COMMENTARY: BY OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 2020 — In a recent commentary I wrote, headlined THE INHERENT DANGER OF BURNING BRIDGES BEHIND YOU, I noted that throughout my journalistic career and my more than 55 years of active involvement in Bahamian politics, I have a well-documented history of throwing caution to the wind by stubbornly refusing to pay heed to the sage adage, “Do not burn bridges behind you in case you need to go back over them.”
As I noted in that commentary, “Failure to adhere to this dire warning can have serious consequences on one’s professional and personal life, a lesson that I learned the hard way on more than one occasion,” several of which I cited. However, to demonstrate that I have indeed learnt my lesson “the hard way,” I am not about to burn yet another bridge by excoriating Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis for his decision to accept the resignation of Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands, which was indeed a bad decision at a time when The Bahamas really, really, really needs the excellent leadership Dr. Sands has been providing the Ministry of Heath in the war against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that is wreaking havoc around the world and has had a devastating impact on The Bahamas’ number one economic lifeline – tourism.
Replacing Dr. Sands at this time clearly was not in the best interest of the country, no matter how disappointed the Prime Minister was in the decision made by his Minister of Health, which I described in a previous commentary as an “inadvertent faux pas.” Even though it was later revealed that six American permanent residents of The Bahamas were allowed to disembark from the plane bringing a donation of 2,500 doubled-swabbed diagnostic test kits for COVID-19 when it landed at Lynden Pindling International Airport, rather than two reported earlier, Dr. Sands’ explanation for his decision, although flawed, was reasonably understandable.
Even after additional facts surrounding the controversy later surfaced and the Prime Minister confirmed in a national address on Sunday that six permanent residents, not two, disembarked from the aircraft last week Wednesday with the test supplies, I was still convinced that Dr. Sands had not committed an act egregious enough to result in him resigning from the Cabinet.
Rightly so, the Prime Minister in his address said protocol had been breached, but his announcement that Dr Sands would be issuing a statement on the matter did not suggest to me that he would be submitting his resignation.
I became even more convinced that the matter would be resolved in a less dramatic manner after reading a report in The Tribune that stated: “Former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe connected Dr Sands to the donors who supplied 2,500 swabs that cost $11,250 and current Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar, who has responsibility for aviation, approved the arrival of the N-578GC aircraft that brought the supplies and its passengers to the country.”
The article added: “Dr Sands informed Mr D’Aguilar of the aircraft and the Freetown MP ensured that the Civil Aviation Authority satisfied the request to let the aircraft enter. Mr D’Aguilar, when contacted yesterday, said civil aviation approved the flight with his support ‘given the dire need for swabs necessary to conduct COVID-19 testing.’
“The Tribune understands that in the process of preparing for the flight’s arrival, Mr D’Aguilar told Dr Sands he needed approval from the Department of Immigration for the passengers. Dr Sands then reached out to Immigration Director Clarence Russell, telling him the country needed the supplies badly and that the passengers will be quarantined on arrival. Captain Russell approved Dr Sands’ request.”
Obviously, the role that former Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe played in this controversy deserves some scrutiny, given the fact that The Tribune reported that Wilchcombe said he “does not believe Dr Sands knew the donors before he connected them.”
According to The Tribune, Wilchcombe said “his contacts were people in the medical and science fields, which allowed them to secure the supplies.”
“The minister (Sands) said we are having difficulties getting the test kits and the call has been to find them, wherever you find them, fly them and get them in,” Wilchcombe was quoted as saying. “I know (the donors), they said they wanted to help, they called me up and we went from there. I passed it on to the government. Are we testing our people efficiently? No, we are not. I think we’ll be able to have a clear and definite picture as to where we are once we test more people because we could have low numbers that could mean you simply weren’t testing enough. The donations will help with this.”
I was absolutely convinced that after Dr. Sands took full responsibility for his decision and indicated on Monday that he had no intention of resigning from the Cabinet that the matter had been resolved. “I intend to continue my work for the Bahamian people in my capacity as minister of health and I will do it to the best of my ability,” The Tribune quoted Dr. Sands as saying.
Therefore, I was completely surprised when I read online in The Tribune Tuesday morning that the Prime Minister had accepted the resignation of Dr Sands, a decision that he announced in a statement released shortly before 10 o’clock Monday night.
The real tragedy here is that — to use an analogy from my favourite sport, baseball – Dr. Minnis has a very weak bench from which to choose a replacement for Dr. Sands; furthermore, to use another baseball analogy, you simply do not move your best pitcher from the game when he is pitching a no-hitter because he made a bad pitch.
NOTE: This video that was posted on Dr. Sands’ Facebook page speaks volumes for his commitment to the Bahamian people: https://www.facebook.com/duanelsands/videos/250897942934519/
