Bahamas News
University of the Bahamas Gala Beats Half Million $ Target for Student Scholarships
#Bahamas, November 21, 2017 – Nassau – In a powerful statement about the community’s belief in the transformational impact of higher education, the University of The Bahamas President’s Gala Soirée has exceeded the anticipated fundraising target.
The inaugural event was the institution’s first major fundraiser since transitioning to University. The Soirée paired excellence with elegance as sponsors and donors joined the UB community at the Harry C. Moore Library and Information Centre. It was a celebration of student talent and potential. The occasion also commemorated the first anniversary of UB, chartered on 10thNovember 2016.
UB President Dr. Rodney D. Smith, who also observed the first anniversary of his inauguration as UB President, thanked the many corporate sponsors, donors, friends, alumni and UB constituents who helped to make the fundraiser overwhelmingly successful.
“We have exceeded the goal of $500,000 in cash and pledges for the endowed scholarship fund to support first-generation University students. These funds will benefit and change the lives of thousands of students, and by extension, families and entire communities. This is the beginning of the next phase in the growth and development of the Bahamian people, through access to education,” noted Dr. Smith.
Major sponsors for the Gala included Aliv, Sharon Wilson & Co., IL Cares, Doctors Hospital, Ernst & Young, Credit Suisse and New Providence Development Company Ltd.
While celebrating the success of the Soirée, President Smith nonetheless invited private and corporate donors to continue supporting UB.
“The University still needs the generous support of all corporate donors. Our goal is to raise this endowed fund to well over $5M. We cannot do this without the annual contributions of alumni, sponsors, donors and the many friends of the University. Please continue to give to the University and give as generously as you can. One donation will change a life and a community,” Dr. Smith pointed out.
Student Government Association (SGA) President Stuart Hanna was also pleased that corporate and private donors are supporting student scholarships.
“As a result of a successful Soirée, capable young Bahamians will be given an opportunity to obtain tertiary education at University of The Bahamas. These kinds of fundraising events bring immeasurable value to the advancement of the University, its students and the Bahamian society at large and show that the University is moving in the right direction,” said Mr. Hanna.
Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Alumni Affairs Ms. Davinia Blair said that the level of partnership and support from corporate Bahamas for the Soirée was encouraging as the institution becomes a stronger University.
PGS-Damian Blackburn Toast
“The overwhelming demonstration of support by faculty, staff, alumni, corporate partners and friends at the Gala truly touched the hearts of many, in particular our students, who will benefit from the endowment. I am grateful for the stellar partnership with Fusion IMC and Events by Alexandra to accomplish this feat. Also, I am thankful to all of our donors and am confident of a promising path ahead for our nation,” Ms. Blair asserted.
Release: BIS
Photo captions
Header & 3rd insert: PGS-Harry C. Moore Library – The Harry C. Moore Library & Information Centre at UB’s Oakes Field Campus was transformed into an elegant enclave. 1st insert: PGS-President’s comments – UB President Dr. Rodney D. Smith addresses the guests.
PGS-Cake Cutting – Sir Franklyn Wilson and Sharon Lady Wilson joined Dr. Christina Ramirez Smith and Dr. Rodney D. Smith to commemorate the first anniversary of the charter of UB at the President’s Gala Soiree held on 11th November 2017.
3rd insert: PGS-Damian Blackburn Toast – Mr. Damian BlackBurn of Aliv, one of the main sponsors of the soirée, offered a toast at the event.
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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