Bahamas News
Prime Minister Davis calls for a stronger, more resilient and prosperous region as CARICOM 44th Meeting convenes
NASSAU, The Bahamas – As the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) community observes its golden jubilee, the Hon. Philip Davis, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Chair of CARICOM, called for leaders attending the 44th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM to unite to build a stronger, more resilient and prosperous region.
“In celebrating the institutions and achievements of these five decades, the many peoples of our region should look back and rightly feel a sense of pride in all that has been gained, and the value added to the region. But it also presents an occasion to look forward, to seize the opportunity to collaborate, to co-operate, and, through our collective effort, build a stronger, more resilient, and more prosperous region,” said Prime Minister Davis.
The Heads of Government meeting officially opened Wednesday, February 15, 2023 in the Grand Ballroom, Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island. The two-hour ceremony showcased the culture of The Bahamas and featured performances by national institutions and local entertainers.
The three-day meeting (Feb. 15-17) brings together heads of government, honoured and distinguished guests from within and beyond the Caribbean region. Among them, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada; Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett, Secretary General, CARICOM; a U.S. delegation led by Brian Nichols, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs; and John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate; and heads of international financial and trade organizations.
Also present were: Her Excellency Leslia Miller-Brice, Bahamas High Commissioner to CARICOM; Cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, senators, representatives of the judiciary, the diplomatic corps, senior government officials and former Prime Ministers Perry Christie, Hubert Ingraham, and Dr. Hubert Minnis.
The CARICOM 50th anniversary theme is ’50 Years Strong: A Solid Foundation to Build On.’
Prime Minister Davis noted the joint celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Bahamas’ Independence, and the 50th anniversary of the founding of CARICOM. He said, “And as it is in The Bahamas, so it is that our region also faces a host of opportunities, and an array of challenges. We should take great comfort from the fact that our forebears came together fifty years ago, exactly for this purpose: to take full advantage of the opportunities of our time, and to implement solutions to the challenges that confront us.”
He underscored key highlights of the meeting, which is expected to offer in-depth discussions on recurring and new issues of climate change, reform of the global financial architecture, the crisis in Haiti, food security, human trafficking, guns and drugs smuggling among others.
Said Prime Minister Davis, “The turmoil and suffering there continue to worsen. As a near neighbour, The Bahamas is under great strain, and many other countries in our region are also heavily impacted. We will all benefit if Haiti is again a fully-functioning state. We should learn from the failures of past efforts to help, rather than use those disappointments as an excuse for inaction. I pray that we can agree a series of concrete steps to help move towards a solution for the Haitian people, and the region as a whole.
“We have learned that inaction has its own costs and consequences.”
On climate change he said, “Nowhere is that more the case than on the issue of climate change, which threatens to upend lives around the world, and presents an existential threat to so many of us in this region. Yet, even though we in the CARICOM region are especially vulnerable to the rising sea levels and temperatures, erosion of our coastal communities, and hurricanes which are more frequent and more intense — by working together, we show that we are not powerless. I have no doubt that in joining our voices last year to present an agreed position at COP27, we helped to influence the shift in position relating to ‘Loss and Damage’ arising from the impact of climate change.”
Moreover, Prime Minister Davis said issues of investment and co-operation in education, infrastructure, food and energy security, will help to support collective national development.
“For all the loss and havoc wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, it did teach us valuable lessons about what’s
important, and about what we need to do to save lives and livelihoods. For example, here in The Bahamas, we have in the past talked about the need to ensure food security. But since the advent of the pandemic, we recognized that the need to be able to feed ourselves was not just an economic nicety, but a matter of survival.”
On other “priority” issues he urged the leaders to seek to strengthen their collective response to end the smuggling of guns and drugs and do all they can to wipe out the misery of human trafficking.
“Whether the issues are old or new, in order to make lasting progress, we must address and promote our narrow national self-interests firmly within the framework of the interests of us all. None of us will be safe until we are all safe.
“None of us will develop sustainably or securely, if we leave our neighbours behind. None of us will truly prosper if our resources are forever taxed by the poverty and instability of those nearby.
“Going it alone will not work. This is not to say that while we continue to strengthen and build our region, we should dilute or abandon the founding principle of our nation states, namely the right to self-determination.
“As neighbours, we should continue to embrace each other, and know that we will all succeed if we hold fast the threads that bind us together,” said Prime Minister Davis.
During the opening ceremony Prime Minister Davis also conferred the 13th CARICOM Triennial Award for Women on the Rt. Hon. Dame Janet Bostwick, who has championed the cause for the empowerment and improvement of the status of women and girls in The Bahamas and the region.
The Caribbean Community was established on 4 July 1973 with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Member states are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Associate members are: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands.
(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.
