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Yamacraw MP and Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration Elsworth Johnson defended Progressive Liberal Party MP for Mangrove Cay, South and Central Andros Picewell Forbes who announced on Monday that he would not offer himself in the next General Election on the PLP ticket.

Johnson called on PLP Party leader Philip Davis, who was not in the House during the first session today, to apologize for the treatment of Forbes.

Johnson said, “…South Andros deserves better,” as Forbes looked on.

The big picture

Forbes said he will not offer himself as a candidate in the 2022 General Election due to a lack of confidence reposed in him from Party Leader Davis. Forbes said it remained uncertain if the party would renominate him for the next general election, as constituents too, pondered his ratification since prospective candidates were seen canvassing his constituency.

“After all the questions in Mangrove Cay last week, when you were giving it your best from meager resources, and all these questions are still abound after all these years, after some discussion and prayers with my family, I said farewell.”

Forbes said he wished that Davis would “simply go on the ground in the community and [say] you support me.”

What Johnson said today

“To martyr an innocent man like this when all you had to do was stand up and say, ‘This my man. This my man.’

“He (Forbes) shouldn’t be going from house to house and finding out that different people calling him. It ain’t right to him and it ain’t right to other people. And South Andros deserves an apology. And I pray that he finds it in his heart to forgive him (Davis).

“All leaders have to be like that. If you don’t want people. And you know you don’t want them, let them know.”

What Davis has said since

Davis told the Nassau Guardian that Forbes’ “nomination was never in doubt,” adding that all incumbents in his party would be renominated if they desired.

“So he is now deciding not to continue of his own,” Davis said.

Davis said  Forbes had his support which should have “convert[ed] to the ground, but then he assessed the ground and that was his finding.”

Minister of Financial Services, Trade & Industry and Immigration Elsworth Johnson is warning of a fake email with his name, requesting money.

In a statement, Johnson said such emails are “fake” and he has since reported the matter to the Financial Crimes Investigation Branch of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

“It has come to my attention that fraudulent messages from someone purporting to be me, with the name “Elsworth JohnsonMP,” have been forwarded to a number of Bahamians. These emails claim that businesses/brands have gained access to an international grant and that a “payment fee” will be required to access this grant.”

Johnson said it is likely an attempt to trick citizens into paying the “access fee.”

“If you have received this message, I advise that you do not respond to it. Under no circumstances should you provide any personal information,” he said.

Johnson warned that you should not pay any fees related to the content of the message.

“Bahamians should remain vigilant and report any suspicious messages to the relevant authorities,” Johnson said.

In his return to the House of Assembly since recovering from COVID-19, Opposition Leader Philip Davis condemned the recovery rate of the Bahamas, in its COVID-19 fight. He emphasized that the Bahamas is the “worst in the Caribbean region.”

“Don’t compare yourself to around the world. Because in so far, around the world, we are in last place as to how we are dealing with it (COVID-19). We are in last place. We are the worst off in the region in handling the COVID,” Davis said.

Davis was referring to the Global COVID-19 Index Dashboard, which ranks the Bahamas as 183 out of 184 countries. The dashboard indicates how well countries are coping with the virus.

The dashboard also list Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis as other Caribbean countries similar to the Bahamas in handling the virus.

Renward Wells and Elsworth Johnson beckon Davis to prove COVID claims

Wells stood up to refute Davis’ claims. He said if Davis looks at other statistics, the Bahamas is doing well. Wells said there is a 2.3% fatality rate for the virus.

This is the top tier of the 1% globally, indicating that the Bahamas is capable of dealing with Covid-19 patients.

Minister of State for Finance Elsworth Johnson added that Davis should come with solutions, insteading of “coming back the first day to say the country is the worst” which is “almost like a celebratory dance, when people are losing their lives,” Johnson said.

Why does it matter?

Health officials confirmed that the virus is rising in the country with 119 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total confirmed cases to 4,022.

• 103 in New Providence
• 9 in Abaco
• 4 in Grand Bahama
• 2 in Exuma
• 1 in Andros

Former Health Minister Duane Sands said the Bahamas is “not winning this battle” against the virus, as not enough testing is being done.

He said the country has a case incidence rate per million, which is twice the average of all countries in the world — 8,797 per million as compared to an average of 4,075 per million.

And, the 38^th highest instance of deaths of COVID-19 in the world per capita.