THE PRIME MINISTER REVERSES COURSE ON COVID CHANGES – THEN REVERSES COURSE AGAIN

So about 4 p.m. on Friday 30 2020, the equivalent in journalism to the dead of night, the Government published the rules that are to govern us under their new emergency powers which are to last until 30 November. Now remember that the Minister of Tourism and the Prime Minister were both boasting about how the country was going to open to tourism on 1 November 2020 and that there would be no need to quarantine in place for 14 days after you arrived.

The Minister of Tourism rightly said that no one would  come to The Bahamas as a tourist and have to quarantine in place for 14 days.

This was major. The country and the Opposition were unsettled about it but there was relief in a sense because the economy would start going again.

Remember also that under these rules that the FNM has put in place, once the Prime Minister announces the changes, the changes come into effect.

Remember also that the FNM was supposed to be the Government of transparency and openness.

So why then did the Government not simply announce openly that they had changed their minds?

The orders came out and there is not one change to the travel provisions. You had not read through 33 pages of legalese to find that out. Nope no change.

 Well that was Friday and Saturday morning.

The back story is the Minister of Tourism Dionisio was so pissed, he was on the verge of throwing in the towel.  He told the Minister of Health, give it up or else. He got his way because on Saturday afternoon, they changed course again.  No quarantine, no tests required. You are virtually free to go.

You had to read through 33 pages of legalese to find that out. Nope no change.

Adam Stewart who is the Deputy Chair of Sandals told the Exuma Business Seminar last week that the reason that Sandals is not open in Exuma is because Sandals could not determine what the Government was going to do.

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Hubert Minnis proved again that he has no damn idea what he is doing. Lost in space. 

So  the tour companies, the hotels and other businesses, including the airlines who all thught that they could bring customers to The Bahamas on the basis of long announced rules found out on Friday afternoon, no can do.

What a lousy ass Government we have.