The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The pandemic is not over. Currently, the Omicron wave is in magnitude nearly our second worst wave of pandemic. More than 120 people are in hospital. Some are fighting for their lives.

Many medical workers are out of the system because this variant is so infectious. It is hard to deliver adequate healthcare to Bahamians who are fighting to stay alive.

Businesses and essential Government services are also struggling to field full workforces.

On top of all of this, many of our children in the public education system have been out of school for almost two years. They have not logged in to the state’s virtual platform at all. They have been wandering up and down the streets without guidance or oversight.

Prime Minister Philip Davis left the country to party in Dubai at a time like this. He went to Expo 2020 with a huge entourage of more than 100 people. The trip will cost The Bahamas $1m, according to reports.

The Prime Minister will be living the good life during his trip. He will travel in the nice section of the luxury plane back and forth. He will live it up in a nice suite at a cost most Bahamians would find stunning.

Meanwhile we, the common people, are here battling the pandemic with our elected leader not in command. We have been left to fend for ourselves as the virus takes its course, sending more and more people to the hospital for treatment.

Mr Davis did not want to miss this luxury trip. He is eating the best food, and socialising with the global elite.

It is disgraceful that Mr Davis would abandon his country at this time with all the problems we face. It is even more disgraceful that he would leave to go on a non-essential pleasure trip at the taxpayers’ expense.

Additionally, it is a clear conflict of interest for Clint Watson’s choir to have been taken to Dubai. Mr Watson is the press secretary. His choir was selected and taken on the trip over other deserving musicians and entertainers who are not as well connected as him.

Mr Davis should have stayed in The Bahamas and led the COVID-19 fight. Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper should have led a small delegation to the expo. Tourism and investments are within Mr Cooper’s portfolio.

In a time of national crisis we have a Prime Minister who does not like to sit at his desk and do the work he was hired to do.

Mr Davis loves travelling. He loves taking pictures. In my opinion he especially loves taking pictures with rich and famous foreigners.

We need a serious and focused leader to help get us out of the COVID-19 crisis. We need a serious Prime Minister to help revive our economy. It is my personal opinion that it is becoming increasingly clear that Philip Davis is not the man we need in these most difficult of times.

MSG

Nassau,

January 14, 2022.