NASSAU — “Flawed logically” were the words used by Pastor Cedric Moss to describe Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar’s statement that instead of clamping down on web shop premises in breach of zoning regulations, the government will focus on ensuring no breach occurs in the future, the Nassau Guardian reported on May 14.
While vowing the government will ensure web shops adhere to zoning requirements before permission is given to them to go ahead and construct, D’Aguilar said there are some premises built “very close to schools and some that are very close to churches”, but in those instances, “it’s kind of hard to put that genie back in the bottle”.
That position was accepted by Bahamas Christian Council Vice President James Palacious, who said the zoning regulations should have been honored, but the government must now ensure moving forward it does not allow gaming house operators to open shop in close proximity to these institutions.
But Moss, pastor of Kingdom Life Church, disagreed and suggested the government has acted duplicitously on the issue.
He recalled that when the Free National Movement administration took office, it halted several contracts the former administration entered into, and asked why the Minnis administration cannot take the same approach with web shop premises that are too close to schools and churches.
“You can’t be selective with that,” said Moss, who was critical of the Christie administration for going against the results of the 2013 gambling referendum and regularizing the web shop industry.
