The future of The Bahamas looks bleak as Hurricane Dorian the strongest Atlantic hurricane in modern history obliterated The Northern Bahamas. The country is in crisis mode as it is experiencing a massive exodus. To date, the Government is still moving extremely slow to release information to the public as it fears retaliation. The facts are many families are wiped out, homes and property damage are too excessive for the dying middle class to rebuild, and the nation’s Capital New Providence cannot sustain the massive migration of its people.
The Bahamas, as we know, it will never be the same. The country must brace itself for a massive brain drain as thousands of Bahamians are applying for refugee & asylum status in The United States or Canada. Many are convinced that it makes no sense rebuilding as the impacts of climate change will bring even stronger storms in the near future. The economies for both Abaco & Grand Bahamas would not rebound in our lifetime as too much have been lost.
Unfortunately, this Government now has blood on its hands. When the dust settles and a sense of normalcy is achieved, the political landscape would change drastically. Grand Bahamians & Abacoians are known Free National Movement (FNM) supporters. Historically, the FNM could always depend on those constituencies in the time of need, but the script was flipped during the time of their need. The international media had exposed The Bahamian Government on its incompetents for the lackluster response to the catastrophic hurricane. According to Royal Bahamas Defence Force, As of 9/8/19 more than 900 Bahamian police, defence force officers are now stationed on Abaco and Grand Bahama. It took The Bahamian arm forces almost a week to arrive in substantial numbers to maintain law and order on its own territory. Without The Americans and Private Organizations aid assistance, more casualty numbers would be hidden from the public.
Min. Marvin Dames (left), Sen. Frank Smith (center), Min. Duane Sands (right)
The Minister of National Security Marvin Dames, who is currently facing scrutiny with Health Minister, Dr. Duane Sands for meddling with Former Sen. Frank Smith court case. Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt declared that their involvement was “egregious” in how they interacted with a key witness before a police investigation. Both Ministers needs to do the honorable thing and resign immediately. Regardless of Minister Marvin Dames contributions with the decreasing murder rate. The death toll, which resulted in the lack of planning and mobilization of the nation’s arm forces shows that he is unfit for that substantial position.
According to the reports from residents who are trying to evacuate, the death toll is in the thousands, and no one could account for the undocumented Haitians that lived in The Mudd & Pigeon Pea communities. The Government is just masking nonsensical official death count with apt adjectives.
In The New York Times report, “in the hours and days after Hurricane Dorian tore through the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands, the first government rescuers many residents saw were American. The distribution of emergency supplies of food, water, and medicine has been mostly coordinated by an ad hoc network of volunteers from Bahamian and American nonprofit groups. But Abacos residents say their own Government, whose resources were largely wiped out, has been notably absent in the six days since the Category 5 storm… “It’s ridiculous. Ridiculous,” said Martin McCafferty, a contractor based here in Marsh Harbour, the biggest town on the Abaco Islands. This is a catastrophe, and they should be here in numbers.”
It is now apparent that the practice of political cronyism has destroyed The Bahamas. The people appointed to positions of National importance have all failed. From Bahamas Power & Light (BPL), Bahamasair, The Judicial System, Immigration, and The National Emergency Agency (NEMA) have all fail and crippled this country to its knees. No one is being held accountable for their actions.
The following are some of the missteps:
Bahamas Power & Light:
• Unable to provide reliable power for the Capital while the nation is in crisis mode trying to assist with the influx of evacuees.
• Have not sent a large restoration team to at less attempt establish some sort of generation to the Clinic & Office of The Prime Minister Abaco. Both establishments are currently serving as a shelter.
Bahamasair:
• Our unprofitable national flag carrier which is fully subsidized by the taxpayers initially charged $66.00 + $9.00 (VAT) = $75.00 per head for evacuations. This action was later addressed as ‘miscommunication.’ Personally, I do not see how to get people out of the island free of charge could be miscommunicated.
The Judicial System:
• They crippled the efforts of the Government to execute a plan to remove the illegal housing of the undocumented.
Immigration:
• They don’t do their job!
The National Emergency Agency (NEMA):
• They had a whole year of no hurricanes that impacted The Bahamas to plan for a national emergency. What we see today is the result of their plan.
Based on the events we see today; the Capital is very vulnerable as we are still in the middle of a very active hurricane season. New Providence cannot withstand a powerful storm at this time. Realistically, surge that rivals what Dorian did in the northern islands would wipe out Capital.
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