标签： Bahamas

Nassau, The Bahamas – Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis made a historic announcement to the House of Assembly yesterday, confirming that The Bahamas has recorded its first fiscal surplus since gaining independence more than half a century ago. For the 2025/2026 fiscal cycle, the country closed its books with a $39.3 million surplus, a milestone that caps years of gradual deficit reduction following the dual economic shocks of Hurricane Dorian and the global COVID-19 pandemic. But the celebratory tone of the announcement quickly dissolved into partisan confrontation, as opposition lawmakers launched fierce claims that the government manipulated accounting standards to inflate the country’s fiscal health by omitting hundreds of millions in public spending.

Presenting the Ministry of Finance’s June 2026 Monthly Fiscal Summary Report to the chamber, Davis framed the surplus – which equals 0.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product – as a dramatic reversal of the country’s recent fiscal trajectory. Just five years prior, in 2020/2021, The Bahamas grappled with a $1.3 billion deficit, driven by catastrophic disaster recovery costs and widespread pandemic-related economic shutdowns. Since that peak, the government has steadily narrowed the gap: the deficit fell to $721.7 million in 2021/2022, then $534.6 million in 2022/2023, $194 million in 2023/2024, and $84.8 million in 2024/2025, before tipping into surplus for the current reporting period. Davis added that the country recorded consecutive monthly surpluses from January through June 2026, with the final quarter of the fiscal year delivering a $196.6 million surplus to push the full-year result into positive territory.

Breaking down the numbers outlined in the fiscal report, total annual revenue jumped 16.6% year-over-year to hit $3.96 billion, coming in 1.7% above the government’s original budget projections. Total expenditure rose 12.6% to $3.92 billion. Tax revenue grew 13% to $3.42 billion, led by a 14.9% increase in value-added tax (VAT) collections that reached $1.65 billion. Non-tax revenue saw a far steeper 45.4% climb, hitting $543.3 million. Davis attributed the revenue growth to enhanced tax enforcement and stricter compliance measures, noting that a new Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax applied to large multinational corporations operating in The Bahamas generated an extra $68.6 million in revenue in June alone. Recurrent public expenditure rose 9.7% to $3.51 billion, while capital expenditure grew 45.2% to $414.9 million, and annual public debt interest payments totalled $674.7 million. Davis also highlighted that international financial institutions have already recognized the country’s fiscal progress: Moody’s upgraded The Bahamas’ credit rating to Ba3 with a stable outlook in April 2026, and S&P Global issued a similar upgrade in September 2025.

Opposition lawmakers immediately rejected the government’s framing, dismissing the result as a misleading “false surplus” designed to distract from ongoing economic struggles facing ordinary Bahamian households. Kwasi Thompson, Member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama and a former finance minister, questioned whether a $310 million capital investment project referenced by Finance Minister Simon Wilson was intentionally excluded from the year’s expenditure calculations. Thompson argued that the government failed to account for all public spending, and raised suspicions that hundreds of millions in outstanding public bills were intentionally left unpaid at the end of June to inflate the surplus result. He further called out the government’s management of the $700 million National Investment Fund (NIF), demanding full public disclosure of all outstanding government obligations by the end of June to verify whether unpaid liabilities actually exceed the reported $39.3 million surplus. Beyond the accounting questions, Thompson challenged the government’s decision to celebrate the milestone at all, pointing to ongoing struggles with skyrocketing fuel costs and a persistent national cost of living crisis. “The cost of living is continuing to hammer our people. Inflation continues to increase, and so I think it should not be celebrated until we are able to solve sufficiently the cost of living crisis,” Thompson stated.

Davis pushed back firmly against these criticisms, emphasizing that all fiscal data is available for independent review, and accused Thompson of rejecting the government’s accounting without conducting a proper review of the released materials. He defended the career Ministry of Finance officials who compiled the report, noting that many of the same civil servants held their positions when Thompson served as finance minister. Thompson countered that the decision to omit the $310 million in capital spending was a political policy choice, not an error by career public servants.

The partisan clash quickly expanded beyond the surplus numbers to a broader confrontation over the work of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is chaired by Opposition leader and Marco City MP Michael Pintard. Davis criticized Pintard for discussing the committee’s ongoing investigations into public fund management publicly before the probe is completed, arguing that all questions about the NIF should be resolved through the PAC process. Pintard rejected the criticism, arguing that the committee has already shown significant restraint in its public updates and has not disclosed any confidential information. He added that the PAC has twice written to the Speaker of the House requesting permission to broadcast its committee meetings live to the public, arguing that open hearings would allow all Bahamians to judge testimony about public fund management for themselves. Pintard joined Thompson in dismissing the surplus as “contrived”, arguing that all NIF spending must be included to get an accurate picture of the country’s overall fiscal position, noting that “The NIF is an account created by the Prime Minister, and it is the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury that’s managing that.” Davis denied that he pressured the Speaker to block live broadcasts of PAC proceedings, though he agreed with the Speaker’s decision, accusing the Opposition of attempting to turn the public hearings into a political “reality show” for partisan gain.

Tensions boiled over earlier in the parliamentary session when Thompson interrupted Kingsley Smith, MP for West Grand Bahama, during his remarks on the PAC dispute. Deputy Speaker Sylvanus Petty repeatedly ordered Thompson to return to his seat, triggering a walkout protest: all Free National Movement (FNM) opposition MPs stood in solidarity with Thompson as he challenged the ruling that Smith be allowed to continue speaking. Petty warned that non-compliant members would be removed from the chamber, forcing a two-minute suspension of parliamentary proceedings to de-escalate the confrontation.

Despite the heated partisan clash, Davis reaffirmed that the published fiscal figures can withstand full independent scrutiny. He noted that the first surplus in a generation will strengthen The Bahamas’ ability to respond to future national emergencies, reducing the need to rely on high-cost emergency borrowing to address crises. Even so, the prime minister acknowledged that further fiscal reforms remain necessary to address the country’s ongoing public debt burden, improve performance at state-owned enterprises, and strengthen overall fiscal transparency for the Bahamian public.

Amid growing public and political scrutiny over the promotion of hundreds of police officers – including some with ties to court judgments and a high-profile bribery scandal – Bahamas National Security Minister Myles Laroda has publicly defended both the vetting protocol for elevated officers and the composition of the promotions approval board.

Speaking to reporters this week, Laroda confirmed he received direct assurances from Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles that every officer advanced in the latest round of promotions went through mandatory background reviews by the police service’s internal complaints and anti-corruption units, and all were cleared to move up. The minister noted that the round of promotions included more than 830 regular officers and 550 reserve officers, totaling roughly 1,300 personnel advancing across ranks from corporal all the way to chief superintendent. The full promotions list has not been released to the general public, a lack of transparency that has fueled questions about appointments for officers with documented past legal issues.

The most high-profile controversy centers on the promotion of Jerone Thompson, who was elevated from inspector to assistant superintendent despite a Court of Appeal ruling that rebuked Thompson for excessive force – specifically kneeling on a suspect’s neck – that resulted in a $103,000 public damages award against the Bahamian government, paid by taxpayers. Opposition leaders have seized on this case to demand stricter oversight of promotion decisions, arguing that officers with a record of misconduct that costs public funds or harms civilians should not be eligible for advancement.

Additional scrutiny has fallen on the makeup of the promotions board itself, after local media reported that Superintendent Terico Sweeting – a key prosecution witness in a 2025 police bribery scandal – was a serving member of the panel. According to prior reporting from The Nassau Guardian, Sweeting admitted receiving $10,000 in connection with the bribery scheme in 2026 and was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. Three other individuals – former Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, attorney Bjorn Ferguson, and Sergeant Deangelo Rolle – currently face charges linked to the bribery case. Johnson additionally stands accused of involvement in the theft of $90,000, part of $1.475 million stolen during an airport bank security heist while the funds were held in police custody.

Responding to questions about the promotions board’s membership, Laroda pushed back against claims that any charged officers participated in the approval process. He pushed back on a reporter’s description of Sweeting as having confessed to involvement in a major crime, questioning the accuracy of that framing and cautioning against misleading wording. The minister reaffirmed that no officer facing pending criminal charges was part of the promotions tribunal. This is not Laroda’s first defense of the latest promotion round, having previously argued that long-serving officers are entitled to career advancement recognition for their contributions to public safety.

As King Charles III prepares for his upcoming visit to The Bahamas, a prominent Rastafari organization is making preparations to stage a public rally to amplify longstanding demands for reparatory justice and a formal apology from the British Crown for systemic injustices against people of African descent. The Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress (E.A.B.I.C.), led by Royal Ambassador High Priest Richmond McKinney, has drafted a formal petition to deliver directly to the monarch during his trip, expanding the demands to include support for African repatriation, increased sovereign independence from the United Kingdom, and the establishment of a permanent, structured dialogue between the group and British officials.

This planned demonstration is not an isolated action: it aligns with a growing, region-wide movement pushing for reparations for the harms of slavery and colonialism, and a growing push to cut formal ties with the British monarchy. Just recently, The Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC) publicly stated that the Royal Family should not arrive in the country without addressing historical harms, repeating its calls for a clear apology for the transatlantic slave trade and colonial rule, and reaffirming its push for The Bahamas to transition to a republican form of government that removes the British monarch as head of state.

McKinney emphasized that the Rastafari community in The Bahamas has been a leading voice in advocating for reparations and self-determination for more than 50 years, pointing to shifting momentum across the Caribbean that has brought these long-sidelined demands into the mainstream. He highlighted regional precedents, including Barbados’ historic transition to a republic in 2021 and ongoing political efforts in Jamaica to remove the British monarch as its head of state, as proof that the movement for full sovereignty is gaining traction across the region. “We can’t claim to be a truly independent nation when our political system still requires us to swear allegiance to the British monarchy,” McKinney noted in an interview outlining the group’s plans.

The protest will also draw attention to what the group frames as ongoing systemic injustices facing Black communities in The Bahamas and across the global African diaspora, connecting historical harms to present-day inequalities. Beyond a formal apology from the British government, the petition calls for substantial reparatory compensation and targeted structural reforms to redress the intergenerational damage caused by centuries of chattel slavery and colonial rule. It also lays out a call for practical, supported pathways to enable any person of African descent who wishes to repatriate to the African continent to do so with dignity and full institutional support.

McKinney praised the recent formal engagement of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the reparations movement, noting that the regional bloc’s efforts to advance this cause align with a mission that Rastafari activists have championed for generations. “We give thanks that CARICOM is on board now for reparation,” he said.

In the text of the petition, E.A.B.I.C. makes the case that the 19th century abolition of chattel slavery did nothing to repair the cumulative harm of generations of forced labor, forced family separation, mass displacement, and economic exploitation that defined colonial rule. The group argues that meaningful reparations must extend far beyond symbolic gestures of recognition, requiring concrete financial investment and systemic change to address lasting inequalities.

The organization is requesting formal acknowledgement of the petition from King Charles III’s office, and that the document be forwarded to relevant British government and diplomatic bodies for review, with a formal written response that outlines clear pathways for ongoing negotiation and engagement. McKinney estimates that the Rastafari community now makes up approximately 15% of The Bahamas’ Black population, reflecting significant growth of the movement in recent decades. He framed E.A.B.I.C.’s action as part of a broader global struggle to secure justice, restore African cultural identity, and achieve full self-determination for Black communities across the Caribbean and the entire African diaspora.

A growing political firestorm has erupted in The Bahamas over the opaque management of nearly $700 million tied to the country’s National Investment Fund (NIF), with opposition leader Michael Pintard doubling down on demands for full accountability as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probes gaps in governance and record-keeping.

As head of the PAC, the parliamentary body tasked with overseeing public spending, Pintard confirmed this week that the committee has still not secured critical financial documentation required to trace where the hundreds of millions in allocated funds went, and identify which officials authorized transactions carried out in the NIF’s name. His investigation has uncovered that a five-member oversight board for the fund was appointed as early as August 2025 — but the administration never made the appointments public, nor included the board in its latest official register of government committees.

The five board members confirmed by Pintard are: Sean Longley, the designated chair; Central Bank Governor John Rolle; Dianne Bowe-Pindling; Brian Jones; and Andre Rahming. Pintard has raised pointed questions about why the governing administration concealed the board’s existence for months, despite repeated inquiries from both opposition lawmakers and independent media outlets.

Most alarmingly, Pintard says evidence gathered by the PAC shows the appointed board was never convened to oversee fund activities, even as hundreds of millions of dollars were allocated and moved under the NIF’s banner. “Money was apparently being allocated and transactions were taking place in the name of the National Investment Fund, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars,” Pintard said in an update on the investigation. “Government statements and reports referred to activity under the Fund. Yet the evidence received so far indicates that the legally appointed Board was not involved. Indeed, one piece of correspondence received by the PAC indicates that the Board members did not even know that these activities were taking place in the Fund’s name.”

The investigation is also scrutinizing the legal standing of an NIF-labelled account held at the Central Bank of The Bahamas. According to Pintard, witness testimony and documents reviewed to date confirm the account was not created by the appointed NIF board. Instead, it was established and run through an unregulated separate arrangement directly controlled by the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury. The committee has yet to receive a clear explanation of what legal authority the two agencies relied on to open and operate the account. “Instead the testimony and documents received so far suggest that the account was created and operated under a different arrangement and under the sole control of the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury,” Pintard said. “The Committee is therefore asking a very simple but important question: If this account was not established and operated by the National Investment Fund created under the law, then what exactly was the nature of this account?”

The committee’s findings have amplified longstanding public concerns over roughly $700 million in excess government borrowing that the administration itself has publicly linked to the NIF. To date, Pintard says the PAC has not received complete transaction records that would allow investigators to confirm the final destination of the funds, the movement channels used, the specific accounts involved, or the nature of all completed transactions. “The Government publicly connected approximately $700 million in ‘excess borrowing’ to the National Investment Fund,” he said. “But the Committee does not yet have the transaction details needed to account for that money. We do not have a complete explanation of where the funds went, how they moved, what accounts were used or what transactions were carried out. The Bahamian people deserve a clear accounting of that money.”

Pintard also criticized the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury for failing to comply with formal document requests, even as the Central Bank and the Department of Legal Affairs have cooperated fully and promptly with the investigation. He noted that Central Bank Governor John Rolle and the Director of Legal Affairs have already provided useful testimony and key records to the committee, but the same cooperation has not been forthcoming from finance and treasury officials. While Financial Secretary Simon Wilson and the Treasurer have both appeared before the PAC for questioning, Pintard said large gaps remain in the official documentary record.

“We need the records of the transactions to determine how the money was spent,” Pintard said. “We also need the Ministry of Finance to point to the specific legal authority that allowed it to carry out transactions in the name of the NIF without the involvement of its Board. These are not minor or technical details. They go directly to who controlled the money, who approved the transactions and what lawful authority they relied upon.”

The governing administration has previously defended its decision to have the Ministry of Finance and Treasury manage NIF operations, pointing to the Public Finance Management Act and formal legal guidance to justify its structure. The PAC is on track to wrap up its core investigative work this month, with a full public report targeted for release by mid-November. Pintard emphasized that the probe remains ongoing, and no final conclusions have been issued to date.

In closing, Pintard renewed his call for PAC proceedings to be broadcast live to the public, revealing that the Speaker of Parliament has twice rejected formal requests to stream the committee’s meetings on the official Parliamentary Channel.