Sands accuses govt of blundering by: • Having no coherent plan to tackle crisis • Vilifying public for COVID spread

Dr Duane Sands

As of Wednesday, August 19, 2020

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said Monday’s sudden lockdown and subsequent policy reversal will make it “infinitely more difficult for the government now to win the public confidence again”.

His comment came as residents swarmed grocery stores, gas stations and water depots in New Providence yesterday, crowding the island’s streets after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis lifted the full lockdown on Tuesday afternoon.

“People were pissed off,” Dr Sands said. “People were angry that they were forced into a position where they didn’t have the opportunity to do what responsible people do. ‘I didn’t get medication for my mummy,’ ‘can you help me to get some water,’ ‘I need a five gallon bottle of water, Dr Sands can you help me to get it?’”

On whether a full lockdown will ever be feasible for New Providence, Dr Sands said: “Anything is feasible and realistic if it is properly planned and executed. What is not reasonable is an ad-hoc spur of the moment decision that does not take into account the reality of life in The Bahamas, particularly for the least among us. Yes we are able to participate in a lockdown, and yes the overwhelming majority of Bahamians, and I’m speaking about my view that greater than 90 percent of Bahamians support the idea that the virus has to be beaten and that an obligatory part is aggressive social distancing, but people still have to eat and people still have to take medication, people still need basic necessities of living and when you are forcing people to make the choice between complying with a protocol and living, then they are going to have to choose survival.”

The Tribune understands there was deep concern among some of the prime minister’s Cabinet colleagues about the level of consultation that preceded Monday night’s announcement.

Dr Sands, who resigned as health minister in May, suggested he does not support another lockdown if a broader plan is not articulated.

“As a surgeon I try to look at the root cause of a problem,” he said. “The root cause of this is multifactorial. We have a number of weaknesses in our approach to COVID-19, we are trying to make decisions with inadequate data, we have issues with persons spreading this virus in restaurants, office buildings, health facilities and so on and that means that we have widespread community transmission so our approach has to be multifaceted and I think we need to now be focused on enforcement and education so that people consistently practice an approach to COVID-19 all the time.

“Suggesting we can just lock a country down without a plan that every single Bahamian can articulate is not the way. If you simply lock down and open up and nothing is different, isn’t that the definition of insanity? What is the plan? How will people earn a living once you come out of the shutdown and will you be doing things the same way as before?”

He continued: “Lockdowns are effective if you are buying time to implement a particular plan. The World Health Organisation has made it clear that national lockdowns are not the way to go unless you are doing it for a particular reason to roll out a policy that will be articulated to the general public. What we’ve done is we’ve vilified the population. We’ve said you are the reason why we are in this problem as opposed to saying we are all partners together and if we work together and agree this is going to be the approach. So this is going to take wide consultation, real consultation. This is not a one man job.

“We have to try and demonstrate that we are worthy of trust. One of the things we have to do is apologise, own the problem that we have done some things that we shouldn’t have done. What that does is it humanises the government and gets people to understand ‘hey, I’m not the only one a part of the problem, the government is also a part of the problem.’ We’ve all made mistakes, I’ve made mistakes, but we have to work together to move forward.”

Honestman 3 years, 8 months ago

The Tribune understands there was deep concern among some of the prime minister’s Cabinet colleagues about the level of consultation that preceded Monday night’s announcement.

That is the problem in a nutshell. The PM thinks this a one man show. Unfortunately by this approach he denies himself valuable perspective from Cabinet and other colleagues. Ego has overtaken common sense.

Cobalt 3 years, 8 months ago

I agree. And this practice has plagued Bahamian politics for decades. Problem-solving should not be a unilateral step Mr. Prime Minister. Delegates and government personnel need to be consulted. By doing so, all possible scenarios and outcomes can be planned and discussed. Minnis dropped the ball on this one. But let’s not overreact.

tribanon 3 years, 8 months ago

Delegates and government personnel need to be consulted. By doing so, all possible scenarios and outcomes can be planned and discussed.

You do of course appreciate that the so called "delegates and government personnel" had already run our country into the ground long before the deadly China Virus came along. They're not much different from Minnis when it comes to lack of competence and common sense. So consulting them is not going to be the solution to anything we are now up against. And many our best and brightest Bahamian minds are no longer among us because they found it necessary to make their homes abroad....having been quite literally driven away from The Bahamas by the type of sordid corrupt political creatures we have been foolishly electing to govern our country for decades now.

Baha10 3 years, 8 months ago

👍

ohdrap4 3 years, 8 months ago

Minnis took the ministry of healths bait. It was them who made up this story of locking foodstore their pronouncements recorded in the media from last Friday.

Blaming the patient is second nature to doctors, therefore the tone of the pronouncements.

To have to listen to people other than doctors is a lot of crow for Minnis to eat.

trueBahamian 3 years, 8 months ago

One challenge is this country is that our leaders usually want people around them who agree with them. I don't see the current PM as being any different. If you have people around you that have a backbone and they are some of our brightest minds, we can get better solutions. Mistakes may be made, but we would have less mistakes and less draconian measures implemented.

Like Dr. Sands said s lockdown only makes sense if you have a plan. Clearly there was no plan and there was no thought prior to implementing the lockdown. This was a huge blunder.

Cobalt 3 years, 8 months ago

Mr Sands, please stop the rubbish. We know political posturing when we see it. It’s obvious that you are only willing to emerge when you wish to “take a shot” at the government. First of all, no government of the Bahamas never had the confidence of the Bahamian people. Historically speaking, Bahamians grumble, complain and point fingers, regardless of who is in office. There is simply no satisfying them. Secondly, you Mr Sands, have no credibility left as it relates to ethics and morale. You sought to deceive the Bahamian public and eventually had to be unceremoniously removed from office. So you’re in no position to criticize. If you think you can use this opportunity to lay the framework for a bid to become the next leader of the FNM, you are grossly mistaken. Yes, Dr Minnis made an error in judgment and needs to use this a a teaching-moment moving forward. He needs to accept and understand that no more unilateral steps should be taken when dealing with matters related to the pandemic.

Cobalt 3 years, 8 months ago

(correction) no government of the Bahamas has ever had the confidence of the Bahamian people.

DWW 3 years, 8 months ago

thats plain BS, and you know it.

Cobalt 3 years, 8 months ago

Oh? Do tell. Who was the last government that Bahamians expressed confidence in? We’ve been changing government now for some time. And there is now talk about doing it again. We just removed to PLP from office, and now we’ve forgotten why we did that, and now we’re considering putting them back. That doesn’t seem like a people who possess confidence in a government.

tribanon 3 years, 8 months ago

Do you really need to be told the last government the Bahamian people expressed confidence in was the UBP? In fact so much so, that Minnis posthumously ordained Pop Symonette a National Hero. LOL

DWW 3 years, 8 months ago

say what ever you like but Sands now garners more trust than Wells or Minnis et. al. at least he is honest and admits his mistakes. Can't say the same for anyone else. a little humility goes a long way. Combat you cold use some humility too maybe?

joeblow 3 years, 8 months ago

... Sands is far from honest and is nothing but a political opportunist. His sole advantage over Minnis is that he is a better communicator. If you like I can list all the mistakes he made as minister of health during this pandemic! Never give power to a man who craves it as Sands does!

Cobalt 3 years, 8 months ago

Agreed.

tribanon 3 years, 8 months ago

Agree. Besides, we can ill afford to have our country run by the closely-knit free masons, i.e the lodge brothers, as a secretive government unto themselves within what remains of our fragile parliamentary democracy.

Cobalt 3 years, 8 months ago

Honest? Admitted to his mistakes? lol. Dr. Sands was caught in a scandal and when he couldn’t deceive the public anymore he had to come clean. That’s what happened. No honesty there. Damage control, maybe. But not honesty. He sought to circumvent the law for his own benefit and was caught. The PM didn’t want to fire him, but his actions were too egregious to ignore.

tribanon 3 years, 8 months ago

Now we know you're pulling our leg. Minnis repeatedly ran afoul of his own orders and protocols in too many ways to recount. And the only reason he never had to resign from office for breaching his very own emergency orders and protocols is because he had the power as the self-annointed Incompetent Authority to grant himself whatever exemptions he needed after the fact.

tribanon 3 years, 8 months ago

P.S. And lets not forget that D'Aguilar, unlike Sands, was given protection for his role in various protocol violations by Minnis.

trueBahamian 3 years, 8 months ago

There's definitely a political strategy here. But, put aside that for a second and look at what he's saying. There really isn't a plan here. Pure and simple.

We're in bad shape. We shouldn't expect perfection from the PM for this crisis. A lot of leaders globally are getting their butts kicked. So, he's not alone. The difference here is he's making decisions that are totally detached from reality. They defy logic.

proudloudandfnm 3 years, 8 months ago

Are you saying minnis should stay as leader????

Are you insane???

jackbnimble 3 years, 8 months ago

I think that Dr. Minnis has pride issues. Clearly he doesn’t trust anyone if his own cabinet members have no clue what he’s going to do next. Frankly it’s embarrassing. We have a stubborn leader who has surrounded himself with people who only feed his ego and are incapable of telling him that he’s an emperor with no clothes. He needs to drop his pride, diversify his ‘advisors’ and get this country back on track to beating this virus or he will be the first PM in Bahamian history that’s ousted without a general election. Frankly the Bahamian people are tired!!!

Sign in to comment

Or login with:

OpenID

The Tribune