaged her reputation. Her lawyer stated Smith was under the impression that she was being photographed to embody the all-American girl look, and he further stated the photo the magazine used was taken during a break just for fun
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