The Tribune

If we were to invite readers to put their hands in the air if they were surprised to learn that there will be more load shedding this week, we doubt we would see many hands raised.

Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) says it will need to load shed as demand for electricity peaks, but frankly they have been load shedding whether it has been hot weather or cool, rainy weather, so we think such excuses have long worn thin.

For many of us, BPL’s continuing inability to supply the needs of customers is an inconvenience. People can’t bathe in hot water. People can’t iron clothes for work or for the kids for summer. Food stored in the fridge has to be thrown out and replaced.

For some, it hits them in the pocket. Power outages hit businesses, which either have to pay for generators and the fuel to run them or maybe they can’t run their business at all. People who work from home are left frustrated as they try to work but are let down by BPL.

For still others, though, it is a matter of life and death – such as the residents in old people’s homes where power outages have left refrigerators off long enough that vital medication has to be thrown out.

“These old people suffering under here,” says Esther Outten of the Unity House nursing home, “Every Jesus day it go off and on and right now, all the insulin what we have for the people they get hot and we can’t use them no more.”

This cannot be right. How long are people expected to suffer because of an inadequate power supply from an inadequate power company?

Earlier this year, BPL had suggested this would be the last summer of load shedding thanks to the new Wartsila engines coming online – but now we hear talk of disruption continuing into the autumn. A summer of disruption we might have grudgingly accepted if it was an end to ongoing problems – but why will it now drag on into another season? And if BPL can’t handle the autumn load, can we really expect them to cope next summer?

Meanwhile, where is Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in all of this? Why is he so silent on the daily misery being inflicted on the Bahamian people by a company badly misnamed because it can’t keep on the power and it can’t keep on the lights?

Isn’t it time for the government to be more pro-active about this? If they really care about the people, shouldn’t there be an emergency meeting to discuss the situation, take action and relay to the Bahamian people when they can expect relief? And don’t tell us the autumn.

Also in today’s paper, Bishop Simeon Hall calls on BPL to “fix the light before the darkness causes someone’s death”.

As we hear of stories of medication going bad, as we hear of people needing power for medical treatments, as we look at traffic lights out of action, as we see batteries on flashlights slowly running out of energy, we can only be thankful that no one has died yet.

If the government doesn’t take this seriously and take action now, we fear that might not remain the case. Be safe in the darkness, readers, and hold those to account who won’t take action to help you.

Find the saboteur - and prosecute them

The claim of sabotage at Princess Margaret Hospital is an explosive one. If true, it means patients’ health has been put at risk.

Non-emergency surgeries have been suspended while the investigation takes place – and we hope the authorities very quickly find the truth behind the claims, and a culprit if there is one.

We are concerned that the first reaction of the Bahamas Public Service Union president is to threaten legal action – rather than pledge the union’s full support in finding the cause of the damage and assist in locating who is responsible.

We would hope that the union would recognise that anyone damaging equipment purposefully is harming the workers in the hospital as much as the patients, and it is worrying that this is the first response from president Kimsley Ferguson.

We do not know the full facts yet. We do not know who is responsible. But if the claims of sabotage turn out to be true, we sincerely hope that person is prosecuted to the full extent of the law – and we hope that has the support of everyone associated with the hospital, workers and management alike. The patients are being harmed here – and that is who we should be most concerned about.