NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Progressive Liberal Party Leader (PLP) Philip Brave Davis yesterday insisted that there is no connection between the behavior of the Bahamian people and the government’s decision to remove the state of emergency, labelling recent suggestions by the attorney general as “insulting”.
Attorney General Carl Bethel has advised that the government is aiming for the removal of the coronavirus emergency orders and emergency powers when the current state of emergency ends on August 13.
He noted that “everything depends on how we behave ourselves as a people”, indicating the governor general could still issue a new state of emergency if COVID-19 infections get out of control and it is deemed necessary.
Davis, however, took issue with Bethel’s assertion.
“This issue of Bahamians behaving and will determine whether they extend or do not extend the state of emergency, it’s foolishness, it’s disgraceful,” he said on the sidelines of a recent press conference at the party’s headquarters.
“Who do you think Bahamians are? It’s insulting. It just shows their contempt for us. Who does he think he’s talking to?”
Davis maintained that the government did not need a state of emergency order and sweeping powers to mitigate the virus.
“The state of emergency is directly related to whether or not there is a set of circumstances that require the proclamation of emergency to continue to exist,” he said.
“We have been saying for many months now that those circumstances do not exist.”
A public state of emergency has been in effect since March 2020, along with teetering lockdowns and daily curfews.
There have been four separate proclamations since the first one last year.
As of Tuesday, there were 12,407 cases of COVID-19 in the country, of which 685 remain active.
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