HARD DECISION: AG says govt must determine whether permanent COVID legislation is sufficient to fight new wave

HARD DECISION: AG says govt must determine whether permanent COVID legislation is sufficient to fight new wave
Attorney General Carl Bethel. (FILE PHOTO)

NASSAU, BAHAMAS­ — Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday the government must make the “hard decision” to determine whether discontinuation of the public state of emergency and implementation of ordinary COVID legislation with “half of the powers” would be sufficient to fight the new wave of COVID in The Bahamas.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis tabled a resolution in the House of Assembly on Monday that would extend the state of emergency to August 13, though he said the government does not foresee extending the emergency orders beyond that.

Asked whether the permanent COVID legislation Bethel foreshadowed in February would be completed by August, Bethel told Eyewitness News: “Well, I am sure it will be by then.

“But the point is that the judgment, in any event, has to be made whether, in view of the uncertainties of the moment, you want to move to a legal regime that gives you fewer tools to fight an unknown or rapidly changing enemy.

“That is the problem we face right now.”

“…I am sure there will never be a consensus as long as you are getting close to an election, but the reality is government has to make decisions that are hard decisions. The question is, do you want to have half the tools in your toolkit or do you want to have the full range of options at the moment?”

In February, Bethel said the government was drafting a bill that would create a “new framework” for permanent COVID-19 legislation concerning the health aspects of the emergency orders, while an advisory committee will advise the minister responsible on the civil aspects of the orders.

The ordinary legislation would not authorize the government to implement across-the-board curfews or travel restrictions as it deals with freedom of movement — a constitutional provision that can only be limited by a state of emergency.

As it relates to the draft legislation, the attorney general explained that more has to be done on it, but the law reform commission, which has been bogged down with the budget bills, has been unable to work on it.

Bethel said the question must be asked: Can The Bahamas “survive a third wave by seeking to rely on something that only gives you half of the power to fight what the problem is”?

The government attributed its swift action to implement a public state of emergency, close the borders and impose lockdowns and a curfew to the success in keeping COVID-19 cases low during the first wave, which spanned from mid-March 2020 to the end of June 2020.

As the borders opened in July, there was an explosion of cases, climbing from around 104 in early July 2020 to more than 8,300 cases by February 2021.

There was a flattening of the curve by mid-February 2021.

However, The Bahamas entered a third wave of infections by mid-March 2021, which has been attributed to breaches of the health protocols, international travel and the emergence of COVID variants.

As of Sunday, there were 11,225 cases and 46 hospitalizations.

Bethel said: “We have been successful thus far.

“The third wave is posing challenges because of — I mean it is far [to say] there is something different going on in terms of and people have COVID fatigue.

“And it’s not been determined, but it seems to be a slight different kind of wave than previous ones.”

The attorney general also took exception to what he said was Opposition Leader Philip Brave Davis misquoting him.

“When I said that you could pass law, I said yes, but you don’t have the same powers, and so a government may have to determine whether they need the full plenitude of power given by the emergency orders or they can survive on something less than that,” he said.

“I have referred to legal authority out of Trinidad that is persuasive that indicates that certain powers, such as across-the-board curfew, are not permissible under ordinary legislation.

“And there are certain other things such as travel restrictions that are in the nature of a curfew because they restrict freedom of movement that also have to be severely limited or targeted, and it cannot be right across the board under ordinary legislation.”

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.

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