Press Secretary, Anthony Newbold has taken on what he called “the firestorm of controversy,” stemming from what the government considers a misleading story in a local daily.
The Nassau Guardian last week published an article with the headline, “Minnis suggests no plan to send aid to Haiti,” fueling fierce backlash on talk shows, from the opposition and even the Bahamas Christian council.
Reading a portion of the article to reporters at the weekly press briefing, the press secretary, said the Prime Minister did not say he would not send any aid to Haiti.
“As a result the Prime Minister ended up having to call President Moise of Haiti, with whom he has a personal relationship, as does Mrs. Minnis and wife of Mr. Moise, to reassure the president that he had made no such statement and would always be willing to help in any way that he could, and The Bahamas could,” Mr. Newbold said.
“So let me say again, a little more forcefully than I did last week, the Prime Minister never said that he would not give aid or assistance to Haiti, never did he say that.”
The Press Secretary argued that Dr. Minnis was only doing his first duty, and that’s trying to ensure citizens are safe, adding that The Bahamas is willing to assist, but that there’s a protocol involved in the way assistance is provided among CARICOM countries.
“CDEMA, CARILEC, both of them disaster agencies of the region, they’re engaged and depending on the threat level, assistance is requested or not requested as is usually the case.
“If it is requested, The Bahamas will participate, as we have and we’ve had assistance given to us through CDEMA and CARILEC, and we’ve participated in providing assistance as well, as somebody rightly pointed out, with Dominica, and we’ve done it with other countries participating in the CARILEC protocol for hurricanes,” he said.
Haiti was struck with a magnitude 5.9 earthquake on Saturday October 6, killing at least 15 people and injuring many others.