... but when the same 'hustle' takes place with something you don't agree with he should be fired, right? It seems the concept of what principle means eludes you!

ok @proud. I also think Dr Sands is great. In fact he was my hope for PM, he still is. But this was sloppy work. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. Someone knew this was going to explode in his face and allowed him to proceed hoping it would explode. And it exploded. This was not good wirk. We need to be honest so people do better next time. If you continue with this line that the end justifies the means, what will they do next in the name of "helping" the country?

The end never justifies the means and corruption in any form or for any reason should never be welcomed. Most Bahamians are suffering a terrible existence daily, not because of Dorian or the Red China Virus, but because of decades of unchecked, rampant and pervasive corruption throughout successive governments with the tone always being set right from the very top. Be careful my friend, none of us are immune to the very harmful effects of the corrupt activities of elected and other senior government officials.

......cronies, et al.

The voters will resign him in due time.

Sands should not be asked to resign, he should be fired! The only reason he might not be is because Minnis is too politically weak to do so!

So according to the Min of Health it's of no concern who enters the country as long as they bring the test kits, right? But what if the test kits are faulty? Ever considered that or it doesn't matter?

"*Duane Sands does not plan to resign from Cabinet*"

Good! You shouldn't. **But** I have been saying for over 2 years now that you need a political strategist beside you. I suggested Adrian Francis. Find one asap. A good one with integrity, I hope thats not an unintended oxymoron. This politics thing is like navigating a landmine I think you were put in the centre of a self destroying trap, like one of those mission impossible messages.

"*I am quite frankly shocked at how far to the left this conversation has gone*"

Dr Sands ***pleeeaaaaase*** find a political strategist. While you are concerned with health matters and keeping the country safe, the strategist will tell you **ahead** of the scandal that a scandal may be in the works "if" so and so happens. They can then tell you how to manoeuvre to avoid things going to the *far left*.

Your mantra that it's okay to be corrupt as long as you're smart enough not to get caught or are able to deflect and/or cover up your wrongdoing, is being heard loud and clear.

You certainly are one twisted soul.

lol. I wonder if I am a twisted soul. Maybe...you caught me:)

But you mistake me. Im operating on the premise that Dr Sands didnt know this couple would be accompanying the kits. I believe others knew and were content to let him walk into the bear trap. The one thing that has always been clear to me is Sands is not a politico. This is the 2nd time he's gone down the road of political suicide.

Now if I am wrong and he knew the couple would be arriving on the plane with intent to stay..that's a different matter and unfortunately the right thing to do would be to offer his resignation. That just couldn't be allowed to stand in the face of our Bahamians, one of whom I know personally, suffering abroad while trying to get home.

oh you meant when I said *how to manoeuvre*?.

Have you ever watched one of those Netflix presidential dramas? The president is surrounded by advisors, there's always some moral decision to be made and the angel and the devil advisors give different scenarios on what could happen if the president takes a certain action.

What I am saying is it seems to me that Dr Sands takes these actions "to help" without considering the ramifications. I was in no way proposing that he should find someone to help him do something immoral but not get caught, that's why I included the word **integrity**.

What I want is have someone to help him to consider all the possible outcomes and pitfalls and chose the ethical path to getting what he needs find done.

@ThisIsOurs... all Sands had to do was ask for the swabs to be sent by Fed Ex-- problem solved.

This flight was precleared before it left the USA, that is a major problem!

there you go. Dr Sands needs you:) Sometimes when you in the trees no matter how competent you are you need someone looking at the forest.

I doubt that Sands was involved in clearing the flight. Again I think someone knew and they let Dr Sands walk into the self made trap.

No information on where the plane came in from. Was it a HOT SPOT in America.Hundreds of faulty test kits were on the Black market , with the Federal government representatives warning not to use, apparently these were not any of them , but if you don't know the Donors or the
Number of passengers on the plane to disembark with them it really doesn't matter
WHO REALLY IS IN CHARGE AND RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LIVES AND WELL BEING OF THE BAHAMIAN CITIZENS

In answer to your appropriate loud question: Certainly not Sands!

And we might be able to say the same about Minnis if Sands proves to be as untouchable by Minnis as Sands is only too quick to publicly assert.

Test kits were available from other Caribbean countries and were offered and Sands choose to accept the donated gift with a catch. Numbers game continues, was 2 Americans, but in reality 4 additional Americans were with them (their staff?). Not only was the protocol breached, Sands is prioritizing Americans over his own Bahamian citizens abroad. What does tha say to every Bahamian with a family member despertly trying to return to their country.
The aircraft, N578GC, flight history shows on April 29th., arrival in AM on Cat Cay, returned to Fort Lauderdale and then another flight to Nassau at 12noon. Did the people depart in Cay and the bootlegged supplies off-loaded in Nassau? Additionally the same plane, during weekend lockdown on Sat., May 2, made another return to Cat Cay, a frequent location where the plane flies. Might account for the news reporting of "all the people on Cat Cay were tested for COVID and were negative" and the use of all thise kits occured during the dramtic statement for the"dire need for swabs." Additionally the comment from Sands, The plane was here and we had to make an urgent decision," was apparentlyfor the shock value as the chartered plane flies repeatedly in and out of the country.
Bahamians, thee are shenanigans going on in your country, overlook and find excuses or unite and do tje right thing to get you people and your economy back.

The problem is that our political figures find the un-ethical quicksand with such sure footedness!
Every single time, It is like they can't see forward but two feet! Initial reaction is always Lie.
Claim ignorance. Mumble.
Action, reaction, consequence. Or is it that they don't care, once elected they're above being questioned?
We are all familiar with the attendant arrogance that comes with high office.

Why did he lie and say it was two people. when he knew it was Six.

He said he will continue his work. so he is telling the PM not to touch him.

he didn't lie. He didn't know. You can castigate him for acting without having all the information and still have a valid argument

And whose responsibility do you think it was to ensure that all of the relevant information was obtained so that no laws would be broken. Think how many Bahamians in recent months have been subject to arrest and subsequent imposition of outrageous fines and/or prison sentences even though they pleaded to the judge they were only guilty by reason of not knowing or understanding all the information contained in the emergency orders. Is Sands really entitled to feign ignorance of the law or, worse still, know the law and simply ignore it?

"*And whose responsibility do you think it was to ensure that all of the relevant information was obtained so that no laws would be broken.*"

yeah that's my point. You'd have a valid argument if you "attacked/faulted/castigated" him for that

The only information he needed is EO chp. 34. . .he haas been throwing that law in our faces for months now!! Further more, no curfew brakes could use that argument in court. . .the only thing he needed was the law!! Even doc admits Sands breached to order. . .bethel reasoned like mudder-take-sic because he hates to tell sands to his face: "dude, you are screwed bouy"!

If only the **jailed** streets comrade Homeless **citizens,'** would've to remotely been treated such leniency as were the **non-citizens',** and the colony's crown minister health - by the **First** amongst equals excusing away a matter considered so serious that even the **First's** own handpicked nonelected attorney general QC, has stepped forward to voice what was clearly a breaking of the law act.
**Why no mention of a telephone call being made to the either the AG, nor the crown's immigration minister?**
Did the **six** foot the bill be virus tested, etc. Nod once for yeah, Twice for no?

>Sands said, "It’s after someone asks you a question that you then try to determine what the answer is. I was focused on getting supplies, not on who these people are.”

In other words, Sands didn't seem to care whether the wealthy Americans, whom he purports to have personally 'authorised' to disembark their plane, were possible carriers of the Covid-19 virus. And it was not until the next day (after much public furor) that Sands presumably required that they be tested.

> He went on to say, “You get a call, a WhatsApp message, an email, and it’s bam bam bam, no sitting down, no stopping and asking whether if I ask somebody to approve flight they will get vexed."

Translation: *"I'm too busy as minister of health right now to have to worry about silly little things like complying with the law."*

It's here we see Sands both shamefully and shamelessly engaged in self-aggrandizing behaviour. He's basically saying he regards himself as being much more important than the rest of us and, as such, need not comply with the laws that all of us must abide by or face outrageous fines and/or imprisonment for many years. Sands obviously considers himself a member of the political elite and, as such, does not believe the laws of the land apply to him.

> Sands finally said, “I am quite frankly shocked at how far to the left this conversation has gone. When you’re trying to solve problems for the public, sometimes it requires you to dig deep, to beg and we’ve done a lot of begging based on relationships that you have established over the years with individuals and institutions and universities and countries. It’s called networking. Failing that, you cannot mount a response.”

Translation: *"When begging one should not regard one's own self as being subject to the laws of the land"*. And heaven knows we have become a nation of beggars under the Minnis-led government. But the many thousands of poor Bahamians out there daily begging for food to help ease the hunger of themselves and their family members must fully comply with all the laws of the land or risk being arrested and subject to thousands of dollars in fines and/or prison terms of 5 years or more.

It now seems we live in a country where the law no longer applies equally to all. And that is fundamentally unconstitutional, most unfair and just plain wrong. We cannot have one set of laws, rules and orders for the vast majority of less well-off struggling Bahamians, and another set for for the wealthy political elite and foreigners.

We also now see Minnis, Sands, D'Aguilar, the Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, the Director of Immigration, and others beholden to these officials, all circling their wagons in an effort to spin and twist the facts in the hope of bamboozling and hoodwinking the Bahamian people. Bottom line: Many laws have been broken, including by the Americans involved, to achieve what can only be described as a glaring and most corrupt quid-pro-quo arrangement.

OUCH😂🤣

By telling Minnis and the public in no uncertain terms that he has no intention of resigning and every intention of remaining minister of health, Sands is making it known to everyone that he considers himself untouchable by Minnis and therefore unanswerable to either him or the Bahamian people for having broken various laws in the course of personally 'approving' and participating in a corrupt quid-pro-quo arrangement. Here's where we find out just how tiny Minnis's rat sized balls really are.

Sands's record to date clearly shows he's no more indispensable to our public healthcare system than Frank Smith was to our PHA. Minnis should have appointed a special Czar from day-one to deal with the Red China Virus. I can think of a half-dozen senior/leading medical doctors with the integrity, medical smarts, vitality and common sense who should have held that Czar position and spared the Bahamian people all of the poor decision making that has occurred under Sands.

**Frankly speaking might be a good idea do a quick flashback Wednesday, August 21, 2013, when a then redshirts opposition leader was yelling for PM Perry Gladstone to sack one his substantive crown ministers,** and that the PM, should also know that all the colony's PopoulacesOrdinary **knows the difference between the truth and a lie and they all know the difference between a government that accounts and one that obfuscates.**
PM Perry Gladstone responded that, Dr. Minnis and his red shirts colleagues have problems with the English language and that that **comprehension was one of them.**
Hear that Queen's official opposition leader "Brave"...**yelling!** Nod once for yeah, Twice for no?

So a few days ago the Tribue reported how the Cayman Islands had obtained 200,000 test kits form South Korea and that they were keeping 100,000 for themselves and had shipped 35,000 to Bermuda, 20,000 to Barbados and had a further 45,000 available to sell "AT COST".

No we are told how hard it is to get tests and need to grovel to get them.

Something smells.

Ma comrade Economist would much of a shock come over you if it turns out that the surplus test kits were first offered for sale to our own colony but the government never got back to the Caymans?

I find Dr. Sands stance in this matter as telling Doc: "bouy. . .carry ya tail from round here. . .you carn fire me". . .because even a twisted and oh so biased mind like mudder-tak-sic carn reason and come up with a contrived conclusion for why Sands can stay in his position. . .he defied the EO2 and then basically says: "so what. . .een nobody carn do nuttin to me nohow"!! But I guess this government will leave him be because, to arrest him means them Americans and OB must be arrested too!! This one is in the lap of Doc minnis alone. . .it is purely a matter of "ya quick to pull out the long arm of law for local shines them. . .but all involved in this "breach" are not the RA MASSES! Come on man of the people. . .do them just like yinna been doing we lil folks. . .arrest them law breakers them too!!

This one time I'm simply enthralled by your flattery of me.

I think I figured out who @licks is and his name rhymes with "Linnis"

Yes, it should have been handled differently but it was hardly corruption. That term can only surely apply if the deed was carried out for personal gain. Clearly that wasn't the case. Time to move on folks. The country has much bigger issues to face.

... "clearly"? Really?

Suggest you do your homework and rely much less on quick 'shallow' sources like Wikipedia. You can start with the link below that provides a comprehensive analysis of the subject of corruption under UK law:

https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/app/uploads/2…

P.S.: You should note that "a person may commit an offence by soliciting an advantage, receiving it or agreeing to receive it."

In most quid pro quo arrangements there's usually a briber and a bribee and each is usually found to be equally culpable for the role they play in any arrangement that breaks or is intended to break the law.

He just got swing--many of public service administration attitude is: " I run my own show--the pm carn tell me what to do" -- this arrogance is pandemic in public services--they hate to accept the fact that EO3 gives the pm the "only mouth" in running this country. Now that doc has sacked the "mouth"-- this case can be put to bed--he overstepped his bounds--and led them innocent peoples dem over the cliff--case over!!

Doc MINNIS NEEDS TO NOW GO INTO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WHERE HIS INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT ADHERED TO AND OFFICERS WHO DARE TO OBEY HIM ARE HARASSED AND TOLD THEY WILL BE SANCTIONED. One officer told me that one ADD said that the pm DON'T RUN MOE--the director of education does and he determines what will be done!! I was given a copy of a circular from the MOE that is clearly contrary to the pm directive may 3rd demanding that officers in that department follow instruction from the DE contrary to pm's INSTRUCTIONS. i COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT i WAS READING. . .BUT THERE IT WAS IN THE FRONT OF MY EYES!!!