On the heels of Tuesday’s revelation of a raft-up which featured Reggae superstar “Shaggy” and police inquiries into the matter, today videos circulating shows a large gathering of Bermudians in a raft-up, in blatant disregard for what the law states.
TNN understands that, with the international raft-up happening, it is believed that the attitude of some Bermudians is “ what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
TNN spoke to shadow National Security Minister Michael Dunkley.
Former Premier and Shadow Minister of National Security Michael Dunkley acknowledges that a lot of Bermudians are now fed up with Coronavirus restrictions that they have had to adhere to for 16 months and counting.
Mr. Dunkley thinks that Premier the Hon. David Burt needs to come clean in relation to the first raft up incident earlier in the week, since Premier Burt is also in charge of the Tourism Ministry.
“ The BTA, in my view, would have to have known about the raft-up,” he said. “ If that is the case, then there is a serious lack of communication between the BTA and Premier Burt, or somebody is not telling the truth . . . you cannot fool people for long, they can see through the shenanigans [of what is really going on.]”
Mr. Dunkley finds an island-wide curfew when there are only four active Coronavirus cases on the island to be very unnecessary.
“ [The fact that there is still a curfew] begs the imagination that Premier Burt and his colleagues keep forcing these restrictions without an understanding for Bermudians [and their needs],” he said.
On Sunday June 13, the Government pushed their mandatory 14-day quarantine for unvaccinated travellers back a few weeks without, in Mr. Dunkley’s opinion, a clear reason why.
“ At the beginning of the pandemic, the government had handled the situation quite well, but as of late, particularly within the past six months, the island has seen that turn for the worse and enough is enough,” he said.
Several parts of Bermuda’s closest neighbor and trading partner, the United States, have completely opened up while Bermuda still has some tight restrictions, such as mandatory mask wearing, limited numbers at both indoor and outdoor gatherings, etc. This resulted in the U.S.’s economy slowly starting to bounce back, while Bermuda’s is still struggling.
“ One of the biggest drivers of our economy is our hospitality industry and that industry is still shackled, because there is still a nighttime curfew and other restrictions,” Mr. Dunkley said. “Let’s be honest, what visitors are going to come to Bermuda and go through all the mandatory COVID testing when many of our competitors have a much simpler regime than that?”
He highlights that, because Bermuda cannot print money unlike other larger countries, that makes Bermuda’s situation all the more difficult.
“ We have got to repay our debt and rebuild our economy, and failed dates for doing things by the Government is not putting us in a better position,” Mr. Dunkley said. “ They promised that we would reach community immunity by May 28 and we are nowhere near that right now.”
“ Government needs to come clean and be open and transparent about the situation that we are facing, or we are just going to continue to struggle,” he continued.
————————————————————————
Any content which is considered unsuitable, unlawful, or offensive, includes personal details, advertises or promotes products, services or websites, or repeats previous comments will be removed.
User comments posted on this website are solely the views and opinions of the comment writer and are not a representation of or reflection of the opinions of TNN or its staff.
TNN reserves the right to remove, edit or censor any comments.
TNN accepts no liability and will not be held accountable for the comments made by users.