AG ‘may revoke permits for wayward business during lockdown’

Attorney General Dale Marshall has threatened to hastily revoke exemptions granted to businesses authorised to open if they run afoul of the law.

He said that any business given permission to operate during the National Pause must operate within the stipulated boundaries.

Only those businesses deemed to be essential and those receiving special authorisation are allowed to open during the two-week lockdown.

Marshall declared: “Let me make it clear, where exemptions have been granted if any of those entities run afoul of the established protocols we will not hesitate to revoke the exemption. Plain and simple.

“And that doesn’t just apply to minimarts, that applies to companies that we allow to do business of any kind. If you breach the protocols rest assured that we are going to revoke any exemption that you might have.”

He urged businesses that had not been given exemptions to remain closed for the next two weeks.

“It would have been virtually impossible to stipulate all of the entities in Barbados that are to be closed,” he said. “No matter what good reason you think you may have for opening, if you are not permitted to open in the directives then please keep your doors closed.”

The AG revealed that four additional minimarts had been added to the previous list granted permission to open during the period.

But he said the health authorities had outlawed the use of communal pools during the lockdown.

Marshall said while bakeries had been allowed to remain open, there had been reports of bread vans parking alongside the road attracting large crowds, a development that might have to be addressed.

With the country entering its third day of lockdown, Marshall said so far he had not received any reports of incidents from the police.

He explained that the main reason for the National Pause was to restrict the movement of people, thereby limiting the spread of COVID-19.

From all reports, Barbadians understood and were acting responsibly thus far, he said.

The Attorney General said: “I remember well March of last year when we were going into our first ever lockdown curfew period. That time Barbadians were filled with trepidation, there was quite a bit of uncertainty of course and I think our experience this time has been very different. When we were preparing for our last lockdown we had huge lines at supermarkets, there was uncertainty as to the availability of certain things.

“Our overriding objective in this lockdown as with last time is that we reduce the amount of human to human interaction, the amount of human to human contact so as to reduce significantly the risk of the spread of COVID.

“When we were last in lockdown the COVID numbers were one today, two tomorrow, numbers then we found extremely disconcerting. But Barbadians then handled the measures well and from all that I can see, all that I have been able to observe in the lead up to this period and certainly as we have commenced this period, I think that Barbadians are handling it well.”  (randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)