She referred to Prof. Owen Gross’ book, Laws in Times of Crisis, 2006, in which he suggested that “crises (pandemics, national security threats, citizen insecurity, natural disasters etc.); produce an expansion of governmental powers and the concentration of powers in the hands of the executive”

She went on to quote Prof. Anne Twomey of the University of Sydney, Australia, who stated that “In an emergency, maintaining public confidence in the government is essential especially when you are asking very hard things of people, especially when you are restricting their civil liberties, their ordinary day to day freedoms and taking decisions that affect them economically …and to do that you need some kind of level of parliamentary scrutiny.

We now learn, however, that the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) denied a request by the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Nine, Mr. Carl Parker, for a total lockdown, based on a recommendation from the Regional Health Emergency Committee (RHEC).

We now wonder whether the National Task Force acted too swiftly albeit decisively in considering the request from the Regional Health Committee for a total lockdown, and if this is a good example of emotional contagion leading to a poor decision.

As we come closer to the results of the National Election (of March 2nd), we ponder whether the Task Force is affected by the emotions of fear and anxiety and have lost the ability to be creative and analytical policy makers, assuming, of course, that the policymakers do have good knowledge of the facts.

When COVID-19 becomes history, we would recommend that a Committee on Epidemics and Outbreaks be established by Parliament, and chaired by the Leader of the Opposition, as a first step of an inclusive government in Guyana about which we hear much talk.

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Miles Vandehurst Lynk,

National Trust for Historic Preservation

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