The Tribune

HERE at The Tribune, we know our fair share about deadlines. We have to meet them every day – so that you can read the newspaper in your hands.

It doesn’t seem that way so much in government.

There’s an old quote from the author Douglas Adams, who wrote the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, about the subject. He said: “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

Over at Village Road, there have been so many deadlines missed it seems that the place must sound like Lynden Pindling International Airport with all that whooshing.

The end of January had been mentioned as the last government had seen fit to tell anyone. There has been progress – asphalt has been laid along a sizeable stretch of the road – but it is still not complete.

Then in today’s Tribune we see mention again from Attorney General Ryan Pinder of marijuana legislation.

The government promised that one would be presented to Parliament by the end of 2022, so yesterday surely Mr Pinder was excited to announce the legislation being enacted?

Alas, not so. The legislation is “nearly” completed. However, at the start of December, he said that legislation was “coming along well. Just some technical aspects we have to work through” so it appears to have taken two months to get those technical aspects resolved. Or not quite resolved, because nearly completed isn’t completed, and close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Of course, once the legislation is done, there will likely be public comment on it – Rastafarian priest Rithmond McKinney said in December he had received no contact from the government on the issue, for example.

So what’s the new deadline? Mr Pinder cannot say. He notes it will be up to the Cabinet to decide when it will be presented to Parliament.

Mr Pinder is also dealing with the matter of the fuel spill in Exuma last July – although again, there is no word as to when that will be concluded.

He says that the company responsible for the spill will face penalties. A total of 35,000 gallons of diesel spilled on that occasion as a vessel contracted by Sun Oil was offloading fuel to BPL at George Town.

Mr Pinder said: “They will absolutely see penalties. We prepared our litigation materials, we’ve conducted all of the interviews, and received all of the reports. We are prepared to file a civil action.”

It will be interesting to note whether that “civil action” is under the Environmental Planning and Protection Act 2019 and the Ministry of Environment Act 2019, which FNM leader Michael Pintard said last month empowered fines of up to $30m to be levied for both the incident in Exuma, and the sinking of the cargo ship Onego Traveller in December. At the time, Mr Pinder warned Mr Pintard “not to make reckless forecasts”.

Whenever that matter resolves, we shall see what compensation The Bahamas receives for a spill that despoiled our waters enough for Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper to raise the matter in Parliament before leading an urgent delegation to begin the clean-up.

As for forecasts, with no word on when Village Road will be completed, no word on when marijuana legislation will be tabled, no word on when the civil action will begin, it seems as if the government has given up on deadlines entirely - whooshing sound or not.