When The Bahamas’ Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) took office under the Davis administration, it laid out an ambitious “Blueprint for Change” centered on revamping local governance and unlocking long-delayed development across the country’s smaller Family Islands. Three years into the current term, senior local government leaders say the initiative has delivered uneven results at best, with many core pledges still unmet despite legislative progress and scattered infrastructure wins.
A cornerstone of the administration’s reform agenda was the 2024 Local Government Bill, designed to devolve greater power over community projects, planning, and revenue generation from the national capital in Nassau to locally elected island councils. Government officials argue the legislation successfully expanded councils’ financial autonomy and created new avenues for public participation, marking a meaningful step toward the PLP’s campaign goals. But top local councillors across multiple islands told The Tribune that central control remains entrenched, leaving elected local leaders with too little authority to address pressing community needs.
Marvin Campbell, chief councillor for Acklins, pointed to outdated approval rules that require all municipal contracts worth $5,000 or more to be signed off by national officials in Nassau. “We know the contractors on this island. We know what projects our community needs,” Campbell argued. “If the people elected us to serve, we should be competent enough to manage a $5,000 contract. If we can’t do that, there’s no reason for us to hold these positions.”
Clay Sweeting, the national Minister of Local Government, defended the central approval requirement, noting that both national and local bodies are bound by the Public Procurement Act to uphold mandatory standards of accountability and transparency for public spending.
Concerns over limited local autonomy are not isolated to Acklins. In Central Abaco, councillor Roscoe Thompson said local leaders are often expected to respond to urgent community emergencies—including wildfires—yet lack the independent authority to take immediate action. “When there’s a fire, we have to call the Disaster Risk Management authority or our members of parliament just to get help clearing fire breaks,” Thompson explained. “As for the empowerment this new act was supposed to bring local government? To us, it’s just hogwash.”
Beyond decision-making authority, the PLP also failed to deliver on a key fiscal promise: a planned 10% annual increase in local government budgets phased in over five years. To date, only one incremental increase has been implemented since the administration took office—a fact that has left many local councils struggling to cover basic operational costs.
In Mayaguana, Deputy Chief Councillor Cleveland Brown says local elected officials and community workers are still waiting for back pay owed since January, with payments consistently delayed. “They haven’t been here since December, and when they do come to pay, they only cover one month. They owe a lot of people a lot of money,” Brown said, describing the ongoing fiscal situation as “terrible.” Minister Sweeting attributed the delays to a recent break-in at a Mayaguana government facility that required security upgrades, including the installation of a new safe. He also noted that the single budget increase already implemented marks the first raise for local government budgets in more than 20 years.
Broader structural reforms also remain unfinished. The administration’s plan to establish a formal local government system for New Providence, the country’s most populous island, has yet to be realized. Infrastructure investment across the Family Islands has also progressed unevenly: while key clinic upgrades in Abaco and drainage improvement projects in Acklins broke ground, many projects have stalled mid-construction, and critical needs from road repair to healthcare access remain unaddressed across multiple districts.
Campbell confirmed that work on two critical clinics in Acklins’ Salina Point and Spring Point started but has been idle for months. “I can’t say for sure why it stopped—whether it’s a funding shortfall, a dispute with the contractor, or something else entirely,” he said. “All I know for sure is that money was spent, and work was underway before it stopped.”
The administration also pledged to improve air and ferry connectivity to the Family Islands to boost tourism and local business. While increased airline capacity has been rolled out for popular destinations including Eleuthera, Exuma, and Abaco, smaller less tourist-heavy islands have seen no improvement. Inagua still only receives twice-weekly service from national carrier Bahamasair, a limitation Campbell says has devastated local businesses. “A lot of businesses are losing money. Lodges are losing money. Ordinary people are losing money all because of this terrible airlift service,” he added.
Brown went further in his criticism of the administration, accusing it of outright neglecting Mayaguana and calling for the island to be designated an official port of entry to unlock new tourism opportunities and job growth for local residents.
For its part, the Davis administration maintains that its Family Island development program represents the largest investment in local island infrastructure in decades, with hundreds of millions of dollars already allocated and spent. The government’s own public “Blueprint for Change” progress tracker lists most local government commitments as fulfilled, with only the full series of budget increases and the New Providence local government system still marked as outstanding. Healthcare, transport, and public service upgrades across the Family Islands are noted as ongoing works in progress.