Stop doing stupid things and playing favorites

We find it difficult to accept some decisions made in the fight against COVID-19. These detract from the legitimacy of others.

In this vein, we welcomed the decision announced by the prime minister yesterday to abandon the alphabetical shopping schedule.

Food stores managers have demonstrated that they could implement sensible systems to limit the number of patrons permitted inside their stores at one time, prohibit entry to all those not wearing face masks and ensure the observance of social distancing by those waiting in line.

Auto parts, hardware, plant nurseries and landscaping businesses will now be permitted to open to the public on specific days and at specific times during the curfew.

As well, construction can resume on the Family Islands.

No rationale was given for this change in policy.

It seems to us that science and data played no role in the adjustment. If this was instead a response to requests from special interests then we recommend that these businesses adopt tested and proven practices already in place at food stores.

While understanding benefits derived from foreshadowed weekend lockdowns, we do not see the necessity for a 24-hour daily curfew rather than the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily curfew previously imposed, and we encourage the government to further consider this regulation.

Inexplicably, the government shut the country’s borders to returning citizens and residents on March 27.

As a result, scores of Bahamians are reportedly stranded in South Florida.

All appeals for reconsideration were rejected. We found this decision stupid as Bahamasair had, just the day before, transported some 100 Cuban doctors from Cuba to St. Lucia to assist in the anti-COVID-19 fight in that country.

Surely chartered Bahamasair flights to bring these Bahamians home at their own expense where they may be self-isolated at no cost to the Public Treasury make sense.

More offensive, while preventing its own citizens from returning home, the government continues to permit foreign government chartered or scheduled aircraft to fly in to collect and return their citizens from The Bahamas.

The prime minister’s response to questions on this subject at his press conference failed to convince.

The most recent stupid thing to be undertaken in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic is a plan by the National Insurance Board (NIB) and the Department of Labour to exclude work permit holders, left unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 economic shutdown of much of the economy, from NIB unemployment benefits.

The Bahamas is a member in good standing of the International Labour Organization (ILO) whose Unemployment Convention states “foreigners shall be entitled to benefit and allowances upon the same conditions as nationals”.

The NIB scheme requires all workers and their employers in the country, regardless of nationality or immigration status, to pay a contribution to the NIB Fund.

All contributors are entitled to receive benefits notwithstanding the assertion by NIB that foreign nationals do not qualify for the benefit. Claimants may only be disqualified if they are resident outside of The Bahamas; and this applies to Bahamians and foreigners alike.

These benefits are not to be confused with NIB assistance programs put in place by the government for needy Bahamians.

To use the spurious requirement for unemployed work permit holders to demonstrate that they are actively seeking employment to qualify for unemployment benefits as the basis upon which to deny them benefits when even Bahamians are unable to actively seek employment in an economy that is under a 24-hour curfew with most businesses closed under the government’s Emergency Orders is disingenuous, hypocritical and deceitful.

Attack on business owners

The prime minister’s attack on Bahamian business owners that laid off staff during this shutdown of the economy was unwarranted and unbecoming.

The prime minister is aware that employers are required by law to pay NIB a specific contribution for unemployment benefits for all workers. Workers may only access that benefit if they are unemployed.

The post Stop doing stupid things and playing favorites appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/20/stop-doing-stupid-things-and-playing-favorites/