Turnquest’s grandstanding on Grand Bahama

Dear Editor,

Please allow me a space in your daily to address a concern as a constituent of East Grand Bahama.

In this daily on March 12, 2021, the member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama, former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Finance the Honorable Peter Turnquest, lambasted his government on the fact that 18 months after Dorian there are people in East End still living in tents, being exposed to the elements and potentially harmful insects, while 40 domes sit in a container in High Rock, Grand Bahama.

Also in this daily, the Disaster Reconstruction Authority’s (DRA) progress report states that the $17 million allocated for the small home repair initiative will only cover 76 percent of the now estimated $22.46 million that the exercise is projected to incur.

These revised figures mean that the small home repair program will triple the original projection of the $8 million cost. What’s changed since the first projection?

I have visited, and spoken with persons from Sweeting’s Cay on numerous occasions who still to this date live in tents.

I visited McClean’s Town, Pelican Point, High Rock, Gambier Point this week, and spoke with residents who have expressed their utter disgust and sheer displeasure at this present administration, and their total disregard for the people of East End, also the poor handling of the human factor in the aftermath of Dorian 18 months later.

While the MP for East Grand Bahama can stand in that honorable House and grandstand about how many of his constituents are still having to sleep in camping tents and that it is a “national embarrassment”, please allow me space to ask a few questions to the good ministers, the MP for East Grand Bahama and the Minister for Grand Bahama Mr. Kwasi Thompson.

1) Are you just now finding out about the domes sitting in High Rock? You are the member for East Grand Bahama aren’t you? And you were the minister of finance.

2) If you didn’t know, did Mr. Kwasi Thompson know or Minister Iram Lewis; did they know about these domes sitting in High Rock while people sleep in the elements?

3) Why did you not address the issue earlier? Were your hands tied? If so, who tied them? You were the deputy prime minister and Mr. Kwasi Thompson the Minister for Grand Bahama, sitting in the Office of the Prime Minister, right here on Grand Bahama.

4) Could you have said anything about this before now?

5) Could you have done anything to make it happen?

6) What are you expecting to be done? And When?

Lets’ skip the politics, Mr. Ministers. Are these people going to get some assistance today?

— C. Maria Neymour-Jones 

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