This is not good … and the delay even worse … hopefully the Resort is at least now temporarily closed pending outcome.

The “classic” is the BPL sever weather warning ended at 9:45pm Friday night about half an hour before the “real” deluge started for remainder of the night, which was clearly shown on Weather Radar accessible by any smart phone accessing Internet!

Interesting that this Weather Alert expired just prior to the “real” extreme rain that lasted well into the early morning and is reckoned to be the most rainfall “ever” as evidenced by the literally hundreds of cars broken down and abandoned all over the Island … only in The Bahamas can we not even forecast the “worst ever” weather and in turn cause hundreds of thousands in avoidable vehicle damage.

Rather than deflecting on a Kangaroo Investigation in neighboring Long Island … should the focus not be on Exuma and what someone termed the “Sandals Scandal” that has left 3 (possibly 4) dead with No Answers after a week?!?

Are we being subjected to an orchestrated Media Blackout?

… hence why Cayman and TCI have been eating our post Independence Lunch! Both were behind Long Island in 1973 … today Long Island has gone backwards, along with Andros and Eleuthera and by contrast they have left the rest of us in the dust with Abaco our only true success story … and then came “Dorian” 😞

Wondering how the sole “Sandals” Survivor is doing … still alive, still paralyzed … can we turn back on our ACs … or perhaps enjoy a juicy piece of sweet Barracuda?!?

Well there you have it … the Principals on both sides have spoken … so said, so done?!?

Hope this is “real” for sake of GB, but for now appears to be nothing more than a Very “odd” conditional offer to purchase that should not have been announced until “after” due diligence completed to ensure “binding” sale/purchase.

This tragedy has exposed 2 distinct, albeit connected failings in this Country:

1. Transparency; and
2. Competency.

Both are critical to any properly “functioning” Country.

As for Transparency, it is obvious to “all” now that this does not exist in The Bahamas, as there exist today many Answers … yet neither “Sandals”, the Government nor our supposed “Free” Press have been forthcoming in disclosing … Why?!? Such concerted efforts to manipulate the narrative ( perhaps even “cover up”) what occurred to serve “special” Interests has caused the Country to suffer tremendous reputational damage in consequence!

As for incompetence … it is equally obvious the “D” Average of the past 40 years has caught up with us and is now on full display. If we can not figure out how 3-4 people in their 60’s died in close proximity on a “small” Island in an “all inclusive” Resort after presenting to a Hospital less than 10 hours prior … do we honestly think we are going to be able to solve the murders, robberies, burglaries, rape, drug, gun and people smuggling?!? … Child Please!

Perhaps most astonishing in the midst of this National Disaster is the fact that notwithstanding the bombardment of nightly “Romantic” Advertising by “Sandals” at massive expense, neither they nor our “Super Bowl” Ad Ministry of Tourism have any Crisis Management Protocol in place to follow (as even Resort remains Open!)… nor PR Branch or Firm to deploy … other than the Default Strategy of “do nothing” and hope the Story simply goes away as a result of the ever changing News Cycle!

We have been caught woefully ill prepared … and are now exposed with “Our Pants Down” for the whole World to see our embarrassing reality … certainly not how many of us once proud Bahamians were hoping to mark 50 years of Self Governance 😞

This is turning into a PR Nightmare and risks not only taking down “Sandals”, but even more importantly irreparable damage to the integrity of our Country and Tourism Product!

Equally perplexing is the lack of proper investigative Local Media reporting given this is a top trending Story on virtually all International Media!?!