The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama civic leader Rev Glenroy Bethel says the 24-hour curfew and weekend lockdowns are “depriving” Bahamians of their constitutional rights to worship on Saturday and Sunday.

He threatening to sue to the government if restrictions are not lifted by May 30 to allow people to worship at church.

Rev Bethel, founder of Families for Justice civic organization, is accusing Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis of violating every citizens’ right to freedom of religion by imposing a 24-hour lockdown on the weekend that prevents them from going to church to worship.

“The House of the Prayer on Saturday and Sunday is still shut down, there is no FNM, PLP, or DNA church. The church must not be silent in Freeport, or nowhere else in the Bahamas. If the building is a problem, then individuals can attend meetings in the parking lot of the House of God in their cars,” he said.

Rev Bethel has expressed his concerns and position to both the Bahamas Christian Council and the Grand Bahama Christian Council.

The Bahamas Christian Council indicated last week that it does not endorse threats against the prime minister.

President Bishop Delton Fernander made his position clear after a female pastor’s ultimatum on the opening of the church during the COVID-19 lockdown. Edison Nottage, and prophetess Mattie Nottage, the lead pastor at Believers Faith Outreach Ministries International, expressed being disrespected by the government and wanting churches to be open so people can get help.

Bishop Fernander made it clear the opening of churches for full services is strictly in the hands of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

In Grand Bahama, Rev Bethel stressed that the Constitution of the Bahamas is the supreme law of the land, adding that people have a right to worship, and worship on the days they choose freely in the House of Prayer without interference by the government, and his agents on the day that they choose which would be Sunday or Saturday.

He said: “If the restrictions are not lifted after the May 30, the government will be sued under the Constitution of the Bahamas for violation of my constitutional rights on several grounds, my Sabbath Day.”

Rev Bethel noted that Bahamians have been complying with the curfew and lockdown, and the measures implemented by the government such as social distancing, wearing a face mask, and washing of hands.

However, he believes that continuing to deprive persons of going to church to worship, is a breach of their constitutional rights.

“If an individual decides to go to the house of prayer to pray and worship which 10 persons are allowed on the road to attend the house of prayer? The Christian church must know the Word of God and the Constitution of the Bahamas, which is the supreme law of the land.

“The Prime Minister and his Cabinet are not supreme rulers over the rights of a Bahamian citizen. Do the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and the Attorney General and the Royal Bahamas Police Force have a legal right to take away my religious freedom or deprive me of that freedom as an individual on my Sabbath Day or my Day of Worship being on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Constitution of the Bahamas?”

“No, it is a clear violation of my constitutional rights or any Bahamian’s constitutional rights, especially if areas have been opened up generally and not deemed hot spots,” he noted.

“Under article 2, it states that the Constitution is the supreme law of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and, subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Constitution shall prevail and the other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. That means that the PM and his Cabinet legislations are null and void. The PM cannot deprive a Bahamian citizen of his or her rights under the constitution of the Bahamas.”

To date, Grand Bahama has recorded eight confirmed cases of COVID-19. Two of those cases have died. There are 96 cases in the country. Forty-two persons have recovered and 11 have died.