Turks and Caicos leaning on Bahamas for Local Government System development

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, February 24, 2023 – Representatives from The Bahamas were in the Turks and Caicos recently exploring whether their local government system can be efficiently applied to all the islands across the country.

A press release on the visit indicated that The Bahamas delegation visited most of the Islands assessing the geographic and demographic layout to see how best to implement governance structures.

It’s a decision that will be welcomed in the Twin Islands especially as it comes only three months after a town hall meeting in North Caicos where residents made a case for local government representation of their own.

“North and Middle Caicos are the largest islands in the country, no one person can manage it — we need a local government where people from the community make the decisions about where or how we should put our money,” one resident had explained, complaining about the poor quality of service afforded to them.

Premier Misick had hinted at the visit at that time but had said local government structures being put in North and Middle Caicos was unlikely.  Recently, however, while speaking at a diaspora conference in Nassau on February 13th he said this:

“Last week we had a team from The Bahamas visiting with our Minister of Home Affairs to look at how we could [spread out] local government to the islands so that the people who live in those islands will have greater say in how they are operated”

TCI representatives will take another trip to the Bahamas soon to get more information on the system prior to any implementation