THE MINISTER OF HEALTH, THE PRIME MINISTER, MUST GO

Only Kafka could have written a story as bizarre as this. The Government forgot that the order for the extension of the Proclamation of the State of Public Emergency expired on 29 June 2020. But they scheduled a debate on 30 June 2020.  That meant that the extension debate would be a nullity because the proclamation would already have expired.  Uh oh. They had a problem. So the Attorney General then convenes the Senate to say it’s his fault and that of his department but refuses to offer his resignation. But in the middle of his mea culpa on the subject, he then said that the PLP had exercised its right not to waive the one day notice which was required by the rules in order to debate a resolution in the House. How did the PLP get in it?  He quickly added that he was drawing no adverse conclusion.  Senator Fred Mitchell objected on the point and said that the PLP did no such thing and had never been asked. That the PLP got a voice note from the Leader of Government business in the House saying that the debate would take place on 30 June 2020.  So the matter was entirely of the making of the Government.  That did not stop the FNM from sending out a press release blaming the PLP for the mess up.  The new proclamation was then made. What follows next is also like a script from Franz Kafka.  The Attorney General had the Senate adjourn sine die on 29 June 2020 and was not due to meet but they forgot to issue a proclamation from the Governor General summoning the members back to the Senate since we were not due to meet.  That is what the Constitution required.  Senator Bethel had to withdraw the laying of the proclamation and start again in the afternoon of 3^rd July 2020.  Lastly, the Prime Minister is the Minister of Health, he  replaced Dr. Duane Sands who resigned for breaches of the protocols of entry into The Bahamas. At the press conference of the Ministry of Health on Thursday 2^nd July 2020, the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pearl McMillan nor Dr. Mercelin Dahl Regis, head of the Government’s Covid 19 task force, could say whether some Mexican imported workers had Covid 19 negative tests when they entered The Bahamas. The PLP’s Chairman said if that were the case then heads should roll and since the chief was the Minister, he needed to go. Late on Friday 3 July 2020, the Minister for Immigration issued a statement saying that all immigration procedures including the Covid 19 tests had been followed.