The Tribune

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis spoke on behalf of our future before the world yesterday.

When he stood up at the COP26 climate change summit in Scotland, he spoke clearly about the danger we face.

More, he talked about the danger we have already faced – the impact of Hurricane Dorian which tore apart Abaco and Grand Bahama and from which he said “we still don’t know exactly how many died”, and warned that without action “more of my people will die”.

The climate change conference is the latest global attempt to take on the threat of rising temperatures, and with it rising seas, deadly floods, devastating droughts and more.

Mr Davis took on the subject head on.

“We in The Bahamas will do what we can,” he said, “but the limits of what our nation’s effort can accomplish are stark: we cannot outrun your carbon emissions, we cannot outrun the hurricanes which are growing more powerful, and we cannot outrun rising sea levels, as our islands disappear beneath the seas.”

There is a sense with this conference that this is a moment that cannot slip past. Too many times before, the great and the good have gathered and nodded and furrowed their brows – then nothing has happened.

There is a frustration that has built with that, a determination not to allow the greatest polluters to get away with lip service when it comes to action.

Mr Davis echoed that sentiment too.

“We are out of time, colleagues,” he said. “A recent study declared that The Bahamas had the cleanest air in the world. Other studies have shown that our distinctive, beautiful, aquamarine seas are a magnificent carbon sink. Our seas reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The Bahamas is not now and never has been the problem. But yet we are forced to pay the price.

“We are among the ‘Top 10 Most-Vulnerable-Island-Nation States’ in the world. And the question I have for my colleagues today is: are we brave enough for this moment? Are we braver than our predecessors who led our nations at the previous 25 climate change meetings? Can we summon the courage and ingenuity and determination to succeed, where they did not? Promises and agreements are easy. Action – specific and concrete policy changes – is a lot harder. Action requires courage. Every leader before us has postponed until tomorrow what needed to happen yesterday. And now tomorrow is here, today, and countries like mine are out of time.”

We applaud Mr Davis for his speech. He’s right. Every word of it.

He warned of the risk of our citizens becoming refugees or worse if nothing is done to check climate change. And he put faces to those who would be affected, saying “these are my neighbours, my family, my friends”, adding: “My pleas is both urgent and deeply personal.”

We hope this is not all we shall hear from him on the topic. We hope that with a topic this important he will remain a thorn in the side of nations who are not taking action for years to come.

We also hope he speaks so clearly on subjects closer to home, that he demonstrates a willingness to tell it like it is, and to take action both on matters related to the environment around us, and other issues affecting the nation.

This was a moment for Mr Davis to add his voice to the world stage. We hope this is not the end of it – and that he can help to bring about the real action that is needed to help us all.

Health contract

It seems we keep hearing about concerns about this contract or that contract. It seems the new government finds fault with every contract it can find – which makes one uncertain if there are problems across the board or whether politics are playing a part.

The latest situation involves the BECK group and the $90m contract signed for infrastructure upgrades to health facilites in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

The deal would have seen a new maternity and child health tower at Princess Margaret Hospital and a new four-level facility at the Rand Memorial in Grand Bahama. There were also upgrades for wards at Sandilands.

Health Minister Dr Michael Darville would go no further than saying there were “concerns” and that the government plans to meet the BECK group.

Our health infrastructure is in desperate need of improvement – and expansion. We hope these concerns can swiftly be resolved and the projects can get going. And we hope that if that is the case, Dr Darville speaks clearly about what those concerns were and why they were able to move on – rather than leaving a faint feeling of uncertainty in the air.