Bahamas News
Minister Asks Students to Provide Solutions to Challenges at Launch of Sustainable Nassau Project
#Bahamas, February 3, 2018 – Nassau – Minister of Transport and Local Government, the Hon. Frankie Campbell asked students to prepare themselves to serve their communities and provide solutions to challenges. The Minister was speaking during the launch of the Sustainable Nassau Project held at the Harry C. Moore Library of the University of The Bahamas on Thursday, February 1. The event was held under the theme, ‘Empowered People, Revitalized City.”
“You have the vision, the energy and the exposure necessary to make a tremendous impact on the way we do business here in The Bahamas. Through the IDB’s work with the Office of the Prime Minister, we have invited the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to lead you through a process of solving a real challenge of your choosing. I urge you to take advantage of this amazing opportunity,” said Mr. Campbell
“Despite what my generation may tell you, your impatience can in fact serve you well as you demand action and results at a faster pace than has been traditionally accepted. I implore you to be curious, innovative and inventive. Take advantage of the greatest resource you have here at the University of The Bahamas: collective knowledge and creativity, to build the modern Bahamas you want to see.”
The Minister said that in late 2017, the Ministry of Education and the Over-the-Hill project within the Office of the Prime Minister distributed over 100 tablets to the Willard Patton Pre-School in the Bain Town area. The aim of the project, he said, was to use technology to improve how education is delivered.
“Thus far the program is already delivering positive results. This represents the beginning of implementing the Smart City Solutions outlined in the Sustainable Nassau Action Plan,” said Mr. Campbell. He said that as the country moves to become a “smarter” country, it is necessary to identify the innovations that are needed to take the country there.
“Perhaps an app that provides drivers with real-time information on traffic and parking availability. Or an app that disseminates emergency alerts and critical information to mobile phones within an impacted geographic area. How about a central command center to coordinate it all? Think of the time you could save by having kiosks located throughout our islands that facilitated driver’s license renewals, and payment of traffic tickets. All of these things exist and can become a reality here in The Bahamas,” said the Minister.
He also spoke of the need for, and how it would assist in, the proper and equitable management of resources.
“Heavily central government structures have often proven themselves too slow and too bureaucratic to adapt and take advantage of these innovations. Therefore, if we are to be successful in making drastic improvements to the quality of life of our citizens and residents, we must empower people to be part of this process of change. The communities that are to be most impacted must have the greatest say and greatest ownership of the prescribed solutions to their problems. The only way to make this happen is through new, more localized, governance models.”
He said that this new model of government administration is already taking shape with legislation currently being drafted to create an agency tasked with managing the development of the Over-the-Hill Community of Nassau.
“Imagine if this model were expanded to include the entire island so as to ensure that development is managed with people at the center!” He exclaimed.
He said that the introduction of true local government here in New Providence and throughout the country would provide a framework for the delivery of high quality services to residents and businesses with effective checks and balances.
“It would allow neighborhoods and districts to decide how to budget scarce resources to best serve them and meet their needs. Increased transparency regarding revenues raised and expenditures would be accompanied by a transfer of resources and responsibilities away from central government to elected and accountable district governments. The Government of The Bahamas is committed to moving the concept of local government in New Providence from plans to reality within the next three years. To this end, the Department of Local Government is working closely with the Office of the Prime Minister to take this initiative forward.”
Photo Captions:
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Minister of Transport and Local Government, the Hon.Frankie Campbell greets President of the University of the Bahamas, Dr. Rodney Smith as Country Representative for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mrs. Florencia Attademo-Hirt looks on. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson)
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Minister of Transport and Local Government, the Hon. Frankie Campbell listens to a panelist. Also pictured l-r: Director, Code Next, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Colin ‘Topper’ Carew; Country Representative for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mrs. Florencia Attademo-Hirt; Minister of Education, the Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd; President of the University of the Bahamas, Dr. Rodney Smith; and Chief, Housing & Urban Development Division, IDB, Ms. Tatiana Gallego Lizon. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson).
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Country Representative for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mrs. Florencia Attademo-Hirt presents a brochure to Minister of Transport and Local Government, the Hon. Frankie Campbell. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson).
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Minister of Transport and Local Government, the Hon. Frankie Campbell delivering the keynote address at the launch of the Sustainable Nassau Project. The event was held on February 1, 2018 at the Harry C. Moore Library of the University of The Bahamas. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson)
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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