The Tribune

THE scenes at the Spikenard Graveyard are horrific.

Graves standing open, a coffin on view in debris and rubble.

Some of the graves have been damaged, it seems, by construction work. Others have reportedly been targeted by witchcraft.

As we say, absolutely horrific.

This wasn’t hard to spot. When the Tribune photographer attended the scene, it was easy to find the damaged graves, so there’s no reason why the authorities should not be aware.

Indeed, the head of the Bahamas Funeral Directors Association, Kirsch Ferguson, said that some grave sites have been left in total ruin.

According to Mr Ferguson, some of the damage is from vandalism, some from people attending funeral services and graves caving in under their feet or being trampled to cause damage.

He added: “We still have a large population in this country who still believe or practice witchcraft and some of their sites of practice are in public cemeteries so these are some of things that you would notice on a current basis.

“But by and large it’s just that the cemetery or the graves are being desecrated by persons who are walking on graves and/or carrying out services.”

Whatever happened to the respect one would show in a graveyard by avoiding walking on graves?

Still, however the graves are being damaged, there is a clear need to improve their upkeep, maintenance and repair when necessary.

On that, it is the duty of the Ministry of Public Works to manage the cemeteries. According to Mr Ferguson, the Ministry has improved over the years – but clearly by the state of Spikenard, not enough.

The Tribune tried to get answers on what was being done to remedy the damage seen at the cemetery – but despite numerous calls, there was no comment from officials.

These graves are filled with our family members – mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and more – and they deserve to be treated with respect.

We have invited the Ministry of Works to give answers on what will be done.

We await their response.

STAR Academy

Is pouring more public money into the STAR Academy really a good idea?

The academy, on the property of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Wulff Road, already had $25.7m invested into the centre for at-risk youth under the administration of Perry Christie. Under the Minnis administration, then Works Minister Desmond Bannister said it would need another $10m to complete – and it went unfinished.

But up it pops again under the new PLP administration, and talks are on the go again, with Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin saying the government is in discussions over the use of the location, possibly for different purposes than originally intended.

Under the Minnis administration, a press release stated that despite a lease agreement being drawn up and two years of work being done, church officials had not paid any rent or received any money.

It doesn’t sound the most enticing way to invest our money, does it? In the wake of the news about more money having to be poured into the baseball stadium as well, it begs the question of whether we’re investing wisely or throwing good money after bad. Will we get any financial return from the STAR Academy if there isn’t even rent being paid? Or will we just be handing a multi-million property over for nothing?

Before any money is thrown into the project, there ought to be clarity about what rent has been paid, what income has been returned, and what exactly the final purpose of the centre would be – and whether the money to achieve that could be better spent on already existing facilities.

Indeed, why can the church itself not complete the project if it is so important to its goals? Churches across the country fundraise all the time for new facilities.

It’s very tiring to see projects started under one administration, abandoned under another and then dusted off again when the first party gets back in power – and it begs many questions about the process of getting these projects off the ground in the first place.

Star Academy may well be worth the investment – but there’s no indication of that given the information available publicly right now. If we’re going to throw more money at it, then make the case – but explain it to us all.