emergencyorders

Director General of Bahamas Information Services Kevin Harris said he will not comply with the Emergency Order which limits church services to one hour.

In a social media post, a defiant Harris who also serves as Pastor of Charisma Church said he alone will make that determination for his congregation.

“As pastor, I will determine how long my service and my sermon will run.

“There is no limit on how long I can worship God.”

In another post, Harris continues to resist the measures.

“If there is no limit on how long you can be in the number house, there should be no limit on how long I can be in the Lord’s house.”

Then on Sunday, Harris further challenged the new order which would have taken effect on Monday, stating, “I am in worship. I am in the house of the Lord. I am in the pulpit. I will step out once I am done.”

The big picture

In the face of climbing COVID-19 cases in the country, orders were reintroduced by the competent authority on Monday, to control the spread of the infectious disease.  Among them, places of worship were forced to limit the number of hours in a facility.

The order also limits the occupancy of a church facility to 33%.

Health officials reported 75 new cases on Monday, with the majority concentrated in the capital.

There are a total of 14,327 confirmed cases with 1,531 active cases.

Officials also confirmed that the death of a 42-year-old man of New Providence, on July 10, was COVID-19 related.

Why it matters

Harris, a former radio personality and talk show host, has been a long-time supporter of Minnis and was appointed to the post at BIS in 2018 when the FNM government won the 2017 General Election.

Harris heads the organization which has the responsibility for disseminating government information.

Harris joins other pastors in expressing dismay with the new measures. President of the Bahamas Christian Council, Bishop Delton Fernander, and Bishop Neil Ellis of Mt Tabor have taken to the media to express their displeasure with the order.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis proposes an extension of the emergency order to November 30th.

He announced the possible extension in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, which will be debated at the next sitting of the House.

Why is it still necessary?

The order has been extended numerous times since its implementation in March. And since then, COVID-19 cases have risen exponentially in the country.

Grand Bahama and Bimini have seen cases lowered as a result of the order, but New Providence and Abaco have seen a surge.

Presently, there are nearly 6000 cases in the country, of which, over 2,000 are active, the majority in New Providence.

There are 124 total COVID-19 deaths.

Health Minister Renward Wells said for the past 30 days, the country has averaged 1.5 COVID-19 deaths each day.

The emergency order has allowed government to place stricter measures on New Providence and Abaco since October 9, with the resumption of a daily curfew of 7pm to 5am and a two-week 24-hour weekend curfew beginning Fridays at 7pm and ending Mondays at 5am.

The PLP and some people oppose the continuation of the Order

PLP Leader Philip Davis said his party will not throw its support behind the government as it “control[s] the lives of Bahamians.”

He calls it “proclamation fatigue.”

Davis believes Dr Minnis “is trying the same old methods, as “the numbers keep going up in deaths and infections.”

“The Prime Minister does the same old things.

“The Bahamas has recorded more COVID-19 positive cases in the past few days than Barbados has recorded since the pandemic began in March of this year.

“We must change course,” Davis said.

Some people have taken to social media to voice frustration with the intended Order extension.

One frustrated social media user said, “Every time I look, this man want an extension. We will soon have to run away from this country and seek asylum somewhere else.”

Finnel Williams addressed Minnis, “You had 7 months. Why are you still repaating the same speech you did in March.”

Princess Bethel said the country should simply adjust and “live with” the virus.”

She said, “If the Bahamas leaders don’t learn to live with COVID, we gonna be in trouble, cause we’ll be lockdown forever.”

However, some people like Ozzie Poitier supports the move saying other counties have had to implement strict measures as the virus surges. He tells fellow users, “It’s clear yall ain’t see what’s going on in other countries and what their leaders are doing.”

Covid-19 has thrust the Bahamas in uncharted waters and like the rest of the world, the country has implemented curfews and lockdown measures to contain the spread of the infectious disease.

Attorney Wayne Munroe filed a lawsuit on behalf of 21 people, on the constitutionality of emergency orders, many of whom are business owners negatively affected by the orders, and other individuals charged and convicted for violations of the orders.

Now, two former prominent members of the Bahamas judicial system have ‘butt heads’ in the public domain, over the legality of the lockdown orders.

For the first time, the public has witnessed a fight between two well-respected women of the legal society.

Who are they?

Dame Joan Sawyer

79-year-old Justice Joan Sawyer is the former Chief Justice from 1996 to 2001 and former President of the Court of Appeal, where she served until 2010, when she retired.

Since leaving her post, Sawyer favours talk-shows, delivering fiery rebukes of politicians and their political decisions.

In 2016, she butt heads with Former Deputy Leader of the Free National Movement Loretta Butler Turner and Former Attorney General Allyson Maynard over the gender equality referendum, when Sawyer said she would vote ‘no,’ despite not reading any of the proposed questions.

Sawyer claimed that the Christie administration was using the gender equality vote as a “ruse” to implement lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

At the time, Butler said of Sawyer, “What really bothered me and most Bahamians is the fact that persons like Dame Joan Sawyer have reached the pinnacle of their legal career, she retired as the chief justice and the fact that she was able to make such strong pronouncements in the absence of facts, really gives me reason to question the motive.”

In 2017, Sawyer rebuked several government initiatives of the Christie administration such as value added tax and Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival. Dame Joan criticised the festival where women make themselves “exhibits”.

Dame Anita Allen

72-year-old Dame Justice Anita Allen served as Justice of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas in 1995, and was elevated to Senior Justice in 2005.  Allen is the former President of the Court of Appeal, having retired in 2017, a position which she has held since 2010.

She succeeded Joan Sawyer and became the second woman to hold that post, and is the current law reform commissioner for the government.

Allen is married to former Free National Movement Cabinet Minister Algernon Allen.

Why the Opposition and Dame Joan Sawyer agree

Since the implementation of the emergency order, the Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip Davis opposed the orders, citing social and economic impact on the country.

Attorney Wayne Munroe, who ran for the PLP in the 2017 election and is vying for PLP nomination in 2020 said, “We continue to say there is no state of emergency and that the emergency regulations are unconstitutional.”

He has not only filed a lawsuit for 21 people against the government, but has since filed a personal action against Dr. Minnis after a group of people were arrested on Tuesday morning for protesting against the immediate seven-day lockdown.

And recently, Sawyer, a prominent voice, has also come out against the orders, referring to the lockdowns as “house arrest” and “detention.”

“By ‘detention,’ I mean, telling us when we can leave our homes, when we can exercise, when we can go to the shops, telling us when we can get married, how and when we can bury our dead relatives, among other things, telling us when we can go to a doctor or a dentist as well as how many of us can go to church at a time, how long we can be in church and so on and so on,” Sawyer said.

“…It (government) has exercised an exorbitant power on the pretext that they are concerned to save lives from this “deadly virus” by detaining every person in The Bahamas — except for persons they have in their wisdom deemed “essential workers,” she said.

Sawyer likened the emergency orders to dictatorial practices of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.

“If your argument is correct, there is nothing wrong with the government inflicting torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on people who have not been charged with any breach of any law let alone the orders of the administration during a declared period of public emergency.”

On whose side is the government?

Dame Allen supports a national lockdown implemented by the government and has called for stricter measures.

Highlighting the exponential increases in cases, she said, “If this (the COVID-19 numbers) continues, our medical capacity will be exhausted and we will all be in trouble.”

Allen then criticizes opponents of the lockdown like Attorney Wayne Munroe and Justice Sawyer, saying, she believes the lockdown is necessary.

Allen said, “The message regarding the seriousness of the situation and the absolute necessity for everyone to adhere to the protocols put in place for our protection is being garbled and diluted by people waving the Constitution and wrongly proclaiming the unconstitutionality of lockdowns, curfews and quarantine during a state of public emergency.”

She continued, “Moreover, if the science warrants a lockdown, and in my view it does, there should be a full and complete lockdown for a week with no businesses open, and a partial lockdown the week after, only allowing for food store and pharmacy runs!”

The next day, at 8pm, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis implemented a 7-day lockdown of Grand Bahama and New Providence, which experienced surging cases.

Minnis in his immediate implementation of the 7-day lockdown said, “Indeed, as noted by leading jurists in our country, the requirement for the constitutionality of various provisions is that is that they are ‘reasonably justifiable in the circumstances of the emergency.'”

“Indeed, our Founders fathers wisely placed in our constitution provisions allowing  the Governor General to declare proclamations of emergency. Such proclamations exist to allow the Government to act to protect the people in times of great national crisis.”

Minnis continued, “If the Government did not have the Emergency Powers there would be mass death in The Bahamas beyond the imagination of most. Those who tell you the Emergency Powers are not necessary are unserious and dead wrong.”

Twenty-year-old Marvin Joseph has expanded his business to online services, after arrest for selling coconut water during the coronavirus pandemic.

With the help of good Samaritans, Joseph has paid the $800 fine, after breaching the emergency orders.

Helped by Carlos Reid, Julien Believe and Sherwin Johnson, Joseph launched ‘Marvin’s Coconut Water and Tings.’

Reid garnered  public support for payment of the fine, Johnson of Evo Bahamas, created a business Facebook page for Joseph’s company, while Believe, a representative of Aliv Cellphone Network, donated a cellphone to assist with the operation of Joseph’s business.

Instead of selling coconut water on the streest of the Nassau, Joseph can now be seen at the Hope Center, Big Pond Highway, where he offers curbside services.