PLP CHIDES THE GOVERNMENT ON HURRICANE RELIEF
Leader of the PLP Philip Davis issued the following statement about the state of hurricane relief in The Bahamas. There are widespread complaints throughout the country about the sloth with which the authorities are moving to contain the problems arising from the storm. Hubert Minnis, the Prime Minister, seems absolutely clueless as to what to do. After weeks of people in Abaco complaining about the security situation there, Mr. Minnis descended on Marsh Harbour with cameras in tow to say that he was not satisfied with the security situation on the ground there and was thinking of a curfew. You could hear people sucking their teeth from as far away as where you are sitting. There is no plan for getting people out of shelters. He was also late to the table in extending the benefits of the Government’s duty free regime for hurricane rebuilding to all of Grand Bahama including Freeport and West End. The FNM are like the Keystone Cops, just falling over one another to take pictures for the cameras, and getting in the way of real relief. Dumbo, the Speaker of the House, denied the opposition a chance to air the issues fully in the House when it reconvened after a long vacation on 2nd October 2019.:
For Immediate Release
3 October 2019
Because the Government does not speak with the PLP and in keeping with the promise of the PLP to keep the public informed of issues relating to the Government’s Hurricane relief effort or defaults thereof, I bring the following to the attention of the public:
In Elbow Cay, a notice has gone out from the Local Government Committee that second homeowners will only be allowed limited access to their properties with prior notice to the Committee and only for periods of 7 days. There is clearly no lawful authority for this and the concern is that certain members of the Local Government Committee may have arrogated to themselves this authority and overstepped their bounds in this matter. Second homeowners have complained that this is their property, that they have organized the relief efforts including transportation and it is unfair for them to be denied access to their properties at will, once they have the necessary immigration permission to enter The Bahamas.
In Grand Bahama, the complaint is about the lack of communication by government agencies about what they intend for hurricane relief. People are left hanging with no idea of when the Government’s relief efforts for the rebuilding of the community will begin. Privately, people close to the FNM political power structure have been told that vouchers are to be given out sometime this week to allow for rebuilding but this is not generally known and there is anxiety in the community as a result of the lack of communication and information.
The PLP will continue to keep the public informed.
End