NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government intends to move forward with its campaign promise to end the state of emergency, said Attorney General Ryan Pinder yesterday.
He noted that legislation to replace the orders will be ready by the time the current order ends in November.
A public state of emergency has been in effect since last March, along with teetering lockdowns and daily curfews. There have been four separate proclamations since the first one last year, with the extension of the latest one set to end on November 13.
The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has been against the orders since the inception and its parliamentary caucus has voted against all of the Minnis administration’s resolutions to extend the orders.
Speaking to reporters on the matter outside Cabinet, Pinder said the removal of those emergency orders is a mandate of the government and is still is on the “front burner” of its agenda.
“The prime minister was very clear before the election that we look to pass legislation whereby we could manage the pandemic in a transparent and predictable way for the Bahamian people rather than an ad-hoc approach from emergency order to the emergency order that gives Bahamian businesses no notices on how they are going to operate and that gives the Bahamian citizens no notice on how they are going to conduct their daily lives,” Pinder said.
During the last sitting of Parliament under the Minnis administration, former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis tabled a new bill that would put in place a statutory framework to mitigate public health emergencies.
The Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Management Bill, 2021, would empower the minister of health to declare a public emergency through a gazetted notice after advice from the chief medical officer and the prime minister.
The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has also signaled a move to a statutory framework to mitigate the pandemic, however, it remains unclear whether the Minnis administration’s bill will be utilized in the way forward.
Legislative agenda
Parliament is expected to start for a new session on October 6, when the government will lay out its mandate and plans for the term.
Pinder told reporters yesterday that he has sent his recommendations to the Cabinet for what should be included in the government’s official Speech from the Throne.
“Our key focus is to facilitate commerce and business and to remove impediments and bureaucracies in that fashion,” he said.
He also noted that there are necessary revisions required for the administration of justice, with respect to how the courts and the justice system is conducted.
Asked about the first items he has been tasked with dealing with since his appointment as attorney general, Pinder said there is a laundry list of legislative initiatives and agenda being reviewed.
He added: “We are also looking at some of the recent appointments to the boards and the like that were done right before election to see the legality of those so we could put in place a proper and transparent system of governance so we can move the entire country forward, not just in piecemeal approach.”
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