Bahamas News
Prince Edward, Countess Sophie Get Royal Send-off with 300+ GGYA Participants, Music and More at Maillis Campgrounds, Adelaide
#TheBahamas, March 7, 2023 – In a historic farm and cottage setting by the seaside, Royal visitors Their Royal Highnesses, The Earl and Countess of Wessex and Forfar, got a downhome taste of The Bahamas when more than 300 young people rallied round to say thank you for coming to our country and thank you for caring about our programme, the Governor General’s Youth Award.
The afternoon event packed with music, dance, laughter and moments of mingling with royals that GGYA members shall always remember, took place at the sprawling Maillis campground in the historic village of Adelaide, miles and seemingly worlds away from the bustling capitol of the city, Nassau.
There, on a tree and vegetable farm with small boats bobbing at the shoreline ready to catch the bounty of the sea, the royals were treated to an afternoon far different from the pageantry that accompanied them throughout the three days of their visit to The Bahamas in late February. With Prince Edward assuming the role his father, Prince Philip, had prior to his passing as chair of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, the two-fold visit was primarily to witness the Award in action at units that catered to young people who were deemed at risk or marginalized, and present awards to participants receiving their Gold Award through GGYA, the local version of the program.
Countess Sophie visited the Willie Mae Pratt Centre for Girls and got a firsthand look at what the girls were doing to complete their Award journey there. She also presented a Bronze Award to one participant who had recently completed that level.
On another part of the island Prince Edward was able to visit the SURE Programme and, while there, met with the volunteers and participants involved in GGYA. The Earl, as he was being briefed on the offerings for the young men
at the school, was given a full tour of the facility, and was able to chat with the boys while they engaged in cooking, baking, and boat-building.
The visits to these centres were key evidence in the programme’s aim to extend the reach of the GGYA since they were recently given a grant from the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Special Projects Fund to get programmes started at five centres that catered to young people living with special needs, and those living in juvenile detention centres on New Providence and Grand Bahama.
The awards were presented on February 23 at a ceremony at Breezes where 13 young people received the highest award in the organization, the Gold Award, signifying they had completed every rung of a ladder that includes service, skills, and physical recreation. Gold participants must also undertake a residential project interacting with people away from their homes for five days and four nights, and complete a 4-day expedition or adventure – part of their path to success.
The program is the largest non-formal education framework for young people worldwide, inspiring more than one million participants in 130 countries to become involved in their communities while finding their own purpose, passion and place in the world.
While participants at the ceremonial occasion walked away with medals recognizing the level of their achievement, they showed another side at the “Royal Rally” event, on February 24, where connecting with the royals took on a
different perspective. Participating GGYA Units from schools across New Providence, were stationed at various tents displaying an array of activities that they engage in to achieve their Award.
At the start of the afternoon event, the guests were treated to a selection of song and dance. However, to truly kick off the celebratory event was a newly formed Conchy Band led by Mr. Christian Justillien, that certainly got the entire audience on their feet – royal party included, leaning into the music, as the band showed up drumming talents and other members playing the melodious conch horns. The Earl Prince Edward and Countess Sophie then took their time visiting, chatting with, and engaging with each activity on display. While the sounds of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Pop Band permeated the air, The Earl and Countess helped a students from the different units with shell craft, junkanoo pasting, painting, and interacted with young people who did a quick turn around on their kayaks and sail boat. The Earl was particularly interested in the sailing, while Countess was delighted to show her braiding skills with some other participants. One former GGYA gold achiever, Edwin Johnson, returned to his alma mater, CC Sweeting High School, formed a GGYA unit that now has more than 70 participants, believed to be one of the largest group from any unit in The Bahamas.
“The first time we went to a family island, Eleuthera, it was shocking. We slept in tents on the campus of Preston Albury High School. It rained, water came into the tent and when we woke up, we were soaked. We had to cook that night by making a fire on the rocks, we made white rice and ground beef and then, on the second night, we cooked
fried chicken and mashed potatoes on the rock stove by the beach,” said a student from Anatol Rodgers in Nassau, mirroring a similar experience shared by a student from The Beacon School in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
Both students agreed – the rain may have dampened their clothes, but not their spirits and both students said learning a bit about cooking made them stronger.
The high energy afternoon rally at the campground was capped off with a tree planting and Junkanoo rush out led by teens from Jordan Prince William High School.
Throughout their two-day visit, the royals were accompanied by the dignified Governor General of The Bahamas, Sir Cornelius A Smith who sits as patron of the GGYA.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force and Royal Bahamas Defense Force bands took turns showcasing their musical talents wherever they went in the land of sunshine and blue skies, and the royals were applauded for bringing their own genuine warmth.
Release: DPA News
Photo Captions:
Header: Prince Edward and Countess Sophie thoroughly enjoyed the Rake & Scrape sounds of the Conchy Band led by Chris Justillien with foot stopping music emanating from conch shell horns and goat skin drums
1st insert: Prince Edward along with GGYA National Director, Jacquetta Maycock, chatting at the rally with students making Junkanoo costumes
2nd insert: Hon. Zane Lightbourne, Minister of State for Education and Technical and Vocational Training (center), Mr. Pericles Maillis, and HRH Prince Edward plant a tree to commemorate their visit
3rd insert: Countess Sophie jumps right in to finish a hair braid with talented GGYA students from CC Sweeting Senior High School who demonstrated hair braiding and styling as their vocation at the Rally
4th insert: Countess Sophia with excited students showing off their Bahamas flag crafts at the rally
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.
