Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper yesterday called for the government to use evidence-based decision making in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he accused the Minnis administration of being removed from the reality faced by regular Bahamians.
“I trust that this administration will remove themselves from the bubble and put themselves in the real world,” he said in the House of Assembly.
“If we must have emergency
orders, which at this point we are repeatedly saying needs adjusting, if we must have them, make them make sense. Make them make sense.
“After a year, after many changes, enough experience has been gained around the world as to how you can deal with certain aspects of the pandemic with regard to economic and social stability. What we need after all this time are some reasonable thresholds or triggers as to when businesses open, when businesses close, when schools open, when schools close, some scientific triggers.
“…My opinion is that the curfew on no island at this point should begin before midnight and I urge the government to make that adjustment forthwith. If we reduce the curfew, it will give more businesses more time to collect more revenue and help out the domestic economy until we get more tourists again.”
Cooper added, “We must continue to modernize the existing orders that are in place to bring relief to the suffering, to bring some growth to the economy, domestic and otherwise. We are trapped under the thumb of a competent authority that makes decisions based on nothing tangible, it appears, and without the benefit of broad-based consultation.
Cooper made the comments during the debate of the Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Bill, 2020.
He said that the economy is “still crumbling around us” as he pointed to the Melia Nassau Beach resort’s recent announcement that it will close its doors for two years, beginning March 1, as it begins a $100 million renovation. Three hundred employees will be impacted by the closure.
The Bahamas has been in a state of emergency since March 2020, days after the first case of COVID-19 was found in The Bahamas.
According to section 28(C) of the Employment Act, where an employee has been laid off for a continuous period of at least 12 weeks, such layoff shall be deemed a dismissal because of redundancy.
However, the emergency order, implemented by the competent authority Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, for the purpose of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, suspends Section 28(C) of the Employment Act for the duration of the state of emergency and 30 days after.
Thousands of workers who were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic and remain out of work are still not considered redundant as a result of the order.
However, Cooper yesterday claimed the order allows employers not to pay severance for those being made redundant.
“This closure of Melia leaves hundreds of people potentially permanently out of work at the resort,” Cooper said.
“Yet, we have emergency orders that allow the employers not to pay their full severance.”
On Tuesday, Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes said that Melia will pay its workers their full severance pay in accordance with the law.
Cooper continued, “Surely, if the investor can find $100 million to invest in the property, it can and must find the severance for persons being permanently laid off. People are concerned. They are talking about this.
“And there are thousands of other Bahamians across the length and breadth of our country – in Exuma, in New Providence and all of our islands – where employees or former employees find themselves in this most precarious position.
“I am a businessman and I understand that there are some realities, some financial implications for businesses. I get it. I am not oblivious to it.
“But I come to tell you that Bahamians across the country face these same realities. They face their own financial pains as well, the very basics of life – food, rent, mortgage, school fees, feeding their children.”
Calling the emergency orders “sporadic” and “haphazard”, Cooper said he is aware that the country is still in the midst of a public health crisis.
“We are not saying to throw caution to the wind,” he said.
“We are saying to do some things to allow the domestic economy to thrive.”
Melia, which sits adjacent to the future Baha Mar waterpark scheduled to open this summer, will commence an extensive $100 million renovation and reopen in spring 2023, its owners announced.
Foulkes said the owners have consulted the unions that represent the impacted workers.
The post Cooper calls on govt to use evidence when amending emergency order appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/cooper-calls-on-govt-to-use-evidence-when-amending-emergency-order/
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