The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis says when people mock the 2020 Hurricane Dorian pledge conference, they are in fact knocking the work of the United Nations Development Programme, not his administration.

“First of all, the pledges were not organised by The Bahamas government so don’t try to chastise (The) Bahamas government. The UN, the United Nations that we all know about, they were the ones that organised the pledge, they do that throughout the world anytime there is a catastrophe. So when you attack, you are attacking the UN, not us,” he said yesterday.

However, the UNDP in a press statement after the conference, did not claim unilateral responsibility for the event - it said the event was organised by the government of The Bahamas in partnership with the UNDP.

Nonetheless, Dr Minnis said: “What (people) also fail to remember is that when we had the conference, that was in January. Yes individuals throughout the world, different countries would have made pledges. In February, the world was hit with COVID and therefore everybody had to look again at their economy because there were lockdowns so a lot of things could not have been done.”

 Dr Minnis’ comments come as the work of the Disaster Reconstruction Authority has been put under the spotlight, with DRA Executive Chairman Alex Storr saying a forensic audit of the agency is underway after an operational review pointed to “gross incompetence”.

 Mr Storr also said the pledge conference was nothing more than a public relations exercise.

 Dr Minnis said the Davis administration has more pressing issues to address.

“We had moved about 3.5 million cubic yards of debris,” Dr Minnis said. “They are well stockpiled in various locations. Over the next six months, the government should be concentrating on how they are going to move those to another entity, be it off the island altogether. That’s what they should be concentrating on because if a hurricane comes again and catches them with a dumpsite in certain locations, the government can hold themselves responsible for a disaster moving forward so they should be concentrating on that.”

 Mr Storr said yesterday that all the debris is where the Minnis administration left it, adding: “…They left no plans in place to have the situation remedied despite spending tens of millions of dollars and circumventing DEHS (Department of Environmental Health Services) which should have been given the lead in dealing with this situation.”

 Mr Storr said the authority is moving to address the matter.

 As for the forensic audit, Dr Minnis said: “When they talk about misappropriation of funds and everything, the government has the right to do anything. They are in charge, they have a right to audit, they have a right to investigate and, if they choose, they should do that.”

 He added: “I don’t think a lot of people understood what had to happen after Dorian. First of all, FEMA, a US agency, categorically stated that it takes about 15 years to rebuild after a hurricane. We would have experienced one of the most devastating hurricanes ever.

 “Also recognise that in terms of hurricanes it takes anywhere from one to three and a half years for the first home to even start being built. When we got hit with Dorian, Dorian was so devastating the entire government structure in Abaco was destroyed. There was no governance. The security system had subsequently broken down. We had to seek help from the Jamaican government who sent their soldiers down. We sought help from Barbados and Trinidad, all who assisted with security on the island.

 “We had to rebuild the governance structure in terms of the different agencies, ministries, etc. The electrical system was completely bad. We had to invest $61m just to rebuild the electrical system in Abaco. Four thousand poles were completely destroyed. The water system was completely destroyed. Abaco was split in half. The homes were completely destroyed.

“So we look at the homes, domes were selected for a particular reason. It was only a temporary fix. The idea was the domes would be placed in individual yards so they could stay in the domes temporarily while they rebuild.”

 Dr Minnis said officials had a plan for other domes that were never used but said COVID-19 and the economic fallout that followed disrupted those plans.