The Tribune

By INIGO ‘NAUGHTY’ ZENICAZELAYA

WHERE do I begin this week?

It’s a smorgasbord of materials to choose from.

One thing I do know is that gluttony is one of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ so I will lay off the “Dubai Trip,” no more servings for me.

However, there is still ample material to go around, and here’s what caught my eye this week, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

THE GOOD

Anyone who knows me knows how passionate my love for the game of basketball is.

So one can only imagine my shock and horror when I came across a voice note which had gone viral making the rounds claiming the Bahamas had withdrawn from the FIIBA Olympic tournament due to “lack of funding”.

After intense public outcries and harsh criticism, the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s interim president Eugene Horton released an updated statement – “Every time we travel, it costs us about $50-60,000,” Horton said. “We are in the process of trying to put things in place where we, as a federation, try to become self-sufficient. But with this window just around the corner, we have fallen short of our target goal.”

“So, hopefully, with everything going out there in social media that we are pulling out of the competition, we will have some corporate sponsors or business persons step up to assist us.”

Despite the rumours on social media that the Bahamas has pulled out of the competition, Horton refuted the allegations. He noted that they are willing until the end of the month to make a final decision on whether or not the trip will be on or off.

Well, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. While appearing on ‘Talking Heads’ on Kiss96 FM, director of communications for the OPM, Mr LaTrae Rahming, expressed disappointment in the entire scenario and ensured Bahamians that the Davis administration will intervene and get the Men’s National team to the Dominican Republic for the qualifiers.

THE BAD

The British Colonial Hilton’s decision to “indefinitely” close from February 15, 2022, and terminate up to 130 staff in the process, is most certainly bad.

Despite conflicting reports, a British Colonial Hilton executive has been vague on the reasons for the closure and associated terminations and did not explicitly state in yesterday’s meeting with the union whether the shutdown would be permanent or temporary.

The irony in all of this is that the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has offices in the Hilton. I wonder if MOT staff know they soon have to move?

THE UGLY

Yet another heinous, senseless, violent attack on a Bahamian woman caught on video and subsequently circulated to viral proportions.

Yes, we have a severe problem concerning violence against women in our society. It’s time we woke up as citizens and demanded change.

Women are prominent in Bahamian society, but they continue to be victims of the many forms of domestic violence in our communities.

It’s high time domestic violence is taken seriously in the Bahamas, with the proper legislation and laws to protect our Bahamian women and tourists alike.

I will leave you with an excerpt from the late Tupac Shakur classic - ‘Keep Ya Head Up’

“And since we all came from a woman

Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman

I wonder why we take from our women

Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?

Time to heal our women, be real to our women

And if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies

That will hate the ladies, that make the babies

And since a man can’t make one

He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one

So will the real men get up

I know you’re fed up, ladies, but keep your head up.”