Bahamas News
Government Signs New Industrial Agreement with the Bahamas Customs, Immigration & Allied Workers Union
#Bahamas, January 19, 2018 – Nassau – The Government signed a new Industrial Agreement with the Bahamas Customs, Immigration & Allied Workers Union at the Ministry of the Public Service, Thursday, January 18, 2018. Minister of the Public Service and National Insurance the Hon. Brensil Rolle thanked the Minister of Labour, Senator the Hon. Dion Foulkes who he said was instrumental and extremely focused on ensuring that the negotiations concluded in the shortest possible time.
He also thanked the negotiators from the Public Service, who assisted and worked tirelessly to ensure that the agreement was reached and signed in a reasonable time.
“As always we believe it is the Government’s duty to come to some agreements with the unions that are in the best interests of the people of The Bahamas and the workers. So today, I am very pleased that we are all here to witness this historical event.”
Minister Rolle explained that negotiations began in 2012 with the Bahamas Customs, Immigration & Allied Workers Union. “The negotiations themselves progressed to June 2013 when the Union filed an action against the Government claiming that the wages of its members were unilaterally reduced and overtime was a part of their wages.
“This matter was resolved in the courts and negotiations again resumed in June 17, 2016. In the interim however, on December 2014, the Government in good faith signed an agreement with the Union, which paid the uniformed members of the bargaining unit on a number of benefits.”
He noted, however, that after several meetings in 2016, an agreement was reached on the majority of these issues including an increase in salaries and allowances. However, talks stalled again once again because of a general union concern.
Minister Rolle said, “The former Government sort to in our view divide the workers by inviting members of the Customs, Immigration & Allied Union to write into the Government if they wanted their salary advances.
“The result of this was devastating to some degree to the public service because the Ministry of the Public Service then had to create two salary parts for individuals who had accepted the advance and those who were complying with the general views of the union.”
He said, “To some degree, some refer to this as a strategic attack by the Government to bust the union by encouraging and causing some members to receive benefits before the negotiations were fully addressed. As a result of that when we came to office in May, the Government through the Minister of Labour re-opened these negotiations and successfully in this very short period concluded the results.”
For his part, Minister Foulkes said the Minister of Labour played the role of negotiator/conciliator to ensure that the talks went well and that there was respect on both sides of the table, which happened. He said upon being appointed as the Minister of Labour in May 2016, one of the first meetings he had was with Mr. Obie Ferguson and his executive team from the Trade Union Congress which had as number one on its list of concerns, Customs and Immigration.
Minister Foulkes also noted that number one on the issue for the Customs and Immigration Officers was keeping the insurance coverage for which they have become accustomed, and the new agreement will allow that to continue.
President of the Customs, Immigration & Allied Workers Union Sloan Smith said the Agreement also includes the opening of salary scales that will help some individuals who were stuck at their bar, and an increase in uniform allowance among other benefits. The contract will expire June 30, 2018.
By: Llonella Gilbert (BIS)
Photo Caption:
The Government signed an Industrial Agreement with the Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union at the Ministry of the Public Service, Thursday, January 18, 2018. Pictured seated from left: Minister of Financial Services, Trade & Industry and Immigration, the Hon. Brent Symonette; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Hon. Peter Turnquest; Minister of the Public Service and National Insurance the Hon. Brensil Rolle; Trade Union Congress President, Obie Ferguson and President of the Customs, Immigration & Allied Workers Union, Sloan Smith. Standing second from right, Minister of Labour, Senator the Hon. Dion Foulkes.
(BIS Photo/Derek Smith)
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.
