Strictly Speaking With Earl Thompson - October 15 2026

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is Guardian Radio, your station for up to the minute news and intelligent, interactive and engaging conversations. 96.9 FM. The views and opinions of the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Guardian Radio. When the issues matter, when the questions need answers. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Strictly Speaking with Earl Thompson [00:00:32] Speaker C: Strictly Speaking with Earl Thompson is brought to you by Bella Signature Sweets. [00:00:44] Speaker B: If I could live my life far into yesterday I'll talk a bit of great Pompeii. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Good afternoon, Bahamas. Today is Thursday. It's October 15th. We're on Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM. And this is Strictly Speaking, but yes, Earl Thompson. Hey, but don't forget, your football weekend of the year starts right here on Guardian Radio and the Guardian Media Group score tickets to the big game. That's the New England Patriots at the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, November 1st at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. When they complete package round trip airfare, hotel accommodations, car rental and yes, tickets for you and a friend to enjoy the big game. Fill out the entry form in today's paper and drop it in the box at the Nassau Guardian. Follow us on all social media platforms and check the Nassau Guardian for contest details. Time running out, people. Get your stuff in. Today is a different kind of show. It's education, opportunity, future for our children. My guest today is, and I hope I'm terrible with names, so forgive me by Chanel Sands, public engagement specialist from the US Embassy here in Nassau. And she comes with big news for every parent for grade 11, grade 12 students at BTVI. Every UB student thinking what's next after graduation. This Saturday, U.S. embassy presents the 6th annual Education USA the Bahamas Fall University Fair. And this is the biggest one to come yet. It's going to be at Bahama and it's free. Last time I think they attracted, if I remember correctly, well over 1800 students from all over the from Nassau, Grand Bahama, Elu, Trabaco. So they showed up. The parents were eager to learn. This year is expected even to be bigger. Representatives from colleges accredited colleges across the United States. They'd be flying in to meet Bahamian students face to face. And listen, EducationUSA is not a recruiter. It's a US Department of State network over 400 advising centers in 170 countries giving accurate, free, unbiased info about studying in the US Admissions scholarship, student visas. If you have a child in grade 12, you have a niece who wants to study nursing, engineering, computer science. I'm just throwing these disciplines out. This is for you. This fair is for you. Today, Janelle will tell us who is coming, what universities, what scholarships, how to get student visas, how Bahamians can get full or partial scholarships, and everything else you need to know at a college fair. Janelle Sands, welcome to. Strictly speaking, how are you today? [00:03:38] Speaker D: Thank you so much for having me. I'm great. [00:03:40] Speaker B: Am I saying your first name correct? [00:03:43] Speaker D: Yes, you are. It's Chanel. [00:03:44] Speaker B: Oh, Chanel. Okay. How are you? So how's everything going? [00:03:49] Speaker D: It's going well. Can't complain. We're just really in preparation mode and getting ready for the fair, and we're really excited for all the opportunities that we're going to be showcasing towards Bahamian students. [00:04:02] Speaker B: So give us some details. The time, the start, everything. Give us the details. [00:04:09] Speaker D: Okay, sure. So we have a number of things happening this weekend. So starting tomorrow, we actually have our virtual college fair. So our virtual College fair is for all Family island students. In Garrett's past, we always got the complaint. There's never anything for the Family island students. And so this year, we worked really hard to fix that. We wanted to have an opportunity where our Family island students could benefit from hearing from accredited colleges and universities. And so tomorrow, starting at 9, ending at 12pm we actually will have our college fair for Family island students. It's on Zoom. And so if people want to register, they can log onto the embassy's Facebook page and also EducationUSA the Bahamas page to find the link so that they can go ahead and register. Once they've registered, they would receive the link where they can join in and to participate in that fair. [00:05:06] Speaker B: Tell us again. [00:05:06] Speaker D: That's happening on Friday. [00:05:08] Speaker B: Tell us again Friday. Go ahead. [00:05:10] Speaker D: Tomorrow. Yes, it's tomorrow at 9am for all family island students. So this is for Family island students only. We don't want no Grand Bahama and Nassau students on there. This is just for Family island students. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Okay. [00:05:22] Speaker D: And so we want you to join on at 9am so we need you to go onto the embassy's Facebook page and also to Education usa, the Bahamas Facebook page. All the flyers are there, the QR codes are there where you can scan, and it can carry you to the link to register. There also is the physical link there that you can click on that you can also carry you directly to our registration page, and you can then fill out the information from there. And to register, once you're registered, you'll receive the information as to how you can log into the virtual fair. [00:05:54] Speaker E: Cool. [00:05:54] Speaker B: Okay. And then Saturday. [00:05:56] Speaker D: So on Saturday, we're actually. So a Slight correction. So we're at Atlantis. [00:06:01] Speaker B: Oh. [00:06:02] Speaker D: We have a university fair plan for all students in Nassau. And when we say students, I want people to understand this is not just high school students. We have a lot of adult learners who want to pursue a bachelor's, a master's degree, even a PhD. This is for you, if you're interested. We want you to come out. We want you to see the options that we have available. A lot of these institutions have online programs that you can register for, so you can actually study in the US In Nassau. [00:06:34] Speaker F: That's possible. [00:06:35] Speaker D: And so we want you to come and to hear about these options, to learn about these options. And like I said, so we're looking for students from 10th to 12th grade. You know, starting in 12th grade. If you haven't figured it out, that's fine. But we want to start as early as possible. And it's in good practice for you to start looking at your options from grade 10 so that you get familiar with the US education system and start to figure out what that looks like. So we want students from grades 10 to 12, and like I said, those adult learners. So it's going to be at Atlantis in the Grand Ballroom, section D. We want you to come on down. We have registration open for that online as well. Like I said, the links are on the embassy's page and on usa, the Bahamas Facebook page where you can find it and you can register. And that fair starts at 10am and it ends at 4pm now, the great thing about our fairs is that we have time slots throughout the day. [00:07:34] Speaker B: Okay. [00:07:35] Speaker D: So if you, you know, say, I'm not a morning person, I don't want to do that, that's fine. We have a session in the afternoon that you can tune into that you can come on down for. So once you click on the registration link, they give you options for tickets that you could apply for. So it could be ones in the morning, or if you want to do an afternoon session, that's fine. And I'd also like to add, for all of our fairs, we also are going to have a breakout session. So this breakout session is going to focus on financing your studies. You know, it's one thing to talk about the options that are available, but a lot of things people miss is how is it going to be paid for? And so for that session, we're going to talk about what scholarship opportunities are available out there, what, how you can plan for college, how parents can go about planning for it, what types of funding are available, whether that be through a Loan, whether that be through heritage funds. We're going to discuss all of that and break it down and to really assist our students and parents to figure out how to make it most affordable for them. And then on Sunday we head to Grand Bahama. We're really excited. So this is the first time we've been able to host a fair in Grand Bahama. We had it all planned out in 2019 and. Well, we know what happened there. [00:08:47] Speaker B: Yes. [00:08:47] Speaker D: And so we're. Yes. And so we're really excited that we're able to host this fair in Grand Bahama. So we're going to be at the Bishop Michael Eldon School auditorium. [00:08:58] Speaker E: Okay. [00:08:59] Speaker D: And that fair will start at 11:30 and like I said, it has sessions. So I understand if people have to go to church in the morning, we're not saying not to go to church. We're saying once church is done, come on down and join us there at the fair. And again, all the information is there for students to register on our social media pages. And we will also have that same session available for Grand Bayman students on financing your studies. It's available for the Family island students tomorrow at 10:30 as well. So we have a variety of options available. And like I said, we're really excited because we want to really showcase the variety of the US Education system and to show Bahamians that there's a lot of ways to do this. Whether it's through a community college, whether it's through a four year institution, whether you want to do a two plus two program, whatever it is, there's a lot of options available and we want to help students figure that out. [00:09:54] Speaker B: How many universities are you expecting to be here? I mean, are all coming here or some going to be virtual or all are going to be in town? [00:10:02] Speaker D: So all of them will be in town. So we have 21 colleges and universities joining us. And along with them also our local institutions with BTVI and University of the Bahamas. Bahamas. We don't want to leave them out. The Life of Key foundation will be joining us as well with the booth. As you know, they're one of the largest scholarship funders in country. So they'll be talking about their options that they have available for scholarship funding. And then our Education USA advisor, her name is Brianne Marshall, she's going to have a booth there and she's going to be talking to students about the Education USA Center. So we have an Education USA Center. We have a center that is open Monday through Saturday. It is free of charge to students. We do not charge for advice. Students can pop up and pop into the center on Monday through Thursday from 4 to 7 and on Saturdays from 10 to 1 to visit with Brianne to get, like I said, free information about US Colleges and universities. We also hold monthly sessions and all of that stuff. So she'll have a table there talking about the center and exactly what it is that she does. And so, like I said, we're really excited. It's free. You don't have to pay. It's free. And so we invite students from across the Bahamas and parents to join us and to come to see what we have to offer. [00:11:21] Speaker B: Can you tell us some of the schools are coming? Any HBCU schools? [00:11:26] Speaker D: So there are, let me just get my, my list. We have, we have a good bit of Florida schools there. [00:11:33] Speaker B: I was going to say there are [00:11:34] Speaker D: some Florida, there's some Florida school. And then we also have some institutions from across the United States. So we have Milliken University, Georgia State University. Shout out to Ambassador Walker. That's his home state, Georgia. [00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah, he's a bulldog. [00:11:56] Speaker D: He's a bulldog. Yes, yes, yes, he's a bulldog. We have Barry University, University of Tampa, Fox Valley Technical College, Ball State University, Old Dominion University, Montclair State University, Seattle Colleges. So the great thing about Seattle Colleges is that they're not only representing one, but they're representing three institutions in Seattle. We also have Caldwell University, East Carolina University, University of Central Arkansas, East Tennessee State University, University of Connecticut, Yupon, Nova Southeastern University, College of Central Florida, University of Wisconsin, Madison and a few more. So we, we, we have a great list available. [00:12:41] Speaker B: That's a great cross section. [00:12:42] Speaker D: Yes, yes, yes. And so again, showcasing the beauty of the US Higher education system, right. That you have from your community college to your technical institution to your large four year institution like a Yupon, showcasing that there's a lot of options out there that Bahamian students can choose from. [00:13:01] Speaker B: Back to memories. To me, when my kids were going up to school, some of the names of recruiting I like Caldwell University. That's in, am I correct? That's in New York, right? [00:13:11] Speaker D: I believe so, yes. [00:13:12] Speaker B: Let me, let me ask you the elephant in the room here. Because a number of kids last year had a lot of anxiety in time for applying for the US Student visa. And there are some new US Immigration policies. Parents hearing all kind of stories. Will the embassy have a visa officer there to help explain to the parents, the kids what the procedures are, what you have to go through? Will you have somebody like that there to help people get through that, a [00:13:40] Speaker D: consular team will not be there. However, we will briefly cover the steps for applying for a US Visa. It is pretty simple. [00:13:49] Speaker B: Okay? [00:13:49] Speaker D: All of the information is. And I know it can be intimidating for some folks, but it's a very simple process. All of the information is on the embassy's website as how students can apply. And once they follow the steps, it's a pretty smooth process. And so, you know, it's nothing for our students to be afraid of. You know, it's a process that you have to go through in order to get to US Colleges and universities. And like I said, it's very straightforward. And our officers, they are very accommodating to students. They make sure that they can accommodate students for appointments as needed. Students can actually even apply for a visa as early as, I believe it's a year out for their student visa. And so, again, the process is very simple and we will briefly cover it, but our focus tomorrow would really be on financing the studies and how that operates. [00:14:50] Speaker B: You did mention about the help desk. Is that in person or virtual? Because how can Family island students access that for good advice? [00:15:00] Speaker D: Yeah, so, no, that's our Education USA advisor. She'll have a virtual booth as well. She'll be available to talk about options and so forth and any questions that students have. So the same thing that the students in New Providence and Grand Bahama getting our Family island students are getting as well. And that's the beauty of it. [00:15:21] Speaker G: Right? [00:15:21] Speaker D: Like I said, we wanted to make sure that we really tried to carve something out of out for them with us being an archipelag nation, just making sure that we could reach as much of our students as we possibly can. [00:15:33] Speaker B: Okay, let me. I try to be. Let me ask this question. I know you've been doing this for six years now. You know, what. What are you gaining from this? What is the purpose? Is it. Is it just as a program that you offer around the world that you want to see, that the places where you have embassies, people can benefit? Is that the main purpose? [00:15:56] Speaker D: So I'm happy you said that, so I'm happy you brought it up. Because guess what? We have Education USA centers around the world. There's over 400 of them around the world. So Bahamas is not unique in this. We have Education USA centers around the world that specifically focus on just providing these opportunities for students and providing free and comprehensive information for students through our EducationUSA 5 Steps to Study process. So this program was created by the U.S. department of State to make sure that students around the world have access to comprehensive and accurate information about how they can apply and succeed in getting into US Colleges and universities. So we're not the only ones that do this. You have centers worldwide throughout the region. You have Education USA centers in the Caribbean. And actually, this fair is a part of a Caribbean circuit. So following after our fair, there's going to be these reps. They move on to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. So it's a part of a regional circuit. And so it's not only just about us, but it's also a great opportunity for them to see what the Caribbean has to offer. And so all of our advisors are working really hard in the Caribbean to have a good showing. And so we're all really excited. And the Bahamas is coming out the gate first. And so we really want to make a good impression and to have our reps excited for the rest of the tour. And so in order to do that, we need our students and parents to show up. And so we're looking forward to seeing everyone there. [00:17:33] Speaker B: You know, bohemians, let me just don't say behemoths. A lot of times kids, when getting ready to go to school, a lot of them are undecided on what day on study. And so they see a lot of people going to study accounting, some people are going to study medicine and all that. Are there any particular fields of interest that the embassy would be encouraging or the universities coming to encourage kids to get into like, say, AI or anything else like that? So when they, you know, they can. We don't have. We don't have an overflow of 1 million accountants where we could have a spread out of different professionals coming back home to help build the Bahamas. Are there any particular fields of study that you would be encouraging kids to look at at this fair or just wide open? [00:18:16] Speaker D: It's wide open. And you know, the landscape is ever changing. Right. I remember when I came back from College, gosh, in 2008, I remember. [00:18:26] Speaker B: I won't tell you when I came back then, [00:18:31] Speaker D: I studied international studies and commerce. And I remember a lot of people saying, what are you gonna do with that? And I'm like, there's so much options. You could work at Foreign Affairs. You could do so many things. And like, people didn't understand, like a lot of people, when I talked to them, they were like, what. [00:18:46] Speaker G: What it. [00:18:47] Speaker D: That you did? And so, you know, I just use that as an example to say the landscape is ever changing, it's ever evolving. And so what I would encourage a student to do is of course, pursue your passion, right, Whatever. You have to love what you do, you have to like what you do, you have to enjoy it. So when you're deciding a career or a field of study, you know, make sure it's something that you really enjoy doing, that you have some interest in. Of course, take into account the considerability of. Is this something that I can do at home? Is this something that can be a benefit to the country? And you know, if it is something that we haven't figured out what to do with yet, that's okay because like I said, the landscape is ever changing, it's evolving. You can come back home and be a trendsetter in your field. You can introduce something new to the Bahamas that maybe not be here. So we don't want to limit anybody. We want our students to feel free to come in if they have a passion about a wide range of things. We have a lot of options in the room available. What I would encourage our students to do though is go on our website page, look at the options of the universities that are available and visit their websites. When you go to talk to these reps, make sure you're having a well rounded and informed conversation. So when I say that, what does that mean? If this school doesn't focus on marine biology and that's what you want to study, well, make sure you know that ahead of time. When you go, you say, okay, there's these six institutions here that I know have a great marine biology program. I'm going to go talk to them about that. So, so as in, you know, it's a little bit of homework for students too, right? [00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:26] Speaker D: So make sure you're going on, you're looking at that list and you're doing your research as well. You, you know what's available. You make sure you know who you want to talk to, you're asking them informed questions about their fees, what they have to offer, student life, their international community. All these things are important in terms of you having a successful study while you're in the United States. And, and it's good to, to ask, you know, these questions while you have these representatives in country. [00:20:53] Speaker B: So you have, you have a few more minutes to stay with me and are you able to take a call or two? [00:20:59] Speaker D: Yeah, sure. [00:20:59] Speaker B: Okay, so we're gonna take a quick break and we come back, we'll take a call. You listening to Strictly Speaking here on Guardian Radio, Earl Thompson with my special guest, Chanel Sands. We'll be right back. And Clarence Bain. Sir. Henry Taylor, Sir. Kendall Isaac, stool. I'll find Sir Roland Simonet, the first Bahamian Premiere Sister Cheryl Cash and they are running Managing your investments just got easier with RF bank and Trust. 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This and every Monday night during the NFL season. A sure win reminds you to play responsibly. This is Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM. Fresh news, smart talk all day. [00:25:05] Speaker F: Yeah, man. [00:25:05] Speaker B: And welcome back to Strictly Speaking here on Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM. I'm your host, Earl Thompson. My guest is Chanel Sands, the public engagement specialist from the US Embassy. As we talk about the. Almost lost my train of thought just now. As we talk about the six. Oh, my goodness, Father in heaven, how am I forgetting my train of thought right now? Talking to you, Chanel, you're Talking about the 6th annual Education USA, the Bahamas Fall university fair here is going to be at Atlantis. Are you still with me, miss? [00:25:40] Speaker D: Dad, I'm right here. [00:25:42] Speaker B: Okay, let's go straight. I just was just thinking all kind of things just now wanting to ask you and this just. But let's go straight to the phone lines. Welcome to Strictly speaking. [00:25:52] Speaker G: Hey, and I love these talkers. I love these top excuse, big buddy. [00:25:56] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:25:58] Speaker G: Anyway, I got a story for you, okay. Almost 20 years ago, my oldest daughter came back from school with a master's degree in information security. [00:26:10] Speaker B: Okay? [00:26:11] Speaker G: Before she left, you know, a whole lot of folks were asking, what's that? Yeah, why you wonder that? You know? You know, but she came back home, right? And she taught at the, at the three top schools in this country. And with each, she had the right, she had the right. The curriculum. Every time she had to teach, okay, Nothing was prepared, okay? Okay. No one. No, no. It was like nobody had any interest. [00:26:52] Speaker B: Okay? [00:26:53] Speaker G: So she goes back to say. She say, daddy, I tired this. And she goes back to teach primary school, ends up at qc. And she bring, you know, she can't kick the bug so she brings in. In Google suites, okay? You know, you know, you know, it's a Google classroom program. [00:27:14] Speaker B: I'm listening. [00:27:16] Speaker G: And she tries to get the most of the staff on board, you know, just coming. You all got to be prepared, you know, hardly anybody took interest. Then Covid struck now, God bless them, because the platform she had put in place allowed. Allowed the school to go through Covid without skipping a beat. And the. You know, and the other rest of the school had to like piggyback. Okay, okay. Now I said yes, if we have a national development plan, like we say, the Ministry of Education, along with the Minister of finance and all our cabinet ministers, they should know what we need right now, if they have a plan. Yes, but each, each year we have these kids coming out of this, coming out of this, this hamster wheel and they're coming out of this hamster wheel with no expectations. Now there are parents who have planned for their kids and they know where their kids going, but the majority of our children, they have no place to go. I mean, you know, understood it's busboys or waitresses or security guards, but the component that we need to build this country that is linked to folks achieving a middle class status in this country, it is not in place. And that's our biggest problem in terms of going ahead. You know, but I, you know, I, I appreciate you understand on this topic that, you know, I hope, I, I hope even the Prime Minister is listening. [00:29:27] Speaker B: You just might be. Thanks for the call. Thanks for the call. Ms. Sands, I know you spoke about, if students are coming and they get the list of schools out of theirs, they should do a little research to make sure that they know that if they want to do marine biology, don't go to talk to schools that are offering this program. What should parents and students bring on Saturday to make the best use of the fair? Do they need to bring transcripts, SAT scores, a list of questions? How should they dress? How should they prepare? How should they pitch themselves to the university reps? [00:30:05] Speaker D: That's a great question. So of course we want students to be comfortable, right? So wearing casual attire is perfectly fine. It is on a Saturday. And so, you know, we wouldn't want to expect to see anybody formally dressed. What I, what I would say is it's good to have a packet, right? If you have some sort of packet available that provides some of your transcripts, your information that's always useful. If you don't have it readily printed and available, you know, make sure you get the reps email address, you know, still send it by email, make sure you get the appropriate contact so that once the fair is over, you can then follow up with them. One thing a lot of the visiting reps in country do, and I encourage all the students to ask this, sometimes when they come for fairs, they waive the application fees. Now if you have ever had a student who was applying to go to school and you know, usually in good practice, a student should be Applying to like about five to six institutions. Right. And when you do that, each one of those application fees could be anywhere from 50 to $100. [00:31:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:16] Speaker D: And so I would encourage you ask them, are you waiving your application fee for a period for this fair and if they are, take advantage of it. Yes, take advantage of it, utilize it. Those are the questions to ask them. Another one is a lot of institutions, in case you don't know, some of them offer in state tuition fees for Bahamian students. Why is that important? It's a significant difference from what an international student would pay and what an in state tuition fee is. An in state tuition fee is actually what the American would pay to go to the institution. And you have some institutions that actually offer that for some international countries. So these are the kinds of questions that you want to find out about if it's a two year institution that you're talking to a community college. Because you know, and there's nothing wrong with that, you know, coming out of we're in a small society, going to a large university may be extremely intimidating and not the right fit for you at that time. That's perfectly fine. There's a lot of community colleges that are connected with four year institutions and they do what we call two plus two programs. So you can start at a community college, go there for two years and then transfer to a larger institution once you're ready. And when you're finished with that community college, you would then have what we call an associate's degree and then you can transfer to the four year institution and get your bachelor's degree. That's also a method that's more affordable if you need to. You know, if you're looking at your finances and those are a bit tight, that option is also really beneficial as well for that. So these are the kinds of questions when you come to a college or university fair that you should be looking to ask these visiting representatives and believe [00:33:02] Speaker B: me, I know about them application, them application fees when I helping my kids get through there. But there's something, tell me about it. There's something that they do not, and I may be pronouncing it wrong, I think the common application where they can put one application form in and it'll be seen by a number of universities. Would the universities attending this fair be on that program? Are you familiar what I'm talking about? [00:33:29] Speaker D: Yes, most of them usually are. But again still that's a question to ask. Right. Because if they're not, then that's something that you would need to Figure out. So all of these things are important to find out about. Luckily for us, one of our precursors for you getting into University is your SATs, right? We don't have what a lot of other countries have with the TOEFL because we speak English. And So, you know, SATs are important, those scores are important. Your BGCSEs are important. You could have a good SAT score and you could have not grade. So BGCSE results and it can hurt you. And so, you know, I also want to encourage our students too. Once they're starting in some schools start from 9th grade with their BGCSE curriculum. Some, a lot, most intent, you know, really take it seriously. It's important. It all affects you in the long run when you're applying for these institutions. And so, you know, questions to ask of what kind of SAT scores they're looking for, the grade point averages they're looking for for admission. Like all of, all of these things are important when you're trying to navigate what options are best for you. If you're a student athlete, find out what scholarship opportunities are available for student athletes with that institution. Find out if you can be connected with a coach in your relevant sport from that institution to see what potential opportunities they have available. Depending on who you are and what you are, there are a lot of opportunities available. There's also now STEM scholarships. If you have students who are well gifted in STEM, robotics, all kinds of things are available. So depending on the student and where they have strengths, really lean into that and ask the representatives with different types of financing options they have available based on where those strengths are and what [00:35:35] Speaker B: you're planning to study, you brought the right word of financial opportunities. I know school fees, university fees are tremendous. When my oldest went off, it was something like 30, almost 40 grand a year. When the second went off, it was over 40. When the third one went off, it was over 50. School are these universities coming with, I'm going to be polite, real scholarship offers making it worthwhile for kids to come and talk to them. Understanding that the average Bahamian student won't be able to find 70 grand up front. They will need some assistance in terms of scholarships or financial aid, anything like that. Are these schools coming with real programs to show the kids? If you come to my university, I can help you here, there and there? [00:36:18] Speaker D: Yeah, it depends on the school. And like I said, these are questions that are worth that when you go to them. That's worth asking, right? It depends on the school and it also depends on the student. So the higher those Grades are, the better those grades are, the more competitive you will be for scholarship opportunities. I will be honest, you know, when, if your grades are not great, if it's not stellar, if you're not an outstanding athlete, you know, the pool out there, it's competitive. [00:36:51] Speaker B: It is. [00:36:51] Speaker D: We're not just competing with Bahamians, you're competing with students worldwide. And so because of that, when we, when we talk about, you know, making sure you're a well rounded student. Academics is important, of course, but being involved in extracurriculars, joining a sport, participating in STEM activities, all of these things are important in terms of building a well rounded student because scholarship opportunities can become available not just only for academics, but also in other areas as well. I'm someone who benefited from having an athletic scholarship. I played Division 2 college tennis and so that helped to pay for half of my tuition fees. And so like, there's more than one way to skin a cat, right? [00:37:35] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [00:37:36] Speaker D: And so it's very important that students take these kinds of things seriously. But you know, to get back to the question, it really, it really depends on the institution. And again, this is a part of, you know, in the process of talking to a representative, when you're in front of them, you want to make sure you get the most information out of them. And, and so, you know, ask them about these opportunities, what do they have available, you know, what after these scholarships, you know, what is the baseline that a student will pay? That's important. I think one thing for students and parents to take into mind is that it's less frequent that you will get a full scholarship, like to pay for everything, everything. And so parents have to be prepared. And the earlier you start preparing, the better. Right? Parents have to be prepared that they're going to have to pay something depending on where it is and what it is. You know, that varies, but you know, like I said, if those grades aren't up there and you know, it really varies by student. And so I use this again as a plug to encourage students, you know, take, take your, start your studying your learning opportunities very seriously. If you're in a sport, you know, use it as a vehicle to get your education. Try to see everybody's not going to be a buddy heels or a DeAndre Ayden. And so even though you may not make it to that MBA level, you still can get a free education from it. And so we encourage our students to take a look at all of the potential scholarship opportunities that may be available, whether it be academic, it be through sports really see what's out there. But these are the types of questions, like I said, that you really want to get into specific to each institution because it does vary. [00:39:22] Speaker B: And I like where you talked about, you know, use your athletic ability to help you get education. I had a godson that was a very great, a great tennis player and basically put himself to university and his master's degree playing and coaching tennis in the United States. So there's the opportunities today. You may not, there are some kids who were super athletes in the Bahamas, but when you understand, when you get it there, you're competing with millions, not thousands, millions of other athletes. So it is may not be get to the professional level, but you use your athletic ability and your brain to get a degree so that in future you can take care of yourself. If I can't come Saturday, if the kids can't come Saturday, and of course they can't afford to fly to Freeport for Sunday, is there something that they could access the information on Facebook, on your page, your website after the fact or watch maybe one of the sessions afterwards? Is that a possibility? [00:40:19] Speaker D: Yes. So I would encourage them to reach out to our education USA advisor, Brianne. She can connect them with these visiting representatives. Even if you can't attend the fair, you know, we still encourage you to register. Right? Because once you register, your name goes in a database. Once the fair is done, we share this database with these visiting representatives so that they could actually reach out to you, they can get information to you. So I would suggest make sure you're in connection with our Education USA center. Now I would say in this extreme circumstance, if you physically cannot come out on Saturday for any reason, I would then encourage you to attend the virtual fair tomorrow. Yes, it's for family island students and that's what our main target goal is. But we don't want anybody to miss out on an opportunity. And so if you're unable to make it in person for any reason, we do have the virtual fair option open. We encourage you to attend. [00:41:15] Speaker B: Now, you know, some kids in Gambia village or homes rock around Bahama or who listening to us right now, they may think university is impossible. What do you want to tell them today? [00:41:29] Speaker D: You know, I want to say to them that, you know, I know it can seem intimidating, it could seem like, you know, this is just, this just seems something that's so far fetched, but it's not, you know, the best story of that I've seen is just look at our ambassador. He's from a small town in Georgia. He didn't. He came from very humble means. And I mean, look at where he's at today. Look at what he's accomplished in terms of his athletic career and then moving into his professional career now as an ambassador. And he always talks about how he went. He came out of school early because of his athletics and he actually went back to school in his 60s. He was determined that he wanted to get his degree and he went back and he accomplished that. And so I would say if you're looking for inspiration in terms of that, look at what he accomplished. It's possible. It's possible. You don't give up on yourself. You know, come and see what we have to offer. Come and talk to. We'll have a financial advisor on site who will be talking about financial advice, helping students to figure it out. He'll be doing that for free. His name is Mr. Nathaniel Butler. So, you know, come stop by, have a conversation with him. He'll be there all day. He's leading the presentation, but he'll also be there to discuss it. We don't want any student to feel like this is not attainable. There's lots of ways that this could be accomplished and, you know, we want you to come out and see what options are available. [00:42:58] Speaker B: So six Annual Education USA the Bahamas Fall University Fair. Give us the dates again, give us how to register again. So people who may have tuned in late get understand how they can register for this college, university and college fair. [00:43:14] Speaker D: Sure. So again, so from the top. So tomorrow we'll be having our virtual fair that's targeted at family islanders that'll start at 9:30 and it will end at 12. So that was. Sorry, it started 9am and end at 12pm and that's specifically for our family island students. But if we have a student in Nassau that can attend on the Saturday, we still encourage you to sign up for that. We then on Saturday have our affair here at Atlantis in the Grand Ballroom, section D. Come on down. We look forward to seeing you here. We'll be here starting at 10am and the fair concludes at 4pm and then on Sunday we head to Grand Bahama. We'll be at the Bishop Michael Eldon Auditorium. That Fair starts at 11:30am and we conclude at 3:45pm so we have three days available. We're covering the whole entire Bahamas. We want you to come out, visit us and see what we have to offer, you know, and once the fair is over, follow our Facebook page, EducationUSA the Bahamas. Follow the embassy's Facebook page. Stay in contact As I mentioned, our advisor, Brianne, she has services, advising services for free. We do not charge. All of our services are free of charge. Sign up for a session, come down and speak with her. We also, to register for our fair, we invite you to visit the embassy's Facebook page, the Education USA Bahamas page. The links are there, the QR codes are there. Follow the link and sign up for the session of your choice. We look forward to seeing you and our reps are really excited to meet you. [00:44:51] Speaker B: Anything else you want to offer up to our listeners? [00:44:55] Speaker D: No, I think I covered everything. [00:44:59] Speaker B: You did. You surely did. [00:45:00] Speaker D: Like I said, we're just excited to see everybody. We really are. [00:45:04] Speaker B: And we expect. Did you expect thousands of kids to either join online or to appear in Nassau on Saturday, in Grand Bahama on Sunday? Kids, this is a great opportunity that the US Embassy is doing. Oh, I gotta say one thing that bohemian people know this is an American event. So we don't start Bahamian time there. We start regular time. So we want you to get there early enough so that you can. That you can get. I guess when they come in, they get. They pick up a package or something like that as they come in. Once they register, am I correct? [00:45:35] Speaker D: Or they have a ticket, they'll get a bag where they can put all their resources in from the fair. Each session that they would sign up for is an hour and 30 minutes. So like you mentioned, we encourage you to come on time so that you can get as much time as possible to talk to all the representatives in the room. And, you know, I would encourage students to talk to our local institutions as well. You know, if you're not able to go off right away, and even if you, if you can't, our local institutions are great options as well. Talk with them, see what options are available. You know, there's more than one way to skin a cat. You can do your bachelor's degree at University of the Bahamas and then you can transition to a US University for your Master's degree. So I encourage you to visit all of the representatives, taking all of the information. And like I said, we look forward to seeing everyone there. [00:46:27] Speaker B: And I can ask you one last time to see how they can register today. [00:46:31] Speaker D: So please visit the US Embassy Nassau's Facebook page. Type in US Embassy NASA, it will pop up. Follow the link and all of our flyers, they're pinned to the top of the page. Click on the link to register. Also follow Education usa, the Bahamas. All the information is there, the flyers are there. Click the link to register and Guess what? Even if you do not get to register, show up, we'll be doing registration on site. So we'll be registering people on site. So if you couldn't quite figure it out, like, man, I can't get thinking this thing out. Still come on site. We'll register you on site. It's not an issue. We just, we want you to get here. So we look forward to seeing you. [00:47:12] Speaker B: And I encourage, I encourage my listeners to get your parents, get your kids registered, get them out there. The universities across the length and breadth of the United States, as far west as Seattle, Washington and Florida, in the Midwest, New York. So there's a number of universities that. So, you know, when I was going off to school, I didn't want to go to school in Florida, so I went to Mint all the way to Minnesota. I wanted to get far away just to have a different experience. So it's an opportunity for kids to talk to these representatives, find out. And what I'm trying to say is one of the times when we go up to college, we don't understand where we're going. When I went off to school, I said, I'm going to Minnesota. I didn't realize I was going in freezing weather like that. So it'll be good, our chance to sit down and, and I'm throwing this question out. Ask them about the area, ask them about housing, ask them about the weather, ask them about social life. Because you don't want to go somewhere where you're totally different and you don't quite understand the culture and everything like that. Am I saying making some sense there? [00:48:12] Speaker D: Yes, you are. And again, that's when we talk about, when I say doing your research, asking informed questions. We have so much more resources now. The Internet is available to us. Utilize it. Do some of your research and come prepared to ask your questions. Just as much as the academic is important, also is the campus life. Ask them what campus life options do you have available. Do you have International Students Club? How many international students do you have on your campus? These are important things to ask because you want to be. It's good to find out what these institutions have to offer and to find the best fit for you. [00:48:51] Speaker B: Amen. Amen. For me, it was, I'm a Roman Catholic, I wanted to go to Catholic school. I wanted that kind of education I've had all my life. Xavier Saxo, right up there. So that, that is one thing you gotta look at as well. And I so appreciate you, Chanel. [00:49:05] Speaker D: Thank you so much for having us. We're very excited to be here and we look forward to it. [00:49:10] Speaker B: And I'm very happy that to have you here today. Chanel Sands, the public engagement specialist from the U.S. embassy. We're talking, we were talking about the sixth annual Education USA, the Bahamas fall University fair here at Atlantis this weekend. Thank you so much for joining me. And, and you're here. I'm here. If you have any other things you want to talk about in the future, any programs coming up, always happy to share them with my listeners. Thank you so much. Have a great day. [00:49:35] Speaker D: All right. Thank you. Take care. [00:49:36] Speaker B: You've been listening to Strictly Speaking here on Guardian Red. We're going to take a break. When we get back after the news. Open line education fair is fair. Does your garbage B have the last time that you declared your political puppet Pinocchio? And your face spoils your plans. [00:49:54] Speaker D: Cuz the more lies you tell, the more your nose expands. [00:49:59] Speaker B: Oh, come on, Mr. Education, aka Garbage Man. Secret Agent P. No. [00:50:11] Speaker A: Craving something with bold flavors. Introducing the new bacon portobello mushroom melt only at Wendy's. Enjoy our hot juicy beef stacked with crispy applewood smoked bacon, savory sauteed portobello mushrooms and drenched in our rich melty cheddar cheese sauce, all on a warm toasted bun. Gotta be craveable. Gotta be Wendy's. Available for a limited time only. [00:50:39] Speaker C: Orthopedics. Where movement becomes medicine and treatments become triumphs. At Cleveland Clinic, it's more than just repairing what's broken. It's how we put ourselves back together to reconstruct, rehabilitate and restore the things that give us life. The future of orthopedics is already in motion. For every care in the world. [00:51:05] Speaker D: World Cleveland Clinic. [00:51:08] Speaker B: There's a place where every detail whispers elegance. Where our art greets you at every corner. Where flowers linger like a secret well kept and your sweet dreams become your sanctuary. This isn't just an ordinary bed and breakfast. It's a name that says signature. The Bella Signature Restaurant and suites. A taste of the Bahamian country. [00:51:33] Speaker A: The Guardian Media Group is giving football lovers the ultimate NFL experience. Tickets to the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins showdown Sunday, November 1st at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Good afternoon from Miami, where it's 86 degrees. You will see the Miami Dolphins clash with the New England Patriots live in an AFC rivalry score tickets to the big game. Check the Nassau Guardian for contest details. Read, listen and follow us on all social media platforms. Deadline for entry is October 26th. Winners will be announced on October 27th. The ultimate NFL experience brought to you by Bahamas Air Holiday and Express Plantation, Going Places, Travel. So now's watching the clock, a sure win. And by the Guardian Media Group, deep [00:52:21] Speaker B: shot down the sideline, it's Ryan Miller. [00:52:24] Speaker A: Miller. [00:52:24] Speaker B: He'll take it all the way for a Miami touchdown. [00:52:29] Speaker A: This is Guardian Radio, your station for up to the minute news and intelligent, interactive and engaging conversations. 96.9 FM. [00:52:55] Speaker B: The sun comes up with a burning glow Shines down on paradise below. I'm talking about the Bahamas, you know, a beautiful archipelago. Now go, go, go bright bug me beauty. Tell them be friendly. Oh tell them we proud of the country. Tell them they could come see then say I'm proud to be a Bahamian. Proud, oh yeah, I'm proud to be a Bahamian and strictly speaking is a truly Bahamian show. All on Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM. And I want to take this chance, this opportunity to shout out and congratulate all our national heroes who got awarded awards this last over the last few days. We're always proud to know that Bahamians who put their heart and soul into building our country are rewarded and recognized. And I saw one went out to the late, great Sam Haven, who was a dear friend of mine, grew up in Chippingham, was a mentor, so to say, a big brother. And I'm so happy that we remembered him and honored him and all those who got honored. Congratulations to you true Bahamian patriots. It's a joy and I'm happy. I support Bahamians everywhere, particularly our Bahamian athletes and young people who try to make better and show the 242 off. Congratulations. So interesting things happened in the House of Assembly yesterday and our prime minister announced that there was a 3.39.3.39 point. Let me make sure I say the right thing. $39.9 million surplus in our last fiscal year that ended June 30, 2026. You said the first fiscal surplus recorded in independent Bahamas is about 2% of GDP. Even being in the election year, it was historic. During the election, you're tempted to [00:55:17] Speaker G: put [00:55:17] Speaker B: your hand in the person, spend more money. And I didn't know how to react to it because what I saw in the last general election, a lot of money was spent. If I tell you what I saw happen in Fort Charlotte and you had talks about the vouchers, over $2 million in vouchers that the Public Accounts Committee is looking into. We heard about $700 million in NIF. I'm not even putting that on the table. I'm putting that on the Side over there, Put that over there, over there on the side. But I saw a lot of money spent. So I'm not saying that they went to the public press. No, they were well financed and I'm not saying anything. So no, call me Antonio running on that. I say something I wasn't supposed to say. But then the opposition got up and said some things and you all you get said some things, you know, crazy Thompson says false surplus acts quiz. Like did the 310 capital investment that Finance Permanent Secretary Simon Wilson mentioned, did you leave bills unpaid June 30 to make surplus look good? If unpaid bills are over 50 million, then there's no surplus. Michael Pintad says surplus is fiction. Asks about the 700 million excess borrowing transfer to NIF. If that's 700 million spent but not counted as expenditure, then surplus fake. When we say surplus at June 30, does that mean all the bills were paid as of June 3rd in my house. When I look at, when I look at, because you know, I got some jury this watch me now. So when I look at I made $10, did I pay and I say I got $2 left in my pocket. Did I pay all my bills? Did I pay my light bill, my cable bill, my water bill? Did I buy groceries? You know, did I did I pay the cat, the car maintenance bill? Did I pay all the bills? And the question is, did the government pay all the bills? Have we paid all the bills to say there is a surplus we had. And I'm not going to call the figures that the government collected. I'm just going to say we got an X amount of dollars. We added, we added Y amount of bills and this Z is the surplus. That's the question to ask. The opposition seems to think differently. And if we do have a service, I'm happy Texas. Good afternoon, Pearly. It's about time for people to stop honoring people when they are dead and give them their flowers while alive. Yes, yes, I agree with, agree with that. But you know, my brother was, he was, was, he was, he was relatively young when he passed. So sometimes you're going to have, you can if, if, if it was a person who was 80 years old and he passed and you remember honor him. Yes, I stand by that, that text. But sometimes, you know, some people, they don't be with us and, and they don't get their three score. There's three score and then so, and he went, he went early, much too young. Much, much too young. So sometimes that happens. That happens. And so we Honor them as long as we can. We will honor them. [00:58:29] Speaker E: Okay. [00:58:32] Speaker B: But yeah, he did say we have a surplus. The opposition said some things and I just want to ask you do we believe that we have a surplus? And I listened to Chevalgo earlier today and he made some really good points. He really made some really good points. And one I think one of the callers of Texas asked him about the 700 million and he says he should have reported. If they had reported that the same time it would have been two pieces of good news. And if we did have a surplus, I am happy, I am ecstatic about it. If that is so, if that is the true numbers. But even though Zhivago dismisses the foreign rating companies, he did indicate that the deputy prime minister dismissed that. But some of them did say Fisk to be Fitch, sorry, Fitch said that they don't see us having a surplus. All right. You know and when you look at the NIF question that haunts the surplus, you know, But the PM says 700 million excess borrowing transfer to NFI accounts shows 265 million. Move 200 200,000 left by March. Government says 310 spent on airports, roads, etc. Etc. But 700 minus 310 is 390. Ms. 390 Ms. Million dollars we don't know about. And I don't want to say, I don't want to use the word missing. We don't know what I would have spent. I'm not accusing anybody of stealing anything or and and behemoth vernacular tifa. No we just. I just want. Show me the receipts. We spent 310 million on airports, roads. We spent another 100 million on this. Another hundred million. Just break it down. And the central bank governor said that the Ministry of Finance can provide with that. The chairman of the PAC Public Accounts Committee Michael Pintad said that they're waiting on certain documentation to come and they fully expect to receive this documentation and then they give the report and then we can say see we tell you they do nothing wrong or oh boy, let's get up. So these are the kind of things that you ask. You know. I think the champ, the president of Fidelity going both one report saying modified cash basis capital works expenses ren incurred. But was NIF spending counted as expenditure? And that's the question that keeps coming up. Is it being counted as expenditure? And we just want to know. Welcome to Strictly speaking. [01:01:12] Speaker G: Good afternoon sir. How are you? [01:01:13] Speaker B: I am well, thank you sir. [01:01:15] Speaker F: Okay. [01:01:15] Speaker G: First time caller. [01:01:16] Speaker B: Okay. [01:01:17] Speaker G: And I was calling to find out the word of surplus. Isn't the surplus something that is left over in abundance? [01:01:28] Speaker E: For [01:01:30] Speaker G: I, I am trying to find out if the surplus supposed to be shared for every individual that lives in the Bahamas. [01:01:41] Speaker B: No, no, no. What happens is the government has X amount expenses. [01:01:45] Speaker G: Yes sir. [01:01:46] Speaker B: All right, let's say the government has $10 in bills, right? [01:01:49] Speaker G: Yes sir. [01:01:50] Speaker B: They collect $15 in taxes and revenue. So once they pay all the bills, $5 leave over. [01:01:57] Speaker G: So that's a profit. [01:01:58] Speaker B: That's. Well not. They're not a business. It's not called a profit. It's called a surplus. [01:02:02] Speaker G: So what is it called? [01:02:03] Speaker B: It's called a surplus. It's surplus money. Surplus money is left over. Right. So what that means is that not to say, okay, let's take this up and divvy it up amongst all the behemoths. No, that means we have some extra money to do some other things that they should be able to do. Fix some roads, build some airports, fix the hospital, stuff like that. [01:02:20] Speaker G: From sense they make a certain amount. Was it $39.9 million? [01:02:24] Speaker B: That's according to, according to the front page of the Nassau Guardian and with the prime minister said Yesterday there's a $39.9 million. So that means they got close to $40 million supposed to be sitting in the bank. [01:02:35] Speaker G: Okay, so you don't think it would make sense that they need to just cut VAT one time since they accumulate that much? 1. [01:02:43] Speaker B: If, if it's a real surplus. [01:02:45] Speaker G: Yes sir. [01:02:46] Speaker B: If it's a real surplus and they own nothing else. Because see what you're supposed to do by on June 30, you're supposed to look at your payments and say you may owe nobody nothing. We got extra money so we can look at stuff like that. There has been a call by the opposition to cap the VAT on gas. In other words, if gas is $5 a gallon, you charge that on $5 and anytime it go up you don't charge that on the extra. There's been called for some, some, some money to be spent or something. So I don't know if cutting VAT will help right now. I personally have no problem with VAT at what it is. I think that we should cut some other expense like duties and other things like that. That so when you bring stuff and we don't have to pay as much duty or any at all or certain things. So I don't see a VAT cut coming right up to now. I don't see that. I don't, I I would see an increase before we see a cut. And I don't think this government is going to look at increasing right now because they pushed on. [01:03:36] Speaker G: I mean, why would be increase if they, if they making that much surplus? That's a yearly surplus. [01:03:46] Speaker B: That's just this year. That's this year. No, no, that's the surplus for this. That. No, that's the surplus from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, that one year. So that's a fiscal year. So the government's fiscal year begins July 1st and it ends June 30th, yes, sir. So that's just for one year. [01:04:05] Speaker G: That's a lot of funds. [01:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah, but, but the question that is a lot. But the question still is asked, do they owe any other bills out there? Did they pay all the vendors? They pay all the people in the. They pay all the suppliers and stuff? That's the question is being asked. All right, have they paid, have they paid the vendors who sending the medicine and the stuff for the hospital? These are questions to ask, legitimize it. Okay? [01:04:29] Speaker G: Yes, sir, you are correct. That, that's plenty. That's plenty. Vital issues. [01:04:33] Speaker B: Yes, that's all right. I do appreciate your call. [01:04:37] Speaker G: All right, no problem. Thank you, my brother, much for accepting my call anytime. I appreciate it. [01:04:42] Speaker B: Okay. Take care of yourself. So like, you know, the call out, the caller. I love that, I love that kind of call because he's asking some questions. Does that made me do this doesn't mean do that. And the question it still remains is do we have a real surplus? And I'm saying, I'm not asking, I'm not saying I don't want to see it. You know, I want to see that. I, I love this because then I know my country doing better. But when I hear we have a surplus and I driving down Wolf Road and I hit that pothole, you know the words I throwing out. When I hear we have a surplus, and I look last night my lights go out and my, and my, my and my people lights go out and my friend and my neighbor's lights go out and my and my mother them. Like, when I see that, I'd be like, but we have what's going on? Why are we, why haven't we fixed this yet? When I hear we have a surplus, and next thing look, I get a text from Elucha saying the lights out in Lucha again. So when you, when you, when you and Chevago said it, said it good, you know, said it really well. Your books can look good, but your country can look bad. And I'm paraphrasing him some, to some degree. All right, I'm paraphrasing it. And what he's meaning is, yeah, we can say we have a surplus because we ain't pay this bill or we ain't do that, but we supposed to do. We ain't paved that road. So we spend our money, we spend our money on, on fixing this means that money on buying extra stuff for the hospital so we end up in a surplus. Now let's go buy the stuff this year. So next year do we expect another surplus? We were grateful. We're grateful. There's no Dorian, there's no hurricanes that hit us. And while El Nino is messing the Pacific right up is doing well for the Atlantic in terms of no hurricanes coming. There was one farming off Cape Verde islands the other day. That lasted a day. That lasted a day. So we're happy that, you know, happy that we have. So we have been. Been grateful for that. No pandemic of the lockdown. No country. We had to do none of that. None of that happened over the last five years. We've been really blessed as a country for the last five years. So I would hope because we had none of these disasters or these catastrophes or all these things to pull us back or whatever you want to call it, no curveballs. Ain't nobody throw nothing, ain't sure nothing at us that we've been blessed to have what the government says is a surplus. But the question again still arises, why the roads too bad? Text. A text here says, or why the road's bad or. Or it says pearly. So they say we have a surplus, but each of the next year we over budget by 500 million. Mark my words. See that, that, that's somehow some people look at it and it still doesn't take away that we had a good year. 25, 26 was a good year in terms of what the government is saying to us. But my question still says, why did Wolf Road look the way it look. Thank you for Shirley Street. Oh, you're doing a good job there. When you can. Then you can stripe it though. When we can stripe that, you pave it and, and it's smooth. When we can stripe it and please don't tell me cable Bahamas or water and sewage or btc when I'm going to go dig that back up next week to fix something because I think there is a law there. They supposed to contact everybody said we're doing this, whatever. What you got to do get what you have to get done. And hopefully that has been done. Hopefully that has been done because it would be. It'll be disappointing to know that they did such a good job of paving the road and then we come back and get digging right back up next week. They paving the road because they can't come in. Are they? I don't know. I don't know. But that's the question to be asked. There's something else I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask in reference to or say in reference to, to. To the PM Pintad allow PAC to investigate and bring findings. Okay, okay, fine. Okay, fine. Because he get a little upset because the, the pin dad went out and and gave an update on the PAC when he's been calling for the PAC to be aired live or tape and shown on the parliamentary channel. So people get to be updated as you go on. And I ask you, should the government public full reconciliation, how much was borrowed? Repaid cash balances, unpaid bills, June 30 approve surplus real. Should they show us a spreadsheet? Or they can say you don't see the budget. Should the surplus of real go to pay down debt or to relief, cut taxes, fix roads, build clinics? What do you think? Do you believe the numbers? Historic achievement or election year county? I want to believe the numbers. I want to be able to say our government got a surplus. This the first surplus in the history of independent Bahamas. I'm excited about it. They doing a great job here. Is that believable? I'm just asking simple questions. I'm not accusing or saying anything. Welcome to Strictly speaking. Call you on the air. Yes, sir. How you doing? [01:10:08] Speaker G: I get, I am not an accounting, but I, I have a sense of number of numbers. [01:10:15] Speaker B: Okay. [01:10:18] Speaker G: Do you. Could you consider a surplus in the year that you borrowed money? [01:10:28] Speaker B: You can. Yes, you can. Because the surplus, all the surplus is saying at the end of the year we get this amount of money left in the bank. You know, that's really all it is whether you borrow and they spend it all or not. [01:10:37] Speaker G: Okay, I hear that right. [01:10:38] Speaker B: Because it counts. Again, the borrowed money counts against the debt. [01:10:43] Speaker G: So a surplus is not. So you're saying to me a surplus is not a result of prudent fiscal management. You say in a surplus is okay, I collected all this revenue which was maybe a bit more than my. Which was maybe a bit less than my expenses, but I borrowed the rest of my expenses and as a result I have a surplus. [01:11:11] Speaker B: You put me in the corner. I see where you gave it this. [01:11:13] Speaker G: Hello. [01:11:14] Speaker B: I say you put me with corner. I see where you gave it this. Well, let me say this. Yeah. A surplus is supposed to mean that there's good prudent fiscal management. That's, that's what, that's in the, on the bottom line. That's what the surplus supposed to prove. [01:11:25] Speaker G: But I have managed so well. When I look at all of my expenses, when I deal with all my expenses, when I look at the revenues that I collected, I have left with X amount of money as a result of my prudent management. And I didn't borrow anything. [01:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I see your point. But let me, let me look at it this way. In May last year when they brought the budget to us, right. They said we're going to spend X amount of dollars. We expect to collect X amount of dollars if then we're going to have some money left over at the end of the year. So even if they had to borrow extra money to cover their expenses, that means they didn't spend all the money they borrowed. Basically. And if I think I could simplify it like that [01:12:11] Speaker G: was an excess borrowing. [01:12:13] Speaker B: Now that's a good question. [01:12:15] Speaker G: The point remains if you borrow to cover bills and, and where your revenue fall short. I, I don't see that makes sense that you end up in a surplus. I really, I'm not an accountant but to me that don't make sense. [01:12:27] Speaker B: I gotcha. I got you. I, I hear your point, you know, and, and that's the answer the questions that we want to ask. So at the end of the day you and I have a better understanding of what they mean when they say they have a surplus. I agree. [01:12:40] Speaker G: Yeah. Come up and really. And give an answer to that. [01:12:43] Speaker B: I hope so. We'll see. Thank you. [01:12:46] Speaker G: Okay. [01:12:46] Speaker B: Appreciate you. Appreciate you. Welcome to strictly speaking Carly on the air. [01:12:56] Speaker G: Listen, I agree with the guy who just called. Right. [01:12:58] Speaker B: Huh. [01:13:00] Speaker G: But this surplus is from putting the baby people in hardship. [01:13:07] Speaker B: I mean I hear you. [01:13:08] Speaker G: I hear you have all the surplus. 39 point X whatever million. Huh. We need hospital bed. Yeah. People crying over dialysis. Some machines fix this hospital with that excess. Some other garbage to spend that money on because I can guarantee you if it's there next month, that's 39.7 million that vanished too. [01:13:34] Speaker B: Well, you know. Now hold on, hold on a minute. That's of June. That's. That is of as of June 30th. July pass. All right, brother. You know, Quincy Thompson made a point. The cost of living continue to hammer our people inflation continues to increase. So I think it should not be celebrated until we are able to solve sufficiency cost of living crisis. You heard the tropical shipping going up on the shipping yesterday. Going up on November 8th. Sorry. You know BPL is you know what red is. You know what? Can the government really say that we have a surplus while behaviors can't afford groceries? Should surplus be used to cut vat and like the call out the earlier callers there on food. Maybe BPL to reduce the fuel charge that these are kind of things that we need to ask. But guess what you're listening to strictly speaking here on Guardian Radio 96.9 FM. Your host Earl Thompson. We take a quick break. When we get back, it's up to you to answer those questions. Sunshine on my bottles I swim in the ocean without any clothes Sunshine on my body Sunshine I'm on. Burger King Nassau is teaming up the Dragon Ball power up with the Double Super Saiyan Whopper 2 Flame Grill Patties. Blast it with a super Saiyan sauce, a sweet savory tangy teriyaki style kick or unleash the Kameham Kameh Long chicken stacked and sauced for maximum flavor. [01:15:34] Speaker A: And we got next level, spacious and [01:15:36] Speaker B: crispy onions and Dragon Ball super cheese bites. Perfectly crisp stuffed with melty cheddar. Go super at Burger King Nassau today. Burger King have it your cyan way. Always on the go. [01:15:46] Speaker D: Miss the show. [01:15:47] Speaker B: You can now listen to Guardian Radio talk shows anytime anywhere on Spotify and YouTube by searching Guardian Radio 96.9 FM or by entering the name of your favorite show. [01:15:58] Speaker D: You can also listen by logging on [01:16:00] Speaker B: to Guardian Toy and clicking on the podcast tab. Guardian Radio continuing to book news and [01:16:07] Speaker D: smart talk anywhere anytime all day girl. [01:16:11] Speaker C: Junior just show me Bella boy in his phone. What you mean he take picture of that good for nothing boy. You don't want Bella hair. You say that. You know she always say that's my good child. So what he doing in junior phone? Oh he there cause the police looking for him. He on that wanted list my child. And when police won't find anybody. Quick, quick. After something happen they can send pictures direct to your phone. Go to Google play then pick install and we'll go straight to your phone. There is also a section on missing persons. Yes girl everybody needs to get this app so police can tell us right away when these people go missing. Just like an alert system. Yes, it has numbers for crime stoppers Bahamas so you can call and nobody knows you call directly to Miami and give the information without giving your Name or anything about you? I tried the other day. And when I hear Junior and his boys talking about really hide those guns, I walk quick, quick round the corner and call that number. [01:17:00] Speaker B: Call 328-8477 from Nassau or 242-300-8477 from the family Islands. [01:17:08] Speaker C: Love the show. Want to give your support. Become a sponsor today. Call 302-2300 for our rates and packages. That's 302-2300. Become a sponsor on Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM. Fresh all day, [01:17:27] Speaker A: fresh news, smart talk all day. [01:17:56] Speaker B: Woke up early one morning to the rising sun it's bone fish season. Welcome back. Strictly speaking, here On Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM, I'm your host, Earl Thompson. Let me read this. 400 million to fix roads and airports. So the surplus should still be there. Interesting. Interesting. How can you Send me your WhatsApp number? Perley? And I thought a surplus was paying your bills. You have, you have extra. Yeah, I mean, that's what it means to events. You pay your bills, you have extra. So that's why. That's the questions to ask. Did they pay all their bills? You know, did they pay all their bills? And so what's left, you know, once what it is, is you get $. Your bills is 50 cent. You get 50 cent leave over. Good afternoon. Pretty. My mother has to put up 10 items at two food stores. Surplus. Really? Wow. Welcome to Strictly Speaking. You're on the air, Mr. Thompson. [01:19:03] Speaker F: How you doing, sir? [01:19:04] Speaker B: I'm ready, my brother. What you saying? [01:19:06] Speaker F: God has been good to be man. Good afternoon to all you listening audience and everyone in your studio. [01:19:10] Speaker G: Studio. [01:19:11] Speaker B: Amen. [01:19:12] Speaker F: Help me to understand something because you know, you know, I'm not so smart with these things. What is going on in terms of the surplus and, and what's not? [01:19:24] Speaker G: The surplus comes from the government revenue surplus. [01:19:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it comes from all the money the government collect for taxes, fees, revenue, all the money the government collects. So if they collect, that's like when, when you, when you. When you go on your job and you make, you make your dollar and you only spend 50 cents and you check your pocket, you had a two quarter still ringing in your pocket. That means you got a surplus, Right? [01:19:48] Speaker F: Right. Because my thing is, right, And I think I heard Mr. Lang spoke. I think he spoke something on my thoughts. What I was thinking today when I was listening and I was trying to understand is the surplus coming from, from the government creating opportunities and taxing the wealth of its people in terms of not taxing but you know, making opportunities for us to like make money. And then through our nib and habits, we would be able to help with the government, our revenue to give a surplus. [01:20:29] Speaker B: I like how you asked that. In essence, yes. To say, to simplify to some degree. Yes. And basically what it is that the government through to vat, to road tax, to customs duty, to whatever they, whatever they, you know, real property tax, all the monies they collect is what they call revenue. [01:20:50] Speaker F: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. [01:20:51] Speaker B: Hold on, let me, I know, let me, I get in there, I get there. Just give me a second. So through the programs that the government put in place, through working on getting in foreign, direct investments so that you and I can make more money so you and I could buy more things, so you and I could pay more taxes so the government then can increase its revenue. So the whole role of trying to get to this is the government put programs in place, the government put policies in place, the government get investors come in the country so that we build up monies in the country. So you and I, when we go to work, we can get our salary. Then we could go to the food store, we could go buy groceries, we could go to the movies, we could go to the club, we could do whatever we got in it. We could go to foreign and go do lid shopping. When we come back, we pay the customs duty on that. That's where the government makes some more money like that. When you go, you can be able to afford to buy a car. They buy the license. The road tax on that is what the government makes his money off. So yes, they should be putting programs in place so that you and I can make money so that they can collect more revenue and collect more taxes from us. So that at the end of the day, once they say they can do what they can do with their budget and they have money left over, it'll call a surplus. I hope that makes sense, right? [01:22:00] Speaker F: Because I mean, my thing is, right, I don't want it to be a lazy way out where the government could go regulation for us to go up on that, for us to find ways to tax your custom, I mean your citizens, you know, just taxing them to bring up the revenue. Now if you, if you're creative, if you're creative enough, right? And I see, I don't, I don't see the foreign investments, I don't see it. And really I don't feel no formal investment what is trickling down to me. My thought is that I don't want to be addressed In a lazy way where anyone could go in the host assembly and sign off on this and it brought more taxes raised the raise taxes or raise prices on this and that, allowing it to happen. Yes, citizen, when, when me, but me as a contractor, I'm not getting the opportunities to make the money is to pay nib. I'm not getting the opportunities to make the money to vehicle the way I want to or pay my bills so that there is revenues could be a surplus plus with it. My thing is, it's not, it's not, it's not a creative way. It's, it's not now working hard to achieve this surplus. It is an easy way out. And I think the government need to look into that. Because if you create opportunities and it could trickle down to the small man and then we don't have the field effect of the cost of living so high in our country, then I will give you a plus for that. You know, I will congratulate you for that. But it's challenging. You know, I was, I was searching, I mean I was seeking to try it and get an opportunity to build some sidewalk for my company. And I was told, I was told that I'm gonna have to provide my business license, my tcc and also I will have to get, [01:24:03] Speaker E: I would have [01:24:03] Speaker F: to get some letter or something from my member parliament or the prime minister. I mean, can you just level the players here? So, so me, so me like who's not buddy buddy with my member parliament or buddy buddy with the Prime Minister can, can have an opportunity so maybe I could pay my son, you know, his fee and UV whatever his books and stuff. Give me that dignity to be a man in my family rather than gotta, gotta put my, you know, rather than gotta go sit small. [01:24:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:24:37] Speaker F: You know, don't, don't, don't put me to the mercy of my member of Parliament. Matter of fact, you know, I, I, I don't think he, I must, I'm a. [01:24:44] Speaker G: Save it. [01:24:45] Speaker B: Probably not. If you're saying that you're probably not. [01:24:48] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:24:49] Speaker F: Don't put me to the mercy of a politician. I mean, just open, open it up so, so I could have, I could have opportunity to be a man and do, and do the things what, what me as a man need to do for my family. Yes, I, I need that dignity, man. You know, don't take it away from me. [01:25:05] Speaker B: You know, I understand. And, and, and you know, this way it comes down to the Procurement act, the freedom of information and we, we know, I mean, we know them sidewalk contract Is political appointed. You know, my boy, I need for him to make up a dollar. But, yes, I agree with you. We need to level the playing field. I want to thank you for your call, my brother. Take care, my brother. Thank you for the call. That's a great call. Welcome to Strictly Speaking, y'. All. How you doing today? [01:25:29] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:25:30] Speaker E: What's going on, bro? [01:25:30] Speaker B: Hey, brother. What you saying? [01:25:32] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm right here to the struggle. But I like that last caller because he raised an important point in which raising taxes to create. To create new revenue. You know, it's really, you know, that's the best these people can do. Right. But I. I really wanted to get into line today to discuss something that Pindad was talking about with the refinancing of the Grand Bahama Bahama Power and Light Acquisition or whatever it was. I just took a cursory look at it. [01:25:55] Speaker B: Yeah, but. [01:25:56] Speaker E: But they had to refinance these loans or whatever. I try and call. Making enough with the call length to explain it because I'm an imbecile and I'm. I'm a dummy. [01:26:03] Speaker G: Right. [01:26:04] Speaker E: But here's what I can juxtapose, right? You know, like a government. Like the credit worthiness. Right. It sounds good for the surplus. But my main question be, how could a government evaluate and dispense the budget surplus without standing debt remains? [01:26:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:26:21] Speaker E: So I don't, you know, I'm an imbecile, like I said, but I can't buy into, you know, it's just so imbecilic to believe in a budget surplus. And what is the significance of it? You understand me, Pearl? [01:26:33] Speaker B: I understand you. [01:26:33] Speaker E: And I don't see nothing on the ground. I don't see nothing falling on the ground. I called yesterday and I spoke to Aaron on Aaron show. When they talk about a stipulation in the Iron Mountain report. They said that they'd use war to drive and create. I mean, make a better economy for the world by using wars. Right. But people don't. I misspoke. What happened is that is not for the average person. [01:26:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:26:57] Speaker E: That's for people who make money from wars, who sell the bullets, the uniforms, the food, et cetera. [01:27:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:27:04] Speaker E: So most people really didn't understand what I was saying. But, you know, I mean, like, the fiscal budget surplus should be. Is really dependent on our standing. But what about the structure of its foreign and local debt, you know? You understand? [01:27:19] Speaker B: No, you're making a very good point. I understand what you're saying. [01:27:22] Speaker E: So I'll do some reading. And I want line because I can't be reading science. And this. You know, I respect economists because it's really deep. [01:27:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:31] Speaker E: You know, I'm not buying what. [01:27:32] Speaker G: See, like I said, it's the government's [01:27:35] Speaker E: duty to lie to citizens. Even if something is happening, like during the pandemic. Their job is to keep you pacified and docile. That's all. My juxtaposition is I don't need to be an accountant. And also, if Mr. Garvin bow, you know, I listen to him and other people who I think worthy, you know, because this doesn't make sense to me. A budget surplus means what? But they're talking about health care. And I can see visibly on the ground. And my heart goes out to Sparky and his family. I like to send condolences. Yes. To my bridge and Sparky. [01:28:02] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:28:02] Speaker E: You know, Spark used to reach out to me and come hear me by the shop. But I almost, you know, today is Sparky. I mean, the other day was Sparky. Today is me. Okay. [01:28:09] Speaker B: Amen. [01:28:10] Speaker E: Yeah, I. I didn't like it at all. I. I just thought it was. Anyway, give thanks. Yeah. Yeah. [01:28:14] Speaker B: Amen. I know. I know. [01:28:15] Speaker G: It's. [01:28:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Boy, you keep. You keep seeing that same line light up and you're thinking, that's Spocky calling, but we know he's not going to be calling us anymore. Text. The government says they made a surplus, but why don't they show its citizens a breakdown on making this surplus? The proof is in the pudding. Don't tell me. Show me how you made the surplus. And you know, I'm hearing that. I'm hearing that a lot. Good day, Mr. Thompson. There's no surplus. They're using cash accrual account, which means they just push bills to the next fiscal year. See these, These are. These are some of the things that are coming out pearly date. They will. They will be digging up Shirley street before the king even arrives because they have. They have tar over all the manholes. Wow. No, man. No, man. They ain't got tower over all the manholes. I ain't let you say that. They may. I can't let you say that. I gotta drive Shirley street again, because I don't. I. You know, but it's really smooth. For sure. For real, though. But I'm gonna. I'm gonna drive and see. But when I went, you know, questions are coming out. What bills are owed? Do we owe any more money? What do we owe? It's confusing to the average man. And I'm putting myself in that pot to understand exactly what they're telling us about a surplus. Because when I hear the prime minister said we have a surplus, but I hear opposition jump back and say that's lies, that's fake news. That's false information. It's not. It's a fake surplus. I'm confused. And don't tell me I must believe it because you tell me that. No, show me that. There's me saying I'm from Missouri to show me state. Show me that. Show me that. We collected this amount of money. We spent this, this is what the bills were. This is what we don't owe. This is what we owe. This is what. Because don't tell me you give me some contracts to build a building, but you ain't pay me yet. But you ain't showing that as a bill because that, that ain't that. No, they'll be holding that one for next year. We putting that in in July, August and new fiscal year. That's that. That's where I have the concerns. And I just. I just want a clear answer. That's all. You know, just a clear answer. And Chicago has said it. And I have to bring this up again. Chicago said it many times. Just give us the receipts, just show us. And then we all shut up. Did we all shut up or do they want us to be talking about this so we don't pay attention to other things going on there? Like, you know, some fellas get locked up in New York and some other. Just asking for a friend. Just want to know. I just want to be clear. I just want to be in my mind declare that, hey, we made. We got $39 million. Oh, that's so good. Now what you can do with it, mind you, that's of June 30th. You don't come to July, August, September and half of October. And when I see places going up like tropical shipping going on the shipping, I get nervous because like I said yesterday, between Easter and Christmas, they're my two favorite seasons of the year and particularly Christmas. I'm into the Easter for the Christian side of it, the religious side of it, and going to church and understanding what Good Friday and Easter Sunday is all about. That's me for Easter. That's me. That's me. But Christmas, while I do celebrate the birth of Christ and I do celebrate the reason for the season, keep Christ in. In Christmas. Yes. I don't believe in putting X masks. I don't do that. I put Christmas. I write it out totally. The mass of Christ. I love the pagan side of it. I love the gift giving. My family just did our secret sign. I picked. I almost called the name of a pick. I am excited about that. I'm excited about it because we have a wonderful day, a funny gift, a nice gift and we have a wonderful time as a family. You're listening to Strictly Speaking here on Guardian Radio 96.9 F and we can take a break. When I come back we read the rest the of these decks and we're going to wrap up. Thank you so much. [01:32:50] Speaker C: Was playing in the yard. [01:32:53] Speaker B: What happened to the. [01:33:05] Speaker C: For fast, reliable and impactful printing services, look no further. Let Printmasters bring your masterpiece to life. We stand by our quality products that are second to none. Our affordable pricing and friendly, efficient staff makes Printmasters the ultimate choice for all your printing needs. 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A taste of the Bahamian dream. [01:34:31] Speaker D: You have a job interview today? No, ma'. [01:34:33] Speaker C: Am. [01:34:33] Speaker D: It's a bit early for all that makeup. [01:34:35] Speaker C: Just trying something new. [01:34:36] Speaker D: You like this shade? Some things eyeshadow can't hide. Pierre. [01:34:40] Speaker C: What? [01:34:40] Speaker D: I could tell you're using that makeup to cover up Mark. [01:34:43] Speaker C: No, I told you he stopped look [01:34:46] Speaker D: like he start again. If a man loves you, you should feel safe around him. Hitting you and putting his hands on you isn't okay. He's just going through something. Grammy, your face should never have to wear what he's going through. [01:34:59] Speaker C: But what am I supposed to do? I'm scared to leave him. Besides, a lot of women get a cut up and flowers in the same day. [01:35:06] Speaker D: Yeah, but baby, that's not normal. [01:35:09] Speaker C: Abuse is not normal and shouldn't be tolerated. For help right away, call the domestic violence hotline at 322-4357 or the Bahamas Crisis center at 3280922. Because healing starts with the truth we tell ourselves. Brought to you by Women Walk Legacy Church and Guardian Radio in partnership with the Bahamas Crisis center and the domestic violence unit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. [01:35:34] Speaker A: This is Guardian Radio 96.9 FM. Fresh news. Smart talk all day. [01:35:58] Speaker B: And welcome back to Strictly Speaking here on Guardian Radio 96.9 FM. That, that, that, that commercial on domestic violence touches me. And next week, Friday I think is, is domestic violence awareness and we hope to have somebody on air Thursday to talk about that and bring some awareness to it. I don't believe in hidden woman. I don't believe in, I don't believe in that. So we can talk about that next Thursday. Welcome to Strictly Speaking. You're on air. [01:36:25] Speaker G: Hey buddy, what's going on? [01:36:26] Speaker B: Hey, I know you can go on. I was beating you. [01:36:28] Speaker G: Well, I, I thought you were talking about, I guess access to U.S. schools. [01:36:34] Speaker B: That was the, yeah, that was the first hour. We had the US Embassy on the first hour and then we open line the second hour. [01:36:40] Speaker G: Right. So I, I figured get some other stuff done. I got you, I got circle background. [01:36:45] Speaker B: Okay, talk to me. [01:36:46] Speaker G: Listen, Pearly, look at afternoon to the nation. I am so proud of the Davis administration. [01:36:52] Speaker B: Now, now let me tell you this. Don't, don't say the same thing. You just say ashivago show. Because I did hear you. I heard you, Zhivago. [01:36:59] Speaker E: Okay. [01:36:59] Speaker B: All right. So come, come, come, come. [01:37:01] Speaker G: I didn't say that. By the way. I want to take the opportunity. [01:37:04] Speaker E: Go ahead. [01:37:05] Speaker G: In light of, in light of what the Prime Minister pronounced, I believe is worthy despite what the opposition is suggesting. [01:37:12] Speaker B: Okay. [01:37:12] Speaker G: Without, without box, without proof it's worthy and it's for persons in the country right minded thinking behemoth to acknowledge the good that is happening in the finances and the economics of the country. It is for the first time in our nation's history as an independent country we are realizing blessings upon blessings with our fiscal management. [01:37:39] Speaker B: Pearlie, now you did, you did say one thing. I want to hold you there. You did say one thing. Despite what the opposition is saying, without evidence or proof. That's, I think that's what you said. Right. So a lot of my texters and callers have asked, why don't we just show the breakdown and show that there's no bills outstanding, nothing has been done. This all has been covered, everything's been paid. And then I lift my heart, be the first one to say, yeah, right, [01:38:06] Speaker G: the prime minister rightly transparent and factually and honestly acknowledge within the scope of how government fiscal affairs are analyzed and transacted. We are in the positive, my brother. And no amount of noise made by anyone, whether you be on Guardian, whether you be on the opposition side in Parliament or outside of Parliament, will change those boxes. What will further solidify those facts is receipts of when the independent international bodies come into the country. As Prime Minister Davis rightly said, as, as, as, as the head, the head representative of Finance in our country, when they come into our country and they further verify their international independent reports, the noise being raised by the opposition becomes that less. [01:39:03] Speaker B: Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. I hear what you say. Let me ask you this. You say when the fiscal vendor rating agencies come to the credit. But didn't your deputy prime minister say, you know, listen to them? [01:39:19] Speaker G: Listen, I don't know. [01:39:21] Speaker B: I'm just asking that because while we're in conflict here, I'm hearing you saying that it's good when they come in, they can talk this. But Ben, they said something the other day. The deputy prime minister said, nah, I check in for that. [01:39:31] Speaker G: So that's fine what he said. But I, I'm speaking on what the minister finance spoke on. And I'm speaking. [01:39:37] Speaker B: So don't, don't worry what the deputy prime minister say that don't count. [01:39:40] Speaker G: No, no, no, no, no. Don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. And I'm speaking on what the chief finance officer in this country. [01:39:47] Speaker B: I hear you, Anton, and I accept that. But I'm asking you. See, you, you keep deflecting here. Now, I asking you, so what? The deputy prime minister don't count. That's what you're saying. What do you say? [01:39:55] Speaker G: Don't count, Curly. The deputy just answer me. [01:39:59] Speaker B: No mind. Don't beat round up. [01:40:00] Speaker G: Don't be the police. [01:40:01] Speaker B: Don't give me the political answer. [01:40:03] Speaker G: Give me the simple yes or no answering you pearly. All right, listen. I'm answering. [01:40:06] Speaker B: All right, listen. [01:40:07] Speaker G: The deputy prime minister was concerned, was concerned that the opposition appears to respect far more what international observers have to say about our finances than the professionals operating in the Ministry of Finance in the Bahamas. [01:40:24] Speaker B: But you just. But you just putting credence behind with the, with, with the, with the first. With the reading agency saying, not me. You just said they. [01:40:32] Speaker G: No, no, no, no. Let's go back to what I started off saying. I started off congratulating Minister of Finance and the head finance officer in this [01:40:43] Speaker B: country, I hear and on I heard that. Then you also said what I do [01:40:48] Speaker G: recognize early, what I also do recognize early, unfortunately, in our country and this dispensation of politics, it seems to me as though the only, the only, the only ammunition that the opposition feels it has is to create any kind of negativity or any kind of follow that it can to try and create some relevancy, even if it means destroying the reputation of the country unjustly, unfairly. [01:41:20] Speaker B: Bro, bro, I mean to cut you off, right? But come on, man, don't feed that, that, that. Oh, come on, man. Anton, no, no, let me say this to you. Hold on. Let me ask you this. I remember that a certain leader or deputy leader of opposition at the time put a billboard sign, talk about all these people for the whole world to see, was murdered in our country. I remember a certain leader of the opposition eating up Dr. Minnes and his administration on same way. So only when the FM and opposition is wrong for the opposition to do, but when the PLP in opposition, they could do it. Isn't that the role of the opposition to find to keep the government's feet to the fire? [01:41:57] Speaker G: Isn't that their role Absolutely, responsibly so, though early. [01:42:00] Speaker B: And they're not being responsible by asking the right questions or because you say it, not you as ant, or I'm saying you the proverbial you, because you said I have to believe it. I don't suppose ask anything. [01:42:10] Speaker G: Let me ask, Let me ask you a question. [01:42:12] Speaker B: Huh? [01:42:12] Speaker G: Can you hear me clearly? [01:42:14] Speaker B: Very clear. [01:42:15] Speaker G: Do you realize, early, that international trade and transaction taxes grew by 4.3% in this country, which is a representation of an increase of $44.4 million. Do you realize that they can use [01:42:30] Speaker B: the figures to talk about it, but the average. [01:42:32] Speaker G: I'm thinking about the fact, really. [01:42:34] Speaker B: I'm not saying you is not the facts. Listen to what I'm saying, bro, and I'm hearing you. You're supporting your party and that's you supposed to do it. That's fine. I don't have no problem with that, you know, But I'm gonna ask the questions that these people who text the show and who call the show, whether they be coi, FMPLP or just Behemoth who care, right? When they ask the question, I'm gonna ask it, but you can't get upset. [01:42:57] Speaker G: I'm not. [01:42:59] Speaker B: All right? You can't refruit, you can't refute, you can't be mad. I'm just using that in a In a broad sense, when I say mad that they can ask the questions. [01:43:09] Speaker G: I'm not that kind of person. [01:43:10] Speaker B: Okay. [01:43:11] Speaker G: Not at all. [01:43:11] Speaker B: Right. I got about four more calls, so I really got to take these other ones. Okay. But I appreciate. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, brother. Go ahead. [01:43:18] Speaker G: Okay. Thank you very much. Burling. [01:43:20] Speaker B: Huh? [01:43:20] Speaker G: The. The outline of what the prime minister spoke to is quite easily accessible. The raw data is quite easily accessible and verifiable website. [01:43:34] Speaker B: And when I go on the opium website, I can see with the payments [01:43:38] Speaker G: page, they have a breakdown of how the prime Minister would have been able to speak to the over $400 million increase in revenue. And we realized that over that of June of 2025. [01:43:52] Speaker B: All right. I can read it, then call you out on it if it ain't right. All right. I appreciate you, Anton. Welcome to Strictly Speaking. You're on air. [01:44:02] Speaker G: Good day, party. [01:44:03] Speaker B: You got 30 seconds. Because I don't think all the time. And I was trying to get you on. So you only. I do apologize. We only got 30 seconds. [01:44:09] Speaker G: You know what the word balderdash means? [01:44:12] Speaker B: Go ahead, explain to my listeners. I know, but explain. [01:44:15] Speaker G: You know the word gibberish means? Huh? All our foolishness and things. Now I'm done. You go find out what them two words. That's senseless talk. [01:44:27] Speaker B: My grandm used to say. You're talking gibberish. My grandma used to say that for [01:44:31] Speaker G: him on the lapd, out of the opm. You know what the LAPD man. [01:44:36] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I watched. I watched a lot of sword. I think that's the Los Angeles Police Department. I know it means something else. [01:44:41] Speaker E: Go ahead. [01:44:42] Speaker G: No, that's the lion. A Philip D. Out of the opm. [01:44:46] Speaker B: I let you go on that one. Thank you so much today for the cause. My thank you to Chanel Sands from the US Embassy, who was here to share some stuff on the fair that's starting. So get there and register for that. I want to thank you, all the calls, all the callers for calling in. On Monday, we talk in nutrition. We have Dr. Jacobs coming on. We're getting ready to be in the Bermont, not September, October. We're getting ready for the Thanksgiving, Christmas. We'll talk about proper eating habits and stuff like that. So we'll talk about that on Monday. Next week, Thursday, we're going to talk about domestic violence. We have a lot of things to talk about next week. Up next, Ankushara Talking Heads, my good friend is up next. Thank you so much. And I'll see you guys on Monday. [01:45:35] Speaker E: Mr. [01:45:36] Speaker B: I getting on, I getting on, I [01:45:40] Speaker C: getting on it's been such a long time and I still ain't my st Keep on driving cuz I.