The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames admitted yesterday he did not know when the vaccine roll out would take place at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, but gave good news regarding low numbers of infections at an armed force agency.

He spoke just after disembarking a RBDF vessel that arrived as part of several gifts donated by the United States government to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, collectively valued just under $6m. The gifts included biometric and communication equipment and three vessels.

Although he had no date for the roll out of vaccinations at the correctional facility, he commended Commissioner Charles Murphy for keeping the number of infections at minimum.

“I don’t have the answer to that,” he said. “I know that it (vaccines) will come and there is a line up. The good thing is that since this pandemic started at the beginning of last year, we would have had two cases involving inmates and both of them (the transmission) took place outside of the confines of the prison.

“So it speaks to the work that Commissioner Murphy and his officers are doing down there when other correctional facilities around the world are challenged by this pandemic. We are sitting pretty well.”

Asked about a recent incident that brought national security into question, Mr Dames could not comment as he had not yet received a briefing from Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle.

On Monday, a series of rapid gunshots could be heard near the South Street Magistrate’s Court Complex. At the time, police were taking multiple suspects to court to face murder charges.

Police ordered a large crowd to assemble onto South Street in preparation for the suspects’ arrival. The crowd spilled into the court grounds as police started to walk the suspects from the Nassau Street Police Station. It is suspected that someone from that crowd fired gunshots into the air in the vicinity of Nassau Street and it sent the crowd into a frenzy.

“I will await the full briefing from the Commissioner (of Police),” Mr Dames said. “I don’t know the full circumstances and what needs to happen. I will wait to hear from the commissioner.”

During the handover of gifts, US Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts mentioned that she had seen a building on the RBDF base where movies were shot.

The building in its unfinished form has been located at the front of the base for many years, incomplete, but used for various things.

Asked what will eventually happen to it, Mr Dames did not have an answer for that but could only say that the building is being used.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’re not there yet but I can say this: it’s very useful for the RBDF. They utilise that building for a lot of what they do, like their training and everything else. We are working to ensure that they are properly accommodated. As you know, the commodore and his executive team would have taken up location at the Ministry of National Security, which is their headquarters now.

“As you look around (Coral Harbour Base) you can see a new building is up. So we are working to ensure that the RBDF and all of our law enforcement agencies are properly equipped and housed.”

Questioned on the number of COVID cases within the RBDF, he gave a good report.

“Things are going extremely well,” he said. “The numbers have continued to trend down. I don’t have a count now, but these agencies are doing extremely well and it is not a problem where it is impacting the operations. I don’t know if they have any cases right now.”