In opposition the Davis led Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) had a lot to say and a lot of advice to give on the control and mitigation of the COVID-19 virus in the country; they even went as far as to create their very own task force.

Today, they, the Davis led PLP, are the government and they have gone very quiet on the subject of the Covid-19, except for a sound byte here or there advising people to adhere to basic protocols.  I mean even their Covid-19 task force established in opposition has gone missing.  My question is are these sound bytes making a difference as the number of cases begin to increase?

“COVID SURGE HAS HIT THE BAHAMAS – Death toll hit 800 and 200 new Cases so far this month” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “HEATH officials yesterday confirmed that the country is in another surge of COVID-19 infections after more than 200 cases were confirmed so far this month.

The revelation comes as the country continued to record double digit numbers, with 27 cases on Wednesday and 24 on Tuesday, bringing the nation’s overall total to 33,830 since the start of the pandemic.

There has always been two more virus related deaths confirmed, pushing the death toll to 800.  The latest deceased victims being were a 67-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man, both from Grand Bahama.

During a press conference at the Office of The Prime Minister yesterday, Dr. Philip Swann, registrar at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, attributed the recent increase in virus cases to mostly ‘COVID fatigue’.

‘We’re seeing it’s basically more related to COVID 19.’ Dr. Swann said yesterday.  ‘There are persons who are pushing for mask mandates to be removed and some of them are just going on and removing those mask mandates themselves, so the reality is we strongly believe in the science and science is proving true.’

According to Dr. Swann this surge is more manageable than pervious COVID waves in that fewer people are requiring serious hospitalization.

Because of this, he said officials are not as concerned as they feel they have COVID situation in the country is under control.”

So let me see if I can out this into perspective; for officials to become “concerned” more people must first become seriously sick and maybe die? I remember the “hell’ raised by the Davis led PLP opposition when the first person died of COVID-19 and how they would not allow that family to grieve in peace, as they used this woman’s death to try and prove the incompetence of the Free National Movement (FNM) in dealing with the situation but today it seems okay for one or two people to die, just as long as the health care facilities are not being overburdened.

You really cannot make this up.

I have been asking one thing of the New Day government, knowing that another outbreak was inevitable, was there a plan in place to be rolled out immediately to help with the mitigation of the spread of this virus and it would appear that the answer is….no!  The former Free National Movement (FNM) administration had a plan even if most of the country did not like it, but there is one. 

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I recall my first year in Queens College and getting caught by Mr. Andrews riding a bicycle in the Quadrangle, this was against the schools rules. As he was writing a demerit, I tried to explain to him that I was unaware that what I was doing was against the rules/laws of the school; he replied that it was my responsibility to learn and know the rules of the institution and that ignorance of them was no excuse.

“Some Mp’s ‘not aware’ they had to file disclosure – Some ‘just finding out about legal requirement” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Some first time MP’s were unaware that there was a legal requirement for them to file financial disclosures under the Public Disclosure Act, Commission Chairman Bishop Victor Cooper told The Nassau Guardian.

The deadline for parliamentarians to file their disclosure was March 1.

The act empowers the commission to extend the time for the filing of declarations ‘for a further period not exceeding 30 days.’

‘……There are persons who are new members of Parliament who aren’t aware and so as a result of some person just finding out and so they’ve been advised that they need to get the information in and they’ve been advised to do that ASAP,’ Cooper said.

It’s just a matter of helping those, giving a simple grace period for those who haven’t been through the process before.”

Giving persons a “grace period” when they claim that they are unaware of the law is simple incompetence and my first question is this; governments have argued about this for decades; so how does one now come and claim to “not be aware”?

Have you been living in a cave in Mayaguana?!

Let us establish a few facts; one, new candidates must undergo a candidates training program during which they are advised of the process and laws that they would have to follow as members of parliament and two, that the chairman of the commission that oversaw this process was Myles Laroda, PLP member of parliament for Pinewood, when the PLP was in opposition; with these two facts being established the question now is exactly what is the PLP, as an organization and government asking the people of The Bahamas to believe?

The entire situation just reeks of either incompetence or an air of abhorrent arrogance, maybe both, but either way it is totally unacceptable and very shameful if junior members the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) actually did not know and worst if they knew and are claiming not to know.

It would appear that the PLP members of parliament, well some of them, really believe that the people that elected them to office are willing to “eat” anything that they are “fed” and have already begun to take advantage of their ignorance by claiming ignorance and the sad part about it all is that there will be people fully willing to support and defend this level of ineptitude, incompetence and laziness.

The Progressive Liberal fails for one reason, it is their nature.

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