As The Tribune prepares for the upcoming general election cycle following the release of mandatory financial disclosure forms showing over 50 millionaires are contesting public office, two prominent Bahamian figures are sounding the alarm over systemic gaps in the nation’s political transparency framework that they say are eroding public trust and inviting systemic corruption.
Reverend Philip Stubbs, a local faith leader, and Dr. Ian Strachan, a university professor, say the current system of voluntary, unaudited financial declarations from political candidates lacks any meaningful independent oversight, rendering the entire process little more than a hollow bureaucratic exercise. Their criticisms come amid growing public skepticism over the reliability of the newly published disclosures, which have already sparked questions about how sitting politicians recorded dramatic jumps in their net worth over the last five years.
In interviews with the Tribune, Stubbs noted that widespread doubt hangs over the credibility of the disclosures, a sentiment that has become increasingly difficult to ignore among Bahamian voters. “If the financial disclosures are not verified by a competent third party who can be held legally accountable, a reasonable conclusion is this: the disclosures are useless,” he argued.
Stubbs pointed to the unprecedented jumps in reported net worth among many incumbent candidates as a core driver of public frustration, with some candidates seeing their wealth surge by 200 to 300 percent over just a single five-year term. He added that this lack of transparency has steadily deepened public cynicism and political apathy, a trend that hits particularly hard among voters under 30, the nation’s largest demographic group. Despite his criticisms, Stubbs urged young and disillusioned Bahamians to reject disengagement and remain active in the electoral process, noting that change can only come through continued participation.
The newly released disclosures reveal that multiple high-profile candidates from the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) recorded significant increases in their net worth, among them deputy leader Chester Cooper, senior party members Keith Bell, Glenys Hanna-Martin, and Myles Laroda, as well as first-term representatives Kirk Cornish, Pia Glover-Rolle, McKell Bonaby, Wayne Munroe, and Jobeth Coleby Davis. Several of these candidates have publicly attributed their rising wealth to legitimate gains from private business ventures, personal investment portfolios, and individual life changes.
But the root of the problem, critics say, lies in the text of Bahamian law itself: current regulations do not require any independent audit, third-party certification, or formal verification of the declarations candidates submit before they are published to the public. This gap is particularly notable given the PLP’s 2021 general election campaign pledge to pass a landmark new Public Disclosure Act designed to strengthen transparency standards for public office. Since taking power, the Davis administration has yet to deliver on that promise, leaving the broken framework in place. The main opposition Free National Movement (FNM) has since stepped in to make its own pledge to strengthen the disclosure law if it wins power in the next election.
Strachan echoed Stubbs’ criticisms, going so far as to label the current system of unaudited disclosures “worthless” and calling for sweeping across-the-board reforms to rebuild political accountability in the country. “Our amateurism enables kleptocracy,” Strachan warned. “The Prime Minister can investigate but who can investigate the Prime Minister? We obviously need to scrutinise not just politicians but all high ranking public officials. We need FOIA. We need an Integrity Commission.”
Strachan’s proposed reforms go far beyond updating financial disclosure rules: he called for mandatory real-time public disclosure of balance sheets for all state-owned public enterprises, live public publishing of all government procurement processes, and the creation of an independent civic anti-corruption watchdog with the power to investigate and prosecute official graft. “We simply can’t survive this level of corruption. Our country will fall into crisis if we don’t clean up our act,” he said.
Strachan added that the risks of inaction are even more acute in the current economic climate, with the country already facing crippling national debt levels, soaring cost of living pressures, and heightened vulnerability to global economic shocks. Fiscal mismanagement connected to unaccountable political power, he argued, poses an existential threat to the nation’s long-term economic and political stability.