Surely Dr. Duane Sands must have known that he had erred and crossed the line, as an elected official, a member of parliament no less; when he with the blessings of the Prime Minister and The Cabinet went about saving lives of Bahamians in dire need, as it violates the code of conduct of the Cabinet and put him in direct conflict of interest.

“Roberts accuses Sands of ethics code breach” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “DESPITE his Cabinet post, Health Minister Dr. Duane Sands has been voluntarily performing surgeries at the RAND Memorial hospital in Grand Bahama at assist medical professionals there amid staff vacancies.

He confirmed this to The Tribune yesterday after Progressive Liberal Party Chairman Bradley Roberts released a press statement suggesting impropriety on Dr. Sand’ part.  Mr. Roberts said Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, who came to power on a promise to punish ministers who have conflict-of-interest issues, has been looking the ‘the other way’ as Dr. Sands performs surgical procedures ‘at the Princess Margaret Hospital after his appointment as a Cabinet minister.

‘If these reports are true,’ Mr. Roberts said, ‘Dr. Sands in the capacity of Health Minister is in direct violation of established and longstanding cabinet code of ethics and procedures for its ministers as the Health Minister would have placed himself in a fundamental conflict between his private business interests and his public duty. Certainly the Heath Minister cannot self-regulate; it is called double dealing, an unacceptable and corrupt practice that Dr. Minnis vowed to stamp out of government.”

First, to the best of my knowledge no one has been ‘looking the other way’, as the Minister of Health has sat with the Prime Minister and addressed this matter before hand.

Then as Mr. Bradley Roberts acknowledges the act of ‘double dealing’ as being a ‘corrupt practice’, I am sure that as we move forward he would no longer have any objection to some former members of parliament being brought before the courts for same said act.

This statement by the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, however, brings about two important questions?

1. What exactly is the ‘fundamental conflict between his [Dr. Sands’] private business and his public duties and do they apply here in a situation where Dr. Sands is not being compensated for these surgeries and
2. Does the Minister of Health regulate the doctors that work for public sector? Because Dr. Sands can only be accused of self-regulation if he actually regulates the Doctors with the public sector, which would then make the Public Hospital Authority redundant.

Mr. Roberts always seems to bring up points such as these which are not germane and for the most part irrelevant to the discussion that he is contributing, and it would seem that he either does this to confuse those whom he is addressing in hopes that they do not know any better  or because maybe he does not know any better and actually has come to believe his nonsensical ramblings; in which case makes him a very dangerous man.

Indeed, Dr. Sand is going to learn from the folly of his ways that when you deal with the Progressive Liberal Party and its chairman, who has seemed to help hold the party back, any altruistic gesture such as this is only seen as a self-serving ne because they themselves cannot fathom doing good for others when there is nothing in it for themselves.

END