Incredibly, we are just over a week away from a general election, which is taking place amid soaring COVID-19 infections and an unrelenting and chilling increase in the number of deaths being recorded.
We are living in a kind of Twilight Zone where it is impossible to comprehend why anyone would think it a good idea to have campaign events and allow thousands of people to head to the polls in these most perilous of times.
Though our political leaders claimed protocols would be followed, large numbers of people have been congregating on multiple islands, many without masks or with ill-fitting masks – signaling that COVID numbers are likely to worsen in the coming weeks.
With the advanced poll just one day away now, we have not even been informed by the parliamentary commissioner or anyone else what the health protocols will be for the election; and the government and parliamentary commissioner continue to skirt the issue of quarantined voters without any clear statement being made about the obvious disenfranchisement of thousands of Bahamians.
As they continue their push toward the finish line seeking to convince voters why they should be elected to govern our country over the next five years, our leaders at times seem to be living in an alternate universe.
Seeking to project a confident image, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis has danced across the rally stage and continues to employ his tired tactic of attacking the reputation of Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip Brave Davis, invoking the electorate’s fears over corruption and promising a better future under the Free National Movement (FNM), while failing to address matters of concern in his own administration.
Davis, for his part, appears to be staying above the fray, although he, too, struggles to be convincing in his contention that he and the PLP would usher in “a new day”.
The truth is, no matter which party is elected on September 16 to govern The Bahamas, our problems are so grave, the task so monumental, that it would take a long time and require great sacrifice on behalf of Bahamians to begin to turn our economic fates around in any meaningful way.
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