By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PLP leader Philip Davis has criticised Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ recent national address for not responding to the urgent needs of struggling Bahamians with no food and or money.

This week, Dr Minnis announced the suspension of the alphabetical shopping schedule and the appointment of a food security task force to ensure those in need receive adequate food. In a statement sent Monday night, Mr Davis acknowledged these key points of the address but argued that the urgent needs of many Bahamians were not being taken care of.

The opposition leader said that shortly before the prime minister’s address, he received a call from a single mother down on her luck. He said: “She is desperate. She has no food and the landlord is threatening eviction. She is hurting now and the address provided no hope but more agony and despair.”

Mr Davis, pictured, said the announced task force “appeared to be a longer term strategy to deal with the broader issues of food security and increased local food production capacity.” He further questioned the prime minister’s statement that progress was being made in the COVID-19 fight. “(Monday night) we heard the prime minister boast that we are making progress in the fight against COVID-19 but how does he measure that when at the same time he announced that the number of cases is rising?

“Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? The prime minister presumably has in his possession the metrics to give some kind of forecast as to when he sees the picture improving. None of that was evident in his speech (Monday), except the bare assertion that things are getting better. Where is the evidence of that?”

Mr Davis also brought up concerns about the immediate needs of the unemployed, the poor, the elderly and the disabled. The prime minister had “nothing encouraging to say” to newly unemployed persons who have applied to the National Insurance Board (NIB) for employment insurance benefits, said the opposition leader.

He noted the PLP’s representatives in Parliament urged in their contributions that bureaucratic norms be done away with in this crisis. “It is regrettable that the government did not see its way to have employers continue to pay the salaries of the displaced workers and for the government to reimburse employers on receipt of rebillable invoices. This option is quicker, more efficient and would spare NIB the administrative overload that is at the root of the payment delays. The government is advised to reconsider this option,” he said.