As the World gets ready to shred WHO apart for its inadequate response to the Virus, why would we put ourselves in such a position that will pit us against our closest neighbor and largest benefactor on all fronts?!?

Ms. Astrid was a Lady of much dignity and standing in Marsh Harbour and neither her Memory nor her surviving Family deserve what has transpired over the past 8 months since the passage of Hurricane Dorian ... both tragic and extremely sad.

This is an extremely well written straight to the points opinion piece and as much as I am personally a proponent of people being free to live and spend their money however they so choose, even if inherently harmful to them, there is no question that historic alcohol abuse has significantly hindered the development of this Country, which been further exasperated by legalizing local gaming, as clearly now evidenced by the extreme decay in already poor, but nonetheless quaint communities in both New Providence and the Family Islands, just visit Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Exuma, Long Island, Cat Island, Andros, Sandy Point ... “any” of them, as there are no exceptions where the impact has been positive!

This appears to be “yet another” foreign investment disaster in our struggling attempts to provide jobs and keep our economy afloat. I see no reason why HOAs should not be made Public. However the delays in supposedly vetting these Projects must be eliminated in order to make us competitive with the rest of the World. We also must accept in order to survive that we are never going to have a Project that “everyone” approves of, which is why such responsibility vests in whoever the current Administration is, who must make timely decisions (particularly now), bearing in mind that “any” investment over the next 5 years will most likely be better than none, noting that the Public will have their opportunity to decide whether they approve of such decision making at the Ballot Box at the end of the Administration's 5 year tenure.

No one is expecting Abaco to be rebuilt in 8 months, indeed not for many years ... however what people are expecting is meaningful progress, which appears very much questionable at best and “a Plan” for the future, which currently appears non-existent, hence the lack of optimism in what the future is for Abaco and in turn, why Abaconians will soon start giving serious thought to taking matters into their own hands.

After 8 months, it is time to acknowledge that those charged with disaster relief and recovery have failed ... and failed miserably. All must be replaced with people either living, from or with a meaningful connections to Abaco, certainly not Outsiders as so far attempted, which has not only again failed, but created tremendous resentment towards Central Government ... and in the process given renewed life to AIM as perhaps the only realistic way forward.

As for “revisionist history”, one need only read the numerous Articles published by this very Paper from the second week of March warning of increasing travel restrictions culminating with BahamasAir’s Notice on 23rd March advising as to when they would stop flying out of the US, so again, there is very little excuse for those who chose not to make their way Home ... who have now had to be repatriated at the expense of ALL ... as if we can afford yet more avoidable expense on top of everything else right now as we struggle to prevent the devaluation of our beloved B$ in what may already be a lost cause.

These Bahamians were given ample warning of border closure and chose to remain wherever unlike the many who got themselves home at their own expense ... now the Country has to incur tax payer expense to repatriate, house and feed, thereby in effect rewarding such irresponsible behavior and in the process expose those that were responsible and have been enduring loss of liberty to the risk of exposure due to their irresponsibility by importing the virus ... and many appear ungrateful?!? In no way is the Govt. to blame for whatever hardship these people have endured, indeed the cost entailed should be divided among their number as Bills Owing and their Names published for all to see with monthly up-dates as to the status of their repayments, so as to deter similar future irresponsibility in the future.

One can only assume Bannister is among the first Bahamians stuck abroad to be repatriated as he appears completely disconnected from reality. The Country has had years to address infrastructural issues, but instead squandered millions on pointless Projects such as the many miles of beautifully paved road to no where in North Andros, indeed better than any anywhere else in The Bahamas. Instead, pleas focus on what should be your main concern, namely BPL, which is the primary reason Bahamians are broke today ... and if you have not read the News ... Oil is practically now free”, so there should be no more need for surcharges on already inflated electricity bills.

Given that it would appear the Appeasement Legislation of the past 20 years has had no effect on avoiding Black Listing and merely only served to erode whatever competitive advantage we might have had as regards other Jurisdictions, it would seem the most prudent course would be to simply “re-set” our position by repealing all Appeasement Legislation and start acting in the best interests of The Bahamas, as indeed the EU is doing as regards themselves.