The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel said the Minnis administration wants to remove the COVID-19 emergency restrictions by August but that doing so will depend on infection rates and the behaviour of residents.

The latest emergency proclamation expires in August.

The House of Assembly, however, will be on summer break until September.

Asked before a Cabinet meeting yesterday if parliamentarians will break their summer recess to extend the proclamation, Mr Bethel said: “If the Governor General should form the view that the emergency persists, the Governor General is always free at any time to issue a new proclamation even during the course of the expired term of the existing proclamation. Once he does so, then both Houses (of Parliament) will be summoned to meet within five days of the issuance of such a proclamation.

“The mere fact that the House (of Assembly) has adjourned beyond the expiration date (of the emergency proclamation) does not prevent the Governor General in his discretion should he feel that the emergency persists, to issue a new proclamation, summon the houses and allow them to debate whether or not to extend the proclamation. Such a proclamation would last for 14 days absent a decision by the houses to extend the proclamation.

“As it is right now, the government has indicated a view that we could look toward the August period for the removal of emergency powers and that is certainly the aim. Everything depends on how we behave ourselves as a people. If we don’t behave ourselves and the infections go out of control, then the Governor General may have a view as to what is needed to protect the people but it is always best for people to err on the side of caution and to protect themselves and so I call on Bahamians first of all to embrace the vaccination programme where possible and secondly where it isn’t possible to take every step necessary to protect yourself from contagion because the coronavirus is still here and is still moving throughout society. We hope that through the self-discipline of the Bahamian people we will continue to be able to manage and as you see bring down rates of infection which is currently going on.”

The Governor General’s role in the Bahamas is generally seen as ceremonial and he would not issue a new emergency proclamation unless directed to by the Minnis administration.

According to the latest statistics, at least 25,047 people in The Bahamas are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while about 80,000 people have received at least one dose. The figures do not include the more than 2,000 people who received their vaccination outside the Bahamas.

Health Minister Renward Wells said yesterday that COVID-19 infection rates are on the decline, a fact he attributed to increased vaccinations.

“You would remember that I did say that as the Bahamian people become more vaccinated that we anticipate and expected that the COVID numbers would start to go down because that is what has been seen globally in other countries,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials are still waiting to find out if COVID-19 variants of concern are in the Bahamas.

“As I always said to Bahamians,” Mr Wells said, “the beautiful thing about vaccines is we know right now there are about five variants of concern. There are two from India, one from the UK, one from South Africa, one from Brazil, but in all those circumstances the vaccines that we do have have been proven extremely effective against all variants, but we are still awaiting those results and we’re also looking to send results perhaps even to the CDC to speed up that process.”