Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall. (FP)

Attorney General Dale Marshall is urging Barbadians to read the Emergency Management (COVID-19) (Curfew) Directives in their entirety, in order to have a greater understanding as to what is allowed whenever directives are issued.

He was a guest on the latest COVID Queries televised programme, where he sought to explain why the public needs to read the document.

Mr. Marshall added that any instrument has to be read as a whole and although there were restrictions, persons would see what is permitted when they took the time to read the document.

“So, let’s talk about restaurants…. Yes, we said stay at home and that is the fundamental principle. But, we also provided a clause in the directives that you are allowed to leave home for the purpose of doing a significant number of things: going to church, going to seek medical attention, going to the gas station, going to a restaurant. So, we did have a blanket prohibition, but if people look at the document as a whole, invariably, they would find that there is another clause that says even though we have directed you to stay at home, there are certain exceptions,” the Attorney General underlined.

He encouraged Barbadians to take the time to read the current directive, to examine the clauses and listen to the public service announcements. 

“In every directive where we allow persons to do certain things, we stipulate specifically what those things are. So, there was confusion, but it was clear on the document, if people only took the trouble to look at it.”

Mr. Marshall advised the public to listen to the public service announcements and to be guided accordingly, to minimise any confusion surrounding what is contained in the document.

julie.carrington@barbados.gov.bb

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