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[Music] tonight a hotel executive lobbying for hotel workers to be ushered to the front of the line for the vaccine also a new culvert strain showing huge resistance to antibodies from the original virus and later san andros well on their way to recovery after the pandemic wreaked havoc eyewitness news starts now this is eyewitness news brought to you by btc btc wishes you a great new year good evening everyone i'm matthew moxie and thank you for joining us heads rolling tonight following an investigation into a viral video of what appeared as child abuse at a local children's home officials from the ministry of social services providing an update on the matter as they chart the way forward austencheska brown has the details in this report tonight four women working at the children's emergency hostel have been relieved of their duties after a video circulated on social media last week showing several adult women appearing to verbally and physically beat a group of children social services minister frankie campbell also confirming that the matter has been turned over to police for investigation an investigation by the national child protection council reveals that there is sufficient information to refer this matter to the police for an official investigation and that is what we have done the matter has been referred to the royal bahamas police force for an investigation i can advise that persons who were directly involved have been relieved of their duties pending the investigation i can advise that i've been in communication with the chairman of the board of directors of the children's emergency hostel and they are fully apprised of what has transpired and where we are at this point there is enough information um and this is where my police background comes in there's a difference between information and evidence so what we have at this point is information we believe that the police will determine with their legal training etc they will determine whether it's sufficient evidence to take it even a step further in the nearly 10-minute long video at least five different women including one in a wheelchair are seen beating several young boys either with their hands or thin objects campbell said he was displeased by the incident and said the ministry does not condone any form of abuse in no way form or fashion approve of any form of abuse against the children in our homes throughout the bahamas there are eight of them a total of 100 about 150 children in our care that is not including children who are in foster care but still fall within the remit of the ministry but this is an opportunity for us to review our protocols and to ensure that there are no additional loopholes that would in the future allow for anything like this to happen he also said the 24 children of the home will receive independent counseling independent counseling that we speak of may commence as early as tomorrow we have the undertaking from the ministry of education we're seeking to use their counseling department it is within the remit of the government but it is independent of the ministry of social services i would also say that we have been offered some funding for private counseling but we haven't worked out the details of that so i'm unable to say if that is something we would accept because the terms and conditions have not been discussed as yet and as it relates to corporal punishment campbell had this to say the policy and the practice is that the administrator is the only person who as a last resort has the authority to issue corporal punishment as a last resort i won't give a position a definitive position at this point but i would have indicated earlier that there is an ongoing committee that is discussing the entire question of a management agreement for all of our homes and there is a component in that agreement which will cover discipline and so a position will be taken i'm satisfied sanchezka brown eyewitness news in news from police a man is dead tonight after reportedly drowning in exuma on saturday police say that a party of six left new providence on a boat headed to exuma for a fishing trip while anchored near highborne key investigators say some crew members went spearfishing however they say crew members became alarmed when one fisherman did not surface police say a diver went searching for the missing crew member and later discovered him lying on the seabed the man was reportedly brought to the surface however was said to be unresponsive the crew told police they went to norman's key to charter a plane but was unsuccessful they reportedly then made their way back to new providence where the man was examined and pronounced dead by a medical team investigations into this matter are said to be ongoing the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on our nation claiming almost 200 lives and decimating important sectors of our economy especially tourism the u.s food and drug administration approval of the pfizer and modern vaccines back in december cleared a major nation distribution of the vaccines in the united states and according to government health officials they are awaiting the silver bullet of 80 000 doses very soon its arrival into the country the bahamas hotel tourism and association president says may be the salvation of the hospitality industry and the bohemian economy which is why he's urging government to push hotel workers to the front of the line certainly high among the priority as far as i'm concerned from an economic point of view has to be the hospitality industry if the economy is to rebound after taking a devastating blow from the coronavirus pandemic bahamas hotel and tourism association president robert sand says government must include hotel workers in the first round of covet 19 vaccinations but taking it a step further he says he's all for making it mandatory for those working in the hotel sector i think it sends a message of confidence to the marketplace that business communities uh advocating this process which basically drives the whole issue that they are wanting to continue to create a safe environment so i i would support it hotel workers however remain on the fence over the vaccine as hotel union president darren woods says the many reports of side effects leaves them stuck between a rock and a hard place the hotel workers should be safe and work in the safe environment we are not sure that we are prepared to jump on board we support at this time because we don't know the strain of vaccine that they're going to be used we don't know uh the the i guess the video rate of success in this vaccine we don't know this we don't know what they're doing though uh from this this time but we cannot say that we are on board to support hotel workers workers in the industry by and large being monitoringly injected with this this vaccine health officials say a vaccine will be available in country in the first quarter of this year though they could not give a definitive timeline for its arrival or provide details of government's distribution plan frontline workers and high-risk groups they say will be prioritized for inoculation but with a struggling tourism product adding hotel workers to that list san says would provide a necessary layer of protection tourism has to be doing better the only way tourism is going to be able to do better is by having heads and beds the only way we're going to get heads and beds is that we've got to have safe hotel destinations and communities uh or resort campuses throughout the archipelago of the bahamas to serve as tourists even more essential he says is the provision of vaccines for hotel workers throughout the family islands high on the priority there should be some of the smaller islands that obviously have a number of boutique properties uh that has a little bit more diverse offering for tourists uh whether it's boating yachting fishing etc etc that that efforts should be made to ensure that the availability not only of vaccines but ongoing rapid testing while some residents can't wait for the shots that will protect them against covet-19 some on the other hand say they're not ready to take the vaccine just yet sparking debate over whether or not employers can make workers take the vaccine in order to remain at work while attorney attorney rather wayne monroe qc sought to bring some clarity to this matter telling eyewitness news there's no provision in law that would allow such a thing all of them are currently only approved for emergency use the other issue would be anybody who is mandating an employee to take a vaccine ought to be demanded to undertake for damages because you can't sue the vaccine maker if you die from it because they have immunity so anybody who's mandating anyone to get this vaccine ought to be mandated to assume liability for the for any defect in the product it can't be stressed enough this is only for emergency use it's only been approved everywhere for emergency use and at the end of the day if you want it you take it but to foist it on somebody where you say we haven't gone through the rigor that we would go through ordinarily before we finally approve vaccines but because this is such a circumstances we'll let you use it now but we ordinarily wouldn't as if the uk strain wasn't enough to worry about another alarming strain has emerged in south africa global studies revealing that the immune response triggered by a covet-19 infection or infection may be less effective at protecting against a new strain and according to infectious disease program director dr nikia forbes they are keeping a close eye on this new strain as it develops and this was described recently not too long after we heard about the uk variant and the thing with this south african strain is that it is spreading rapidly in south africa as a matter of fact that raised concerns and instituted spring there are concerns that people who come in contact with this strain may spread who get the strain may spread this variant they're more likely to spread it because it appears to be more contagious just like the uk script and there are also concerns that people who have had proven 19 before that they may not have lasting immunity towards the south african strain it remains unclear however if the current vaccines on the market will protect against this emerging strain the immunity provided by the vaccine should be broader than that from nasal infection and so scientists are hopeful that the kovic 19 vaccine will work against these emerging strains but we have to prove it it's just it has to be proven that's what science is like and so we should have that information coming out when those studies are concluded but you are right viruses can mutate and we don't know what this means as it relates to 19 vaccines at this time will they be efficacious against these strains we we will still be we certainly hope so but if not then there is room for adaptation of these vaccines so that they would cover emerging strength and that is not too different than how we get the flu vaccine every so often to accommodate um changes in the in the circulating strain the flu virus but we need more information to see if that will will be the situation as it relates to cope at 19 in these vaccines bahamas union of teachers president belinda wilson says she is concerned about the uk covet 19 strain that has spread to more than 60 countries this variant according to medical professionals is not more deadly but it is easily transmitted wilson telling eyewitness news that she is worried that if the new strain comes to our shores our children will be at a higher risk of infection and it has a transmissible rate as high as 70 percent even more alarming is that it could mean that children are susceptible and very recently in the usa they recorded over eleven thousand children of school age who were infected with the covet 19. so for us here in the bahamas i would say that we need education about the vaccine its benefits and its effects and we need education and information on the process and the procedure for the vaccination in other news tonight progressive liberal party chairman senator fred mitchell he is accusing the government of using the police force to oppress bohemians and he is claiming that the constant roadblocks have become a burden to the public pockets senator mitchell questioning if the roadblocks are being used to add more money to the treasury rather than keeping bohemian safe yesterday motorists going to work in various parts of new providence and in grand bahama were inconvenienced as they went to work being stopped by police officers to search they said for firearms and drugs we repeat that there is a court ruling in this country that these mass roadblocks are unlawful but instead of the authorities listening to the protests it is getting worse one police officer was reported by the nassau guardian as boasting about having collected three hundred and ninety five thousand dollars in fines this then is the game the afnam government is extracting fines off poor and unemployed people this cannot be right and must stop the pop chairman also calling for the resignation of central and south luthor mp hank johnson following an altercation involving his wife his brother-in-law and a female friend police commissioner paul rule confirmed that johnson filed a complaint with police alleging he was assaulted by his brother-in-law while visiting a friend in coral harbor over the weekend roelle said johnson's wife filed a counter-complaint against him now johnson's brother-in-law was reportedly charged and is on police bail mitchell says it's been days after the alleged incident and there has still been no word from prime minister dr biminis or johnson on what really happened almost a week now has passed since hank johnson the south of lutheran mp was involved in a fracker with his wife no women's group in this country has spoken up about it the prime minister has not spoken up and the cat has gotten mr johnson's tongue we again call for a full public accounting on this matter if this had been a plp mp the usual suspect would have been all over the press in full frontal attack mode but because it's an f m m p the media the women's groups are all silent while many of our islands continue to grapple with the adverse effects of covet 19. andros is said to be recovering quite smoothly from both an economic standpoint and a health one our janelle longley spoke with the island's administrator while on andros last week opportunity existed for persons to return to the bahamas and especially to the pristine and open spaces of andros they certainly came back and they are coming back in droves andrus island administrator glenn lightbourne says the things are beginning to look up for the island after covet 19 left many struggling for some time with restrictions beginning to relax he says tourists have been more interested now more than ever it's having persons come to do their bone fish guiding and so forth so we see positive signs in the return well things are starting to bounce back um he has an anecdote the kamalami key which is a private resort island over the holidays they've had in excess of 100 guests for continuous periods of time in fact i know two of the employees and because of the requirements of for the visitors they worked like 30 consecutive days in march when covet 19 hit and businesses began to close many were left ailing and heavily dependent on government assistance lightbourne says however androsians were not too bad off in maintaining our economy in central andreas is that those who are employed at the autec base they retained them on salary so while you have almost 200 persons who were employed by the autec base they were not able to work behind the base but they've been receiving their salary since march that's 10 months of salary and that has been a stimulus in our economy now the island to date has had only 24 cases of covet 19 none of which are active at this time and lightbourne says moving forward they only expect the economy to ramp up even more janelle longley eyewitness news and still to come tonight a grieving woman demanding justice after she claimed she was ripped off by a local funeral home and later the rotary club of southeast nassau bridging the digital divide we've got more on that but first here's a check on how it's looking outside your window tonight your home is where your heart is but it's more than just shelter your home is your workplace your home is school for your kids your home is even your happy place where you play get the best internet connection wherever you are with blazing fast speeds up to 300 megabits per second for as low as 99.99 and installation within 48 hours sign up for any of our fiber packages today and get a chance to win a smart tv plus a free tablet in your second month call our whatsapp 577 shop or 424 shop and sign up today condition supply [Music] you work hard to provide for and protect the ones you love however life can present unexpected challenges [Music] who you call in times of need matters insurance management is a bohemian-owned company that has been serving our community for over 40 years offering a wide range of coverage for all of your personal professional and commercial needs when life happens rest easy knowing that our skilled and experienced agents are there for you in your time of need so that you can get back to what matters most [Music] insurance management nobody does it better looking for the freshest and cleanest meat in town visit balfour consumer meat mart located balfour and charles vincent street where you can find everyday meat specials from 1499 to 29.99 and weekly specials to look forward to they're just not your one-stop shop they're your neighborhood partners with five-star deals and services balfour consumer meatmart stands by their motto freshness you can taste and value you can trust with free shipping to the family islands they're open mondays to thursdays 7 a.m to 8 p.m fridays and saturdays 7 a.m to 9 00 p.m and sundays 7 a.m to 5 p.m you're watching eyewitness news welcome back well be careful who you pay for funeral services that's the warning coming from a grieving woman who claims she was ripped off by an unscrupulous funeral director arson sanchesca brown tells us more in this next report tonight lavita thurston's brother died of a massive heart attack five years ago months after her daughter was murdered ann thurston says the pain and agony of losing two loved ones was compounded by being ripped off by an unscrupulous funeral home director who she claims stole from her certain things that was paid to be done they didn't do it like my grave after my daughter um died we go on and we got all the graves surrounding her and they were doubled i show him my least showing that they are mines and so he dig the grave single and then he was supposed to bring a big poster picture for my um brother in the church he did not do that we never got that picture the pictures from the viewing we never got those pictures but that's not all my brother brand new shoes he said they accidentally threw them away but adam at the morning at the funeral at the church we saw one of the workers with a shooter similar to my brother owen and they seemed new also they threw away my brother clothes because they were soil how can you throw away somebody's stuff and you didn't inform none of the family member the obituary was printed semi-color when you charge me sixteen hundred dollars for full color obituaries thursday took the man to court and was awarded two thousand dollars however to this day she says she has still not been paid i'm not going to stop until he gives me back what is owed to me this is a court order why are you running from a court order a warrant of arrest is out for him for almost five years i've been going to the warren section i've been going to certain police stations and i've been going to places where i needed to go to get this model resolved and yet still almost five years nothing happens yet she is warning other bahamians to be careful he is still doing people wrong and is people like him who rapes and robs family while they're grieving because if we already have a loss why would you still turn around and steal from us we cannot have this kind of service being rendered to our poor bohemian people in this town it's not right sanchezka brown eyewitness news well as the police force muscled through the pandemic in 2020 the police commissioner confirming that 288 members of the force tested positive for covet 19. now while the virus impacted the force's manpower over a 10-month span the commissioner says police had their hands full policing residents who refused to comply with the emergency power's order there were 4 275 breaches to the covet 19 emergency powers orders the figure includes 2 370 curfew violations the force also responded to 126 covet 19 calls for assistance well as part of the force's humanitarian efforts during the pandemic the commissioner revealing that the royal bahamas police force continues to partner with and support communities which have been negatively impacted by the covet 19 pandemic with 144 neighborhood watch branches throughout the bahamas the commissioner says the force was able to identify and assist hundreds of residents with food and general supplies to the tune of over a half of a million dollars our community relations activities included community walkabouts food drive initiatives distribution of food and grocery vouchers water face masks school supplies and tablet computers for children to access the virtual learning portal and the encouragement of residents to wear face masks to prevent the further spread of the virus well access to online learning just got a little easier for dozens of students at columbus primary school the rotary club of southeast nassau donating a number of computer devices to the primary school on friday morning to assist disadvantaged students with access online learning during the pandemic the onset of the global pandemic made face-to-face learning quite challenging and eventually forcing students across the country to transition to online learning unfortunately however there are thousands of students who still remain without access to computers to engage in online learning platforms president of the rotary club of southeast nassau lionel haven says the donation to students at the columbus primary school seeks to address that issue the global pandemic has changed all of our lives in so many ways creating new challenges for us all education of course has taken a very big hit and now both teachers and students are required to interact virtually for great many students and families this has been a difficult hurdle to overcome ensuring that each child has a device and the internet has been that challenge through the generous donation of mrs barbara van der velde and of course represented by miss brenda hart here our club is able today to present 50 tablets to your students for their use in furthering their education principal at columbus primary jacqueline sands accepting the donation friday morning thanks rotarians for their kind gesture she was joined by the ministry of education's district education officer for the eastern district of new providence sherilyn anderson anderson commending the civic organization and its private donor for assisting with closing the gap currently experiencing online learning within the public school system we presently have some 134 students who are not online as yet and so this donation will go a very very long way in ensuring that we are able to put 50 more students online we look forward to meeting the donor real soon and we we look forward to the continuous wonderful working relationship that we now have at rotary these tablets will go a long way in assisting our children in their educational endeavors as you may or may not know there are a number of children still without tablets so we receive these and we're excited about it tonight a local dj turning lemons into lemonade using the downtime during the quarantine to create special projects that's coming your way very soon the new project with drew harmony which is my new track on multiple tracks that are going to be coming out on a slight ep no i'm not rapping i'm not seeing it but of course it'll be something unique that will involve a feature singer and it's going to be a crazy crazy crazy project and i wish that everybody would take heed to what genres i'm going to produce with uh drew harmony on my ep i can't list the name now but it's coming soon dj ignite has etched his name in the entertainment industry after toiling for years to reach to the top his talents landing him in collaboration with bohemian r b singer and producer drew harmony he told us how it all started i sat down and we were reviewing other djs and i came across a project with drew that i did with the hennessey brand and i say hey drew i need a new producer and he's like okay let's do it and explain him what avenue i wanted to take to make this track and he was all about it and obviously with his contacts he can find me a vocal artist to help fill this whole instrument that i'm going to produce and you know have a global track that'll take me further into the world dj ignite is remaining tight-lipped on the details of the new tracks but says the public can expect to hear his new music this summer the coronavirus pandemic severely impacted the entertainment industry prompting him to find new ways to adapt but he says things are beginning to return to normalcy and pretty soon he'll be back on the ones and twos with the nfl yes the super bowl will be back on the docket as you guys saw last year i was one of the featured djs at the super bowl i did the very high end party at the versace mansion along with an exclusive yacht party that just was staged outside of the miami heat stadium so that was a pretty exciting venture and you know the top of the line for me as a dj he's hoping his rise to success inspires up and coming dj's words of advice to all the other guys that are coming up in the industry is that i would encourage you to have multiple revenue sources multiple streams of income due to the fact the way the world's situated now with the covet 19 i would encourage you guys to use the downtime wisely seek out education networking so that when music does resume you can go ahead and i'll be a better dj but also please use the time to create another source of revenue another source of income we certainly cannot wait to hear the new music while coming up how mount moriah constituents are creating civic habits of the heart we'll tell you all about it coming up tonight in our sunday feature the new cash and gold mobile wallet the mobile wallet will allow you to load funds from any branded debit or credit card free of charge send funds locally to others with the wallet using just their mobile number pay utility bills and more it helps you keep track of your daily transactions android users download the mobile app from the play store while apple users can download from the apple app store caching go's new mobile wallet easy simple safe and secure it's the new little caesars extreme barbecue chicken pizza it's an extreme blend of our best ingredients that will surely spice up your appetite made with marinated chicken tiny onions a signature barbecue ranch sauce green peppers and cheese and it's only 13 including bat that's right try the new extreme barbecue chicken pizza for only 13 at little jesus carmichael oaksville shopping plaza or the e street pineapple plaza the new hot and ready extreme bbq chicken pizza at little caesars pizza pizza you're watching eyewitness news welcome back a unique partnership in the mount moriah constituency not only putting young men to work but also assisting in beautifying the environment in tonight's sunday feature artheo seeley takes a look at how that constituency is seeking to set a trend of community involvement development and upliftment while the pandemic stole the annual junkanoo parades from the traditional holiday lineup at the end of 2020 and at the start of 2021 a unique partnership between the member of parliament for mount moriah marvin dames the immortal junking group and three neighborhood watch associations commissioned jungkook newers within that community to work on a community building exercise dames got those members in the group to turn garbage cans into vibrant artwork to be placed throughout three communities which comprise the mount moriah constituency 15 of the brilliant colored tins were produced in the first batch and it is expected that dozens more will be made within the coming weeks while the other jungle groups are on a sabbatical because they're no junkanu the immorals continue to work to build community and that's that's what i like about this group of young men and women and that's one of the reasons why we decided to partner with them from the beginning jermaine williams leader of the immortal junking group says the initiative got idle hands to work and the entire community will now benefit from the initiative which is aimed at keeping the area clean people in our community need a chance and they need a chance to display their art we got a lot of people in the mariah community and they could do certain things and this is only one step that you know we can keep the community together and the guys there was excited when they say okay we got some bins to ping for the community and i had to like stop people and say okay you you get to look over it you can help people come in certain times a certain day so this is an opportunity for us to give back to our community representatives from the neighborhood watch association situated within the three communities which comprise a mount moriah constituency yellow elder stapleton gardens and millennium gardens spoke highly of the initiative see this as a beautiful art and you could never pass by this without thinking about click click you know it's a joke a little spirit not the best i am not really so i want to thank you minister this will go well on our newly renovated park of course we do in yellow ella it's beautiful and i'm quite sure people will make extensions of that the same we have in our community in millennium gardens and he says that if 100 of the people do one percent of the work the workers are 100 complete and i truly believe that and this right here is a prime example of what we can do once we come together and continue to just work together we're building the economic legacy we're finding work for our young people and even older ones if they are interested and we're also keeping the community safe and we're building that camaraderie within the community so again kudos to the young men from the community to our minister and to all of us because of course when we join together the stronger we are the better we are now according to dames this is just one of a number of community initiatives currently underway in mount moriah there has been ongoing removal of dural vehicles as well a little over 300 to date theo ceiling eyewitness news such a great initiative well that's tonight's eyewitness news for all of us i'm matthew moxie thank you for joining us and good night