Bahamas News
BAHAMAS: Campbell announces impending launch of PROMIS portal
#TheBahamas, May 24, 2021 – The Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development and its Department of Social Services, moved one step closer to streamlining and digitizing its work “for the greater convenience and efficiency of both its internal and external clients” (Monday, May 17) with the announcement of the impending launch of its Social Protection Management Information System (ProMIS) portal.
The launch is scheduled for June 1, 2021, in New Providence and will be “fully launched throughout Grand Bahama and the Family Islands within two months thereafter.” Minister of Social Services and Urban Development the Hon. Frankie Campbell made the announcement during a Press Conference held in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Public Works, Aventura Plaza, University Drive and Bethel Avenue. Minister Campbell was accompanied by Minister of State for Finance and for Grand Bahama, Senator the Hon. James Kwasi Thompson.
The Social Services Minister said the introduction and implementation of ProMIS will result in a standardized process for the delivery of social assistance that builds upon the existing operations of social assistance programmes at the national level.
Methods of payments have also expanded out of the desire to reduce the expenses often borne by beneficiaries seeking access to social assistance (such as transportation, bank commission charges and time, etcetera), while ensuring reliability, regularity and efficiency.
“Our Social Protection Management Information System (ProMIS) is an e-Government system that electronically facilitates all steps related to the management of social assistance, including the application, identification of eligibility, disbursement of funds, and auditing. ProMIS integrates data from public and private sector institutions and provides 13 web-based services in one easily accessible online portal,” Minister Campbell said.
“Through the development of ProMIS, the previously paper-based social assistance processes were all able to be standardized, integrated and converted into an electronic system. ProMIS has the potential to tremendously transform the social service system,” Minister Campbell added.
Applicants must meet certain criteria when applying for some types of assistance. As The Bahamas does not currently have a means of measuring income, ProMIS utilizes Proxy-Means Testing which was developed to generate a score for applicants based on fairly easy to observe characteristics of a household, such as the location and quality of the dwelling, ownership of durable goods, demographic structure of the household, and the education of adults. Scores are composite indices that reflect welfare levels.
Three methods are used for Food Assistance payments under ProMIS, among them, the social assistance card, a Bank of the Bahamas Pre-Paid Card, which was launched in 2014 with the cooperation of the Bank of The Bahamas (BOB) for applicants receiving ongoing benefits. Approximately 7,000 persons are currently receiving their assistance through that means. The cards are Pre-paid, debit cards that allow beneficiaries to pay for their groceries from local grocery stores and wholesalers. They cannot be used online, at ATMs or at stores that are not designated as grocery stores.
The second means is the option of the paper coupon, generated by ProMIS with a unique QR Code. The paper coupons are redeemable at specified grocery stores. This option is particularly used by the elderly and persons with disabilities as it allows them to receive their assistance payments in a more, timely, manner and without any expense being incurred by persons in this group.
“And let me pause to point out that all during this pandemic, we have ensured that our elderly, and our persons with disabilities had their assistance vouchers delivered to their homes,” Minister Campbell said.
The third method of payment is by digital Food Voucher via Kanoo or Mobile Assist. Via this method, beneficiaries can access the social assistance payments credited to their accounts anytime they wish from their mobile phones.
“For rental assistance, fully digital payments are made directly into the recipients, that is, landlord’s accounts, at financial services providers such as OMNI or Cash N’ Go. For Burial, Financial and Utility assistance, money is paid directly to the vendor, while Uniform Assistance is paid via digital wallet,” Minister Campbell said.
“It should be noted that the payment methods detailed above, are intended to help reduce the expenses often [borne] by beneficiaries in seeking access to social assistance – such as transportation, bank commission charges and time, etcetera – while ensuring reliability, regularity and efficiency.”
By Matt Maura
Release: BIS
Photo Captions:
Header: Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell addressing Monday’s Press Conference announcing the impending launch of the Social Assistance Portal, ProMIS.
1st insert: Sign Language Interpreter Mrs. Annette Lunn (left) joined Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell at Monday’s Press Conference announcing the launch date of ProMIS (the event was Live Streamed), to ensure that persons from the community who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing had access to all of the information surrounding the announcement of the impending launch of ProMIS scheduled for June 1, 2021.
2nd insert: Minister of State for Finance and for Grand Bahama, Senator, the Hon. James Kwasi Thompson (left) joined MInister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell at Monday’s Press Conference announcing the impending launch of the ProMIS Portal. Minister Campbell applauded Senator Thompson for making his team available so as to give the team at the Ministry and the Department of Social Services the requisite guidance that was necessary, and for having ensured that the financial resources that were necessary to get the Ministry and the Department of Social Services to this point, were in place.
(BIS Photos/Patrick Hanna)
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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