What we are witnessing here is a complete melt down of our country all brought on by a myriad of poor decisions and wilful ignorance of the gravity of the threat of Covid-19 to the Bahamas
The Editor
Bahamas Press 10 November 2020
Dear BP.
Those of us who have had to suffer through the interminable, rambling, bombastic and uninformative news conferences of the Prime Minister (PM) have learned that it is usually the day after when he comes up with some asinine change to all he said the day before.
The most recent press conference was no different, all kinds of confusing changes the next day. Small wonder then that Bahamians are confused, depressed, and feel that there is no plan by the FNM to make us safe and get our dying economy back on track.
The PM believes that because he has made so-called hard decisions that they are the correct ones; he is wrong. Virtually every decision that the PM makes from no bid contracts; hiring unqualified party members; opening the economy when he was advised not to do it was wrong. All he has to do is look at the nation-wide reaction to his decisions.
The PM also continues to believe that Bahamians are stupid. We know
that the changes he made recently was because of the massive lobbying efforts by the merchant class and the changes were intended to benefit them. Afterall, they are the financiers and benefactors of the FNM.
Cleary this job is too big for the PM and his FNM minions and no amount of
bombast, mean spirited statements, deflections and trolling by them will change that.
What we are witnessing here is a complete melt down of our country all brought on by a myriad of poor decisions and wilful ignorance of the gravity of the threat of Covid-19 to the Bahamas. Into this vacuum has stepped persons with their own agendas who know full well that they will not be sanctioned by the government. So, what we see is blatant breaking of quarantine rules; isolation rules, rules of protocol governing State Funerals and the complete breakdown in the functioning of government ministries and a usurpation of their statutory powers. For an example, the Central Bank of the Bahamas has issued a traffic diversion notice with respect to
the demolition of the Post Office building.
This is not within theirs power, but because this incompetent, irrational government is distracted by the consequences of its poor, haphazard governance the Central Bank feels free to usurp the powers of the Road Traffic Department. Bahamians will probably be shocked when they discover how many such incidents have occurred.
This government has no plan to get us out of this pandemic alive. Now that the PLP has revealed its own Covid-19 recovery plan the government, which has no plan of its own is working assiduously to prove that it is unworkable.
The FNM has also conveniently ignored and downplayed the growing rate of infection, deaths, hospitalizations, and economic hardship which it has visited on our frontline workers.
No amount of remote “data scrubbing” will disguise these facts because sooner or later it will be revealed. From the very beginning of this pandemic it has gone out of its way to marginalize, diminish and destroy the credibility of medical professionals, especially our nurses and junior doctors. Cry’s for more PPE, better working hours and pay commensurate with their hazardous duties have been denied and their commitment to their profession questioned and politicized.
Because of their disgraceful treatment of the nurses the nurses like many
Bahamians are suffering from; fear and anxiety; hopelessness and demotivation; fear of infection; guilt; anger and frustration; sadness and loneliness. These are the same issues that nurses, frontline workers, and ordinary citizens are facing worldwide. What is amazing and callous about the treatment of our essential workers is that their plight is being caused by other medical professionals who should appreciate that they are our first line of defence.
We as Bahamians need to protect and support our essential workers especially nurses in every way that we can. We must put aside politics and accept that If we lose them our nation is finished and the sick and dying will have to take care of themselves.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Brown
