Cooper calls extension of state of emergency ‘madness’

Dubbing the extension of the state of emergency “madness”, Exumas and Ragged Island Member of Parliament Chester Cooper yesterday said he could not support it as it has gone on for too long and is inflicting unnecessary harm.

“This is madness,” he told members of Parliament in the House of Assembly last evening.

“We’ve been going at this for far too long now. We should legislate the measures we think are best and pass them into law. The attorney general says his office is drafting legislation to do just that.

“Sadly, it is taking too long and the constant states of emergency and ever-shifting emergency orders are fraying the already stressed nerves of Bahamians, credibility of our country and confidence of our economy.”

Parliamentarians last night debated a resolution to extend the state of emergency to January 31, 2021.

The vote came two days after Governor General Cornelius A. Smith proclaimed a third state of emergency, which gives the competent authority the ability to have up to another six months of emergency powers.

But as the opposition continues to raise questions over Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis’ use of power as the competent authority, Cooper expressed discontent with Minnis’ rejection of opposing views.

“There seems to be a pervasive view in government that anyone opposed to the continued state of emergency is a cruel sadist who would let everyone have their way, public health concerns be damned and let everyone who is vulnerable die,” Cooper said. “It is an absurd, extremist argument.”

He continued, “The same remedies that we applied here eight months ago are not all necessary now. We must’ve learnt some things by now. I understand that it is a complex process to target all the legislation needed to govern the non-health aspects the emergency orders cover, but I am not afraid of hard work, never have been.”

While Cooper admitted that he feels there are measures that the government took that made sense, there were also others he felt “made absolutely no sense and inflicted unnecessary harm”.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) deputy leader said he believes there was not wide enough consultation on some of the measures and called for a laser focus on the dual crises the country faces.

“We must not further compound these crises,” he said.

“For instance, if the rate of new infections hit a certain percentage, we must take a specific action. If the rate of hospitalizations in ICU hits a certain threshold, we take another action. If the rate of deaths hits a certain point, we take another action. This is practiced in various countries. However, what is also practiced there is widespread testing and robust contact tracing. We’re not going to have an accurate sense of the risks involved if we only test symptomatic people. In my view, we have to sort that out right now. It has been long enough. We’ve said this too many times.”

Before he wrapped up his contribution to the debate, Cooper also raised concerns regarding a lack of reporting by the government during the pandemic as mandated under the regulations of the Emergency Powers Act.

“Clause 12 of the regulations provide the power to the competent authority to waive procurement rules,” he said.

“However, it also mandates in clause 10(2) that the government shall within six weeks of the expiration to the proclamation of emergency lay a report detailing total expenditure, the suppliers and the reason for the use of such suppliers. Two expirations of proclamations since March 2020, but not one report.”

Minister of Health Renward Wells yesterday touted the drastic drop in confirmed COVID-19 cases and said it was due to the commitment and plan put in place by the Minnis Administration.

However, Opposition Leader Philip Davis said the numbers do not support the extension of the state of emergency nor a new proclamation by the governor general.

“There have been many lessons learned around the world about how to protect public health during this pandemic,” he said. “The need to do so by a one-man rule has long expired.”

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