Bahamas News
Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister tells students The Bahamas will eventually join WTO
#Bahamas, November 2, 2017 – Nassau – The Bahamas will, eventually join the World Trade Organization and as a result there will be some demands placed on The Bahamas, which will be designed to reduce “artificial barriers to trade”, and cause the free flow of goods and services across borders. This reality was brought to light to a group of primary and high school students by Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas and Minister of Finance, the Hon. K. Peter Turnquest.
“Traditionally, we earn most of our revenue through border taxes, customs duties and as we join the WTO, they are going to require us to reduce those taxes, either to zero or to the very low administrative rate, and as we do that, we are going to have to figure out how to replace that revenue, because we need money to run the government.
“That will mean that we will have to look at new forms of taxation or how we increase the yield we earn on existing taxes.”
The Finance Minister spent the first part of his morning on Monday, October 30, 2017, with the children at Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic School, where, following the school’s assembly, he presented a student with a special gift for an outstanding accomplishment.
Yana Swain of Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic School, was the National winner of an Essay competition, hosted by the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators, which was held in June of 2017. The theme of the essay was “Reformation of Taxes”.
Within the context of her essay, the young, grade eight student offered some suggestions as to how the government can go about implementing the necessary taxes in the country, in order to increase revenue. Suggestions of income tax, asking those who make more money to pay more taxes, while at the same time increasing the national minimum wage, were among Yana’s ideas.
“Yana, if I had a junior minister of Finance, you probably would qualify,” Minister Turnquest jokingly suggested. “Some of the ideas you presented are the same which some people may be thinking about and some ideas I dare not even speak about.
“But the truth is, if we are going to compete and continue to keep up with the rest of the world, we’re going to have to be creative about how we address this whole issue of raising Government revenue.”
Minister Turnquest told the student body that the Government must look at ways of making the whole process of paying taxes much simpler. The idea of consolidation of some taxes was one of the suggestions by the Finance Minister.
“Right now we still operate on a system — other than Value Added Tax — that we inherited from our Colonial days,” added Minister Turnquest. “We have stamp taxes, excise taxes and other kinds of taxes. So we need to consolidate in order to make the tax paying experience smoother, easier and encourage them to comply.”
The Deputy Prime Minister congratulated Yana for her creative ideas and for thinking outside of the box. He also encouraged the entire student body to continue to set the example for other schools in Grand Bahama and throughout the Bahamas.
“Mary Star has a tremendous legacy of producing successful people,” added Minister Turnquest. “For years, when it came to the sciences, you have been on top and your performance in the SCEME competition is legendary. I hope that you will continue to push forward in science, in technology and in engineering, because that is the new frontier and that is where we need to take this country.
“We need to recreate ourselves to being something more than just service oriented. So, I encourage all of you to continue to be creative and to think outside of the box. And let’s remember, Yana’s accomplishment was not just for Grand Bahama, but she came out on top of all entrants throughout the entire Bahamas.”
Before going to his office to begin his day in helping to govern the country, Minister Turnquest stopped by the Internal Revenue office to present another student with her third place award for the same essay competition.
D’Asia Russell of Eight Mile Rock High School finished third overall in the National competition. In presenting D’Asia with her gift and certificate, Minister Turnquest said that her accomplishment was special because she represented the public school system.
“As a product of the public school system, this proves that in spite of all the challenges we have in our public school system, there is still hope for success for students in the public school system,” said Minister Turnquest.
By: Andrew Coakley (BIS)
Photo captions:
OUTSTANDING JOB – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. K. Peter Turnquest (second from right) presents Yana Swain of Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic School, with her certificate and award for winning the essay competition hosted by the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators. Under the theme, “Reformation of Taxes” the essay competition was held in June of this year and Yana won over all of the entrants from The Bahamas. Also on hand for the presentation, which took place on Monday, October 30, 2017 at Mary Star, were Rosemary Pintard-Bowe, Acting Comptroller for the Department of Inland Revenue (second from left); Vice Principal of Mary Star, Mrs. Hanna (left) and Yana’s dad, Denzel Swain (right). (BIS Photo/Lisa Davis)
CONGRATULATIONS D’ASIA – D’Asia Russell of Eight Mile Rock High School (third from left) receives her certificate and prize from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. K. Peter Turnquest (third from right) for her third place finish in the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators essay competition, which was held in June of this year. D’ Asia finished third nationally. Also on hand for the presentation on Monday, October 30, 2017 at the Department of Internal Revenue were Rosemary Pintard-Bowe, Acting Comptroller for the Department of Inland Revenue (second from left); Chester Cooper, Principal of Eight Mile Rock High (second from right) and Ms. Patricia Ennis, D’Asia’s literary coach (left). (BIS Photo/Lisa Davis)
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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