The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING last week’s “devastating” storm that saw overwhelming flooding in parts of New Providence, opposition leader Dr Hubert Minnis said he is disappointed the Prime Minister has not “taken a leadership role” in speaking out about the storm.

Speaking at FNM headquarters on Thursday, Dr Minnis called for flood victims to receive some form of government assistance – including duty exemptions to replace damaged items, as well as potential monetary assistance.

He also criticised the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for “dropping the ball” and not mobilising sooner.

“We just experienced what I would term a national disaster,” Dr Minnis said.

“I’m surprised that the prime minister has not taken leadership role and called an emergency Cabinet meeting which I think he should have done from last night considering the disaster in the south and the east.”

The opposition leader said as a result of that meeting, Prime Minister Perry Christie would have had some idea of the damage and subsequently be prepared to offer some form of assistance.

He said the FNM – including MPs Hubert Chipman and Richard Lighbourn – conducted a tour of areas affected by flooding where they saw, firsthand, the severe damage that was done to many properties.

“What we saw was devastating,” Dr Minnis said. “There’s one particular lady in the Pinewood area, not only was her convenience store destroyed but a relative in the house also drives a taxi – the taxi was underwater and the car is underwater, so they’re all written off.”

Several persons had cars, appliances, and roofs destroyed, and suffered interior damage, Dr Minnis said.

The prime minister should allow for those affected persons to obtain goods - such as electrical supplies, plumbing supplies, and roofing supplies - duty free for a limited time, he said.

“I would also hope that because of the recession, true leaders would also try to infuse and give them some form of remuneration to assist because the duty concession is one thing but purchasing is another,” he said.

Dr Minnis also spoke on the way NEMA handled the “national disaster”.

He said: “The Met office claims that they had reported it in a timely fashion.

“If that is so, knowing the severity of it, then NEMA should have been mobilised sooner; NEMA should have made a proper report to the prime minister.

“Rather than us being in Parliament yesterday, a proper announcement to the country should have been made and Parliament should have been suspended for that particular time so as to deal with the information that they would have received from NEMA.

“None of that was done so I think, in a nutshell, NEMA dropped the ball. They were not as aggressive as they should have been. If they were aggressive, they would have had a better idea of what was happening. The prime minister should have been informed and if he had been informed then he should have dealt with it as if it was a national emergency, and dealt with it appropriately.”

The prime minister was “late again,” Dr Minnis said.