NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The upcoming budget is expected to contain provisions for the resumption of court inquests into police-involved shootings that have lapsed for more than two years, according to Press Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Clint Watson.
During the Office of the Prime Minister’s weekly press briefing, Watson said Minister of State for Legal Affairs Jomo Campbell has continued to work on the issue and there is an expectation for an update on the matter “real soon”.
“Under normal circumstances elections would have due sometime around this weekend, May 10, and then the new administration would have begun, so what you find happening is the Davis administration has been forced to walk very quickly in taking office and there are a number of emergencies that have come up that have been addressing…,” he said.
“That’s going to hopefully be addressed and I think you’ll hear in the upcoming budget provisions have been made to ensure that is a tool that we are using to fight crime in being able to bring those up.
Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis has said the absence of inquests into police-involved shootings for example is unacceptable.
There were 13 police-involved shootings last year.
The delays in inquests were attributed to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the need for the courtrooms to be outfitted with equipment such as plexiglass to mitigate the spread of the virus.
When former Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, there were further delays.
Last September, Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux was named acting coroner.
Last December, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle said he appointed a committee within the police force, comprising of then Deputy Commissioner Clayton Fernander, Assistant Commissioner Leamond Deleveaux, Assistant Commissioner Zhivargo Dames and Father Steven Davies to look at each of the police-involved killings due to concerns about the ongoing delay.
Watson was asked what factors, since the onset of the pandemic, are driving the prolonged lapse in these hearings.
He explained there is a need for trained professionals in the public service, adding not many Bahamians apply due to a lack of qualifications or skillset required for certain positions.
Watson also suggested that nepotism will not be facilitated under the Davis administration.
“Instead of just putting somebody into the system and it leads [to] a bottleneck because they don’t know what they are doing or they don’t have the skills to deal with it,” Watson said.
“We have to find the right people who can advance the public service so we no longer have the backlog; we no longer have inefficiencies rather than putting anybody in the job and say do the job.
“Then you have inefficiencies because somebody is not qualified to do the work. We’re trying to find the right people and no longer putting anybody in the public service. We are treating the public service as it should be treated, as a skilled labor force of professionals.
“And when we are able to fill public service positions with skilled laborers we no longer have to dispel the myth of the public service that it is lazy, that it is lackadaisical, that it is slow-moving because you know have professional [who] are working in the industry.
“And that’s what the Davis administration is trying to do, put qualified people.”
The press secretary said that practice is offensive to some.
“Some people believe if your administration is in office just give me a job and you ended up having what — inefficiencies in the public service because we gave the job to somebody based on politics rather than qualifications,” he said.
