Friday, July 31, 2009

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Pastors applaud PM's rejection of lottery to fund education By JASMIN BONIMY ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ jasmin@nasguard.com: A group of religious leaders commended Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham yesterday for his recent statement that the government has no intention of introducing a national lottery to fund public schools and their programs. The press statement was released by Pastors Lyall Bethel of Grace Community Church; Bill Higgs of The Bahamas Conference of The Methodist Church; Allan Lee of Calvary Bible Church; Cedric Moss of Kingdom Life Church; Alfred Stewart of New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and Geoffrey Wood of Temple Baptist Church. "Bearing in mind that we publicly expressed grave concerns about the Ministry of Education's call for a national lottery, we welcome Prime Minister Ingraham's clear and candid refutation of that tragic idea, thus definitively putting it to rest," said the release. "Further, we are encouraged by the prime minister's renewed comment that a national lottery is not a part of his government's agenda." The Nassau Guardian recently revealed that a national plan proposed for education calls for the introduction of a special tax and national lottery to better fund the nation's schools. The 65-page document proposes that a referendum on the national lottery be held by December 2011. As a means of funding education, the Ministry of Education also proposes that the departure tax be increased by $2 per passenger. "We commend Prime Minister Ingraham for his principled leadership on the national lottery question, and, as he and his government seek to lead us towards our national goal of being a disciplined, industrious people who have an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law, we encourage them to take the same principled position against any further legalization of gambling in any form," said the release. Ingraham said in an interview with The Guardian on Sunday that authorities at the Ministry of Education had stepped out of line in suggesting how education in The Bahamas should be funded. Ingraham said, "[The Ministry of] Education is not to determine how education is funded. That is not their business. "They can determine what sorts of policies they want to put forward etc. and I value their suggestions in terms of development of a 10-year education plan, and I called for them to seek to engage the opposition, churches, civil society and parents etc. in the discussion so we can end up with an education plan and program that is national, that doesn't change when I change a minister of education; that doesn't change if the PLP comes to office tomorrow or another party comes to office the next day and everybody's got their own plan for education etc." How the government funds education is another matter entirely, the prime minister added during that recent interview. "And so any thoughts that I saw in the [article in The Guardian] about a tax of $2 or a national lottery etc. that is beyond Education's competence to determine and the Government of The Bahamas has made no such determination and has no such funding mechanism under consideration and does not expect to have any such funding mechanism for consideration." Friday, July 24, 2009