The Tribune

NOMINATION day is a landmark in the Bahamian political world. Normally, it is a riot of colour and sound as candidates make the most of their moment as they hand over $400 to confirm their nomination. Would COVID-19 make a difference? Sadly, not as much as it should have done.

There has been talk of a need for campaigning to be more cautious to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Let’s be clear here – encouraging the spread can cost lives.

So what did we see? Motorcades, gatherings, a packed truck making its way around Fox Hill, a Junkanoo contingent, and more.

Over at Carlton Francis Primary School, where Bamboo Town candidates were nominating, people were crowded together, sparking criticism online. And that’s the current Minister of Health’s constituency.

The president of the Consultant Physicians Staff Association was among those to be critical of the behaviour on nomination day.

Dr Sabriquet Pinder-Butler said: “People were hugging, shaking hands – all of those things – and so we’re really hopeful that they were sanitizing and keeping those things in mind. Unfortunately, we knew from what we’ve seen in other countries that certain events like those does cause further increase in cases and so when we are already in a serious critical state in the country – as we are in this COVID pandemic – and you know severe cases will increase loss of life that we’ve seen certainly in this month of August, that is something that is most troubling.”

As for the scenes at Carlton Francis, Dr Pinder-Butler said it sent “mixed messages to our people, which is something that we’ve been challenged with throughout the handling of this pandemic and even worse as we now continue to have people dying every day from COVID”.

Dr Pinder-Butler is right. When people see political leaders – those who would lead our country as we try to deal with the pandemic – surrounded by supporters, all closely packed and hugging and dancing, how can those leaders turn round and tell those same people that they can’t go out after curfew, they must socially distance and so on? How can they tell them not to go and visit their family members in case it spreads the disease when those leaders are at the centre of a Junkanoo parade on the way to nomination?

Even if every single person in those groups is fully vaccinated, that still doesn’t mean the disease cannot spread in such gatherings – and be carried back to those who are not fully vaccinated.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, meanwhile, has said that the FNM will hold a series of political events that will set an example of how to hold such events safely in a world of COVID-19. We would hope Dr Minnis – and his counterpart at the PLP, Philip “Brave” Davis, will go further than that and directly criticise those who don’t set a good example.

Every election is important – but this one, in the wake of Hurricane Dorian and the effects of the pandemic, is perhaps more important than any before. But it shouldn’t be held at the cost of people’s lives.

Let’s vote. But let’s do it safely. And if any candidate doesn’t care enough about people’s lives that they’re willing to campaign safely, then that candidate doesn’t deserve your vote, whatever the colour of their shirt.