Bahamas News
Laroda on Abaco post-Dorian: ‘No one of us is safe, until all of us are safe’
#TheBahamas, October 30, 2021 – Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction, the Hon. Myles Laroda told members of the Abaco Consultative Committee that they have an important role to play in the reconstruction of/restoration to, those parts of the island and its Cays that were devastated by the monster storm Hurricane Dorian – two years post-Dorian.
Mr. Laroda said: “No one of us is safe, until all of us are safe.”
The Consultative Committee has responsibility for Disaster Management and Response for Abaco and its Cays, and consists of various government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. Committee Members also heard from Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister (Abaco) Mr. Kirk Cornish, and Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, Mr. John Pinder II, who both echoed the State-Minister’s sentiments.
Minister Laroda, and his colleagues, met with the Committee during Mr. Laroda’s recent Official Visit to Abaco October 21-22. The State-Minister, who also has carriage for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA), among his other portfolio responsibilities, told Committee members that the purpose of his visit was to tour the areas affected by Hurricane Dorian.
(They were accompanied by Mr. Carl F. Smith, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction, in addition to officials from the National Emergency Management Agency and the Disaster Reconstruction Authority, Abaco.)
State-Minister Laroda said the meeting allowed Central Government officials and Disaster Managers and Planners to benefit from their “first-hand” experiences of the hurricane, and their various expertise and observations, in order to collectively map the way forward.
“I want to hear from you and once I hear from you, I will present my Report and see how best we can assist some of our fellow Bahamians in getting their lives back in order, or to some semblance of normalcy. No one of us is safe, until all of us are safe,” Mr. Laroda added.
The State-Minister provided a detailed account of his visits, including those to the commercial fishing community of Moore’s Island, and subsequent visits to Spring City, Central Pines, Hope Town, and Green Turtle Cay, where the Minister and his delegation toured clinics, docks, landfills/staging sites, schools, government buildings, infrastructure, new housing construction, and other new construction underway, including the new bridge connecting Little Abaco (Cedars Harbour, Wood Cay, Mount Hope, Fox Town and Crown Haven) to Cooper’s Town. Little Abaco was “cut off” by high, floodwater, the result of storm surge during Hurricane Dorian.
The State-Minister said: “In Moore’s Island, I saw devastation, but I also saw resiliency of a people who are mostly fishermen, who would have erected a dock from reclaimed wood, using reclaimed nails. I toured a clinic that was literally falling apart and leaking, that needs to be replaced, not repaired. There is a lot of work to be done with homes that have been damaged. There is also the airport terminal, or lack thereof, that needs to be repaired. Windows are broken, the roof is badly damaged, totally inoperable.
“We then went into Spring City [where] the Domes were constructed to speak with some of the residents and listen to their challenges. There are electricity issues, but their main cry was about raw sewage — that there is backed-up sewage that has to be pumped almost daily, (but) I saw people who were making as good of the situation as they can, but whose standard of living was not the best.
“We visited the landfill and had a tour of the same by the operators. We also toured the storage area for the Domes where we found that there were trailers that were opened; we saw broken locks, we saw evidence that people were coming in and taking what they wanted because the Dome materials were not properly secured.
“We then took a ferry over to Hope Town and saw some of the damage and the rebuilding of that area. Tremendous improvements have been made in Hope Town, far greater than Moore’s Island, and now we are here at the Government Complex in Marsh Harbour, holding this meeting with you to discuss the way forward with regards to the reconstruction after Dorian,” the State-Minister concluded
Parliamentary Secretary Cornish challenged the committee members to be “difference makers.”
“The experiences we encountered were eye openers. I went into the Government Clinic on Moore’s Island and the area in which they host patients is being shared with filing cabinets and you basically have to turn sideways to get in and out of there,” Mr. Cornish said.
“Two meetings were held prior to this one, and the information I received emanating out of those meetings makes me wonder why we were so silent. If it doesn’t bother any of us that there are others of us who are living everyday inhaling the stench of raw sewage as the people living in the Dome City are doing; if we can go to bed comfortable knowing that, and not fixing it, then something has to be fundamentally wrong with our thought processes. How we treat our old people, our sick people, how we treat the most vulnerable amongst us, I always thought speaks volumes as to who we are as a people.”
Mr. Cornish called for greater accountability in: “building Abaco back even better than it was before.”
“I don’t intend to occupy this seat unless I am being productive,” he said. “I have always been results-oriented. I push myself hard, and I am going to push others hard because I believe that is the only way to get results. I want you to hold me accountable, and I am going to hold you accountable.
“I am hoping that together that we can make Abaco, not what it was prior to the passage of Hurricane Dorian, but even better. Abaco can soar. Let us be the ones to make that happen. Let us be able to look back at the end of our day and feel proud of the work we would have done in helping to restore our island; proud of the work we would have done in helping to build back better. The only way we can feel proud of that work, is if it affects people in a positive way,” Mr. Cornish added.
Parliamentary Secretary Pinder said the situation “cannot remain as it is” in the still affected areas of Abaco and its Cays.
“When passing through the mainland shortly after the passage of Hurricane Dorian, and even to this day, it saddens me that we are not further ahead,” he said. “Places like Moore’s Island where their commercial fisheries, or their ability to literally just have food delivered to their island is inhibited by the lack of a dock, needs help. When you are an island-nation, an island-community, access to a dock is fundamental.
“You all know as well as I do, that there are many, many of our people who are hurting and in need, and are living very, very poorly. We have to bring a better quality of life, particularly for the next generations. If we leave things as they are and remain quiet, then nothing will get done. I take this opportunity to encourage you to enlighten us on the challenges that you see first-hand being in the various positions that you are in, and allow us to make that push, give a helping hand or take on the task of making things right,” Parliamentary Secretary Pinder added.
By Matt Maura
Release: BIS
Photo Captions:
Header: Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction, the Hon. Myles Laroda (foreground centre), met with members of the Abaco Consultative Committee during his two-day Official Visit to Abaco and its Cays. The State-Minister was accompanied by Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister (Abaco) Mr. Kirk Cornish (right), and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, Mr. John Pinder II (at left), in addition to Mr. Carl F. Smith, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction, along with officials from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Disaster Reconstruction Authority, Abaco.
Insert: State-Minister Laroda also visited the construction site of the new bridge that is being constructed in Cooper’s Town that will connect the communities of Cedar Harbour, Wood Cay, Mount Hope, Fox Town and Crown Haven. There is a difference in elevation of 14 feet.
(BIS Photos/Matt Maura)
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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