NASSAU, Bahamas – Leading Bahamian integrated luxury resort destination Baha Mar wrapped up two consecutive community and employee-focused initiatives on a recent Friday, rolling out a first-of-its-kind expanded educational immersion for local secondary school learners alongside its long-running annual staff benefits expo. The week-long student engagement initiative invited Grade 9, 10 and 11 learners from a mix of public and private institutions across the island to dive deep into the inner workings of the global hospitality and tourism sector, a core pillar of the Bahamian national economy. Over the course of the programme, participating students were guided through behind-the-scenes tours of Baha Mar’s sprawling property, getting hands-on access to operational departments ranging from fine dining culinary kitchens and guest experience teams to in-house information technology units and marine recreation divisions. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s Vice President of Government and External Affairs, outlined that the bespoke programme was structured around three core pillars: giving teenagers the chance to experience the resort through the lens of a visiting tourist to understand the guest journey, showcasing the full scope of the property’s world-class amenities, and demystifying the diverse, non-monolithic career pathways available in the hospitality space. Sands emphasized that roles at the resort span a vast spectrum of skill sets and educational backgrounds, ranging from culinary arts and frontline customer service to digital tech, event planning, horticulture and sustainable tourism management, rather than being limited to entry-level front desk or housekeeping positions. The immersive sessions also walked students through the full suite of professional development and personal perks offered to full-time Baha Mar team members, with the explicit goal of helping young Bahamians map out viable, high-growth career trajectories long before they complete their high school studies. While this marked the first time the resort had scaled the youth outreach to a full week-long, on-site immersion, Sands noted that Baha Mar’s community engagement team has long run regular in-school visits to introduce younger students to opportunities in the tourism industry, to build a local talent pipeline for the sector for years to come. Running parallel to the conclusion of the student programme on Friday, Baha Mar also hosted its 9th annual employee benefits fair, drawing 29 third-party partner vendors spanning the healthcare, personal finance, wellness, and recreational fitness sectors. Kelli Rolle, Baha Mar’s Director of Benefits, explained that this year’s expo adopted the playful, travel-themed branding “Travel With Benefits, Travel Towards Better”, with a custom airport-inspired event space complete with check-in counters, “departure gates” for different vendor categories, and boarding pass-style event swag to drive higher staff engagement. Attending team members had the chance to speak directly with vendor representatives, clarify questions about insurance coverage, savings plans, and wellness offerings, and access exclusive event-only perks including limited-time discounts, custom bundled service packages, and entry into on-site raffles with prizes ranging from complimentary resort stays to annual gym memberships.
标签： Bahamas
巴哈马
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Search on for missing Bahamian pilot
Relatives of a veteran Bahamian pilot who vanished mid-flight over the southern waters of New Providence earlier this week are refusing to abandon optimism that he will be located unharmed, even as coordinated cross-jurisdictional rescue teams scour hundreds of square nautical miles of open ocean for any trace of the missing aviator. Patterson Smith, a long-time Exuma resident and father of two young children, took off from George Town, Exuma, at 2:32 p.m. local time piloting a single-engine Piper PA-32 aircraft with the registration marker C6PA, on a scheduled routine flight bound for New Providence. He was the sole occupant of the small aircraft when it reported encountering in-flight difficulties, before all contact was severed with ground control. A senior aviation industry official confirmed that preliminary air traffic control tracking logs show the plane’s last verified position was roughly 30 nautical miles south of New Providence, with no subsequent radar or radio pings detected after that point. A sprawling, multi-stakeholder search and rescue mission has been activated, bringing together personnel and assets from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association (BASRA), and the United States Coast Guard to sweep the designated high-priority search zone. Speaking to local outlet The Tribune, Eugene Smith, the missing pilot’s brother, emphasized that the entire family is committed to continuing the search until Patterson is found, noting that the seasoned aviator boasts decades of professional flying experience and has logged thousands of flight hours navigating the scattered island chains and coastal waters of the Bahamas. Multiple members of the Smith family have also joined on-site search teams to comb the ocean and nearby uninhabited cays for any sign of the downed aircraft or its pilot. Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper issued an official public statement earlier today extending his well-wishes for a safe recovery, noting that his administration holds out hope for a positive outcome and that his personal thoughts and prayers are with the entire Smith family during this uncertain period. The Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation also released a formal update on the ongoing rescue efforts, confirming that all future public briefings on the case will be coordinated jointly by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority and the Ministry of Transport, as teams work around the clock to resolve the missing aircraft incident.
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Veteran says Junkanoo museum could create 50 jobs with more help Body
Quinton “Barabbas” Woodside, a 65-year-old lifelong Junkanoo practitioner and steward of Bahamian cultural heritage, has spent decades nurturing what is now the Junkanoo World Museum & Arts Centre in Nassau, growing the space from a 50-year-old informal Junkanoo shack to a beloved community hub that offers free hands-on training in traditional crafts to local children. For 30 years, the facility has served as a safe, intergenerational gathering spot where young people learn costume pasting, goatskin drum making, cowbell crafting, alongside life skills such as discipline, academic support, and personal accountability. Its inclusive programming has welcomed autistic, Deaf, and disabled youth, many of whom have joined public Junkanoo rush-out parades, while generations of attendees have gone on to build careers as teachers, welders, preachers, and public officials.
Despite Nassau’s record-breaking cruise tourism boom, the museum remains largely overlooked by mainstream tour operators, leaving Woodside and his extended family to shoulder nearly all of its operating costs. The only consistent existing partnerships are limited to a single weekly visit from Majestic Tours and small groups booked through local jeep excursion operators, traffic far too low to sustain planned expansion. A recent series of Friday night cultural performances, launched to draw larger paying audiences, failed to gain traction after a well-attended free opening event. Woodside supplements the museum’s minimal revenue with proceeds from an on-site upstairs shop that sells Junkanoo costume supplies, and he often directs limited funds to supporting struggling neighboring families, covering grocery costs, medication co-pays, and other essential needs for households whose children participate in the centre’s programmes. Many of his family members and local volunteers work unpaid, as he cannot afford to pay them the full wages they deserve.
Woodside estimates that with targeted, coordinated support from the Bahamian government, tourism boards, tour operators, and local transportation stakeholders such as taxi fleet owners, the museum could scale its operations to create 40 to 50 full-time local jobs, including roles for chefs, food service staff, bus drivers, and programming assistants, while expanding its free youth cultural education offerings. He notes that the facility is already a high-impact economic and cultural asset that draws international cultural tourism revenue to local communities, rather than siphoning profits to large offshore cruise corporations.
He has already raised his concerns directly with Leslia Miller-Brice, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, whom he praises for proactively convening listening sessions with independent cultural practitioners, but notes that bureaucratic resistance across other government offices often delays or blocks small grants and targeted support for community-led cultural institutions. He emphasizes that investing in independent, grassroots cultural stewards does not represent a public expense, but a high-return investment that preserves at-risk intangible cultural heritage, creates local employment, and keeps young people engaged in positive, skill-building activities. The museum’s core mission is also dedicated to preserving the legacy of pioneering Junkanoo leaders including Gus Cooper, Paul Knowles, and Sammy Thompson, all of whom have passed away, leaving Woodside as one of the few remaining custodians of their specialized traditional knowledge. Despite decades of unrelenting financial pressure, Woodside remains resolute that he will never close the centre, and will continue advocating until his request for collaborative public and private sector support reaches the decision-makers who can help the museum reach its full untapped potential.
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Female pilot, 20, flying Learjet when it crashed killing all nine people on board
A devastating Sunday aviation disaster in South Florida has claimed the lives of nine people, including a 20-year-old newly credentialed copilot whose family and former school community are now mourning her promising, trailblazing career in aviation. Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a graduate of a local Palm Beach County public high school’s specialized aviation program, was serving as the second pilot aboard a Learjet traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when the aircraft went down and erupted in flames near West Palm Beach, according to statements her mother Camila Corteleti shared with major outlets including the New York Post and the New York Times. Local archival news records confirm Filgueiras earned her official pilot’s license back in 2023, when she was just 17 years old and a final-year senior at West Boca Raton Community High School. Her certification credentials qualified her to operate the specific category of jet involved in the crash, but did not grant her the required rating to serve as the aircraft’s captain or lead pilot. Filgueiras earned her wings at no personal cost: the Palm Beach County School District fully covered the expenses of her pilot training and licensing as part of its flagship high school aviation academy, a career-focused track that gives students hands-on experience with flight simulators, drone operation, and formal aviation coursework. In a lighthearted 2023 interview with local CBS affiliate WPEC-TV shortly after earning her license, Filgueiras joked about the unusual quirk of her accomplishments, noting that many peers found it absurd that she could competently pilot a jet long before she mastered driving a standard passenger car. The Federal Aviation Administration and local emergency response teams have not yet released full details on the cause of the Sunday crash, which left no survivors among the nine people on board.
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Texas family of 4 among 9 killed in horrific Florida plane crash
A private Learjet bound for Eleuthera in the Bahamas erupted in a catastrophic fireball mid-crash near Greenacres, Florida, on Sunday, November 1, claiming the lives of all nine people on board, according to initial reporting from celebrity and news outlet TMZ. The ill-fated flight had departed Austin, Texas, and was on its scheduled route to the Bahamian island when it went down in a populated area close to West Palm Beach, triggering an immediate emergency response from local first responders.
The manifest of victims includes prominent tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children, two family friends, their longstanding nanny, and the two flight crew members operating the aircraft. One of the most notable details emerging from the tragedy is the age of the co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who was just 20 years old at the time of the crash. Filgueiras, a graduate of West Boca Raton Community High School, made local headlines back in 2023 when she earned her official pilot’s license at the remarkably young age of 17 while still a high school senior, a milestone that reflected her long-held passion for aviation. Her mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed to major outlets including the New York Post and the New York Times that her daughter was serving as first officer on the private charter at the time of the accident.
On Monday, extended family members of the Robinson-Sharp household released a joint public statement via Facebook mourning the loss of their loved ones, while extending condolences to the relatives of the flight crew as well. The statement remembered Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp as deeply dedicated, warm-hearted parents whose generosity and welcoming nature had left a lasting positive impact on everyone in their social circle, noting that their 4-year-old daughter Emma and 2-year-old son Charlie were the central joy of their lives. The family also paid tribute to the couple’s two travelling friends, Charmi Fehr and Rachael Reed, describing the pair as vibrant, adventure-loving people who loved their communities fiercely and unreservedly. The Robinson family’s nanny, Anita Maria Apellido Cetina, was also remembered for the tender, unconditional care she had provided to the two young children, having become a beloved, fully integrated member of the household over her time with the family.
The collective family expressed profound gratitude to Palm Beach County first responders, crash investigators, and local community members for their support in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, and noted that their grieving process was shared in parallel with the families of the two pilots who lost their lives in the crash. The statement concluded with a respectful request for privacy as all affected families process their sudden, devastating loss, adding that details for public memorial services would be announced once arrangements have been finalized.
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Govt building first seniors-only complex in 40 years
Delivering a landmark update during recent Senate deliberations, Bahamas Minister of Social Services Barbara Cartwright announced two pivotal new commitments to elder welfare: the construction of the country’s first purpose-built, senior-only rental housing complex in four decades, and exploratory planning for a 70-bed supported residential facility for older adults no longer able to live independently. The new rental development is sited at Iris Court on Lifebuoy Street, designed to be fully accessible for people with disabilities, engineered to withstand extreme tropical weather events, and fitted with dedicated communal recreational spaces, though no formal completion timeline has been released to date.
The announcements came as lawmakers debated the groundbreaking Older Persons Rights, Protection, Care and Support Bill, 2026, sweeping cross-party legislation that already cleared the House of Assembly earlier this month. The framework codifies formal legal protections for people aged 65 and over, explicitly outlawing physical, sexual, psychological, and financial abuse of seniors, and assigning formal legal as well as moral obligations to family members and professional caregivers.
Cartwright framed the policy push as a defining national moral choice, noting, “The question before us is simple: What kind of country do you want to grow old in? I want a Bahamas where no mother is left stranded in a hospital ward with no one to take her home, where no father’s pension is stolen by the hands of those that are supposed to care for them, where no grandmother waits by the door for a visitor who never comes. This bill brings us closer to that Bahamas.”
While the Official Opposition Free National Movement (FNM) formally backed the proposed law, Senator Arinthia Komolafe cautioned that legislative text alone could not guarantee seniors dignity and safety, emphasizing that meaningful elder care reform could not move forward without parallel fixes to the country’s strained public healthcare system. “It is sad that Bahamians are scared to go to our public hospitals for fear that they or their loved ones may not make it out,” Komolafe noted, adding that the government must also address the severe financial strain many older residents face amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, with large numbers of seniors struggling to cover basic food, housing, and transportation costs.
The proposed law enshrines clear, enforceable duties for next of kin, framing the role not as a bureaucratic designation but a “sacred trust” that requires regular check-ins, active monitoring for signs of harm, and consistent support to ensure older relatives have access to safe housing, sufficient nutrition, clean water, clothing, and other core essentials. Professional caregivers will also be held to formal legal standards, mandating they act exclusively in seniors’ best interests, avoid all forms of neglect or abuse, administer prescribed medical treatments correctly, and operate only within the scope of authority granted to them by the older adult or relevant regulatory bodies.
Cartwright confirmed that the independent Residential Care and Licensing Authority will conduct proactive inspections of all senior care facilities, with a mandatory response timeline of 24 hours for emergency protection complaints and 72 hours for non-urgent welfare reports. She also pledged to roll out a full national older persons policy within 30 days of the bill receiving royal assent, with dedicated priority support for the estimated 1,920 to 2,000 people living with dementia across the Bahamas, their family caregivers, and related community stakeholders. Additional planned support measures include senior day care programs, expanded community nursing and home health services, formal caregiver training courses, and assistive technology such as emergency alert and location tracking devices for people living with cognitive impairment. The government also confirmed it will integrate explicit senior-focused provisions into national disaster preparedness protocols to ensure no older adult is left stranded or unaccounted for during hurricane or severe weather events.
The proposed legislation creates a standalone criminal offence for financial exploitation of seniors, including unauthorised diversion of pension payments or National Insurance Board (NIB) benefits, carrying maximum penalties of a $50,000 fine, five years of imprisonment, or both. The policy push follows recent public testimony from Patricia Moxey, owner of Pat’s Senior Citizens Home, who revealed last week that dozens of family members have been siphoning off their elderly relatives’ NIB benefits while refusing to pay residential care fees, leaving the facility with more than $200,000 in unpaid outstanding invoices.
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Rick Fox: I’m running for FNM leadership
In a stunning, unanticipated move during a Senate session this week, former NBA champion and sitting opposition senator Rick Fox has become the first public figure from The Bahamas’ Free National Movement (FNM) to formally declare his candidacy for the party’s top leadership post, catching fellow legislators and long-time party members completely off guard.
Fox, who suffered a narrow defeat in his bid to secure the Garden Hills constituency seat in the May 2026 general election, made the surprise announcement while contributing to debates over the Older Persons Rights, Protection, Care and Support Bill 2026, noting his goal was tied to securing the legislation’s long-term successful implementation. At the time of his announcement, he did not specify which exact leadership position he would contest during the party’s upcoming national convention, which FNM Chairman Dr Duane Sands confirmed this week the party’s Central Council has formally scheduled no later than April 30, 2027. Internal party sources have revealed senior organizers are currently targeting an early February 2027 timeline for the gathering, which Sands described as a landmark demonstration of the party’s internal democratic processes, with full logistical details set to be released to the public at a later date.
Rejecting claims his candidacy is part of a personal climb up the political career ladder, Fox framed his bid as a mission to elevate the FNM’s overall performance, describing himself as the “rocket fuel” the party needs to reignite public trust. “My ambition is not simply to occupy a position,” he told the Senate chamber. “It is to help build a party worthy of the confidence of the Bahamian people, a party that attracts new generations, develops new leaders and embraces new ideas and demonstrates that our greatest achievements are not behind us but ahead of us.” The three-time Los Angeles Lakers championship winner, who disclosed a verified net worth of $469 million in official public financial filings, explained his decision followed personal consultations with his mother, a formal audience with the Bahamian monarch, and deep reflection on the party’s recent closed-door strategic conclave.
The announcement has sent ripples through FNM ranks, which are still reeling from a devastating general election performance that saw the party secure only 8 out of 41 available parliamentary seats. Internal party insiders confirmed to local outlet The Tribune that Fox’s unplanned declaration has laid bare widespread uncertainty around the party’s future leadership direction, and underscored the intense eagerness among party members to step up and take on organizational leadership responsibilities.
Fox’s entry into the leadership race has already reignited long-running public debates about his rapid rise to frontline Bahamian politics, which began less than a year ago. Notably, the 2026 May general election was the very first time Fox had ever cast a ballot in a Bahamian national vote, a detail that Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis previously mocked as a poor judgment call by sitting FNM leader Michael Pintard, who appointed Fox to the Senate ahead of long-serving deputy party leader Shanendon Cartwright. Former Cabinet minister Leslie Miller previously branded the appointment decision “mean-spirited” and “spiteful”. Fox pushed back firmly against that criticism in his maiden Senate speech in June, arguing that first-time voters should be celebrated, welcomed and recruited into political life rather than derided for their late entry to civic participation.
He also faced early pushback from long-standing FNM loyalists in the Garden Hills constituency, where former local party association president Ricardo Rolle publicly criticized his ratification as a candidate, claiming Fox had no familiarity with the geographic boundaries or community needs of the area. Days before the general election, Prime Minister Davis also alleged Fox had sought a Progressive Liberal Party nomination for either the Killarney or Long Island constituencies just days before joining the FNM, a claim Fox dismissed as “revisionist political theatre” and confirmed he had only ever submitted a membership and candidacy application to the Free National Movement.
Born in Canada to a Bahamian father, Fox relocated to The Bahamas as an infant and was raised in the Stapledon Gardens community, before going on to a celebrated 13-season career in the NBA. He returned to The Bahamas full-time in 2021, and was appointed to the Senate immediately after his 2026 general election defeat.
The leadership race is unfolding against a backdrop of sweeping internal review for the FNM, which brought in Jamaican political strategists for its recent closed-door conclave to diagnose the structural and strategic failures that led to its 2026 election loss. The consultants delivered a blunt assessment that the party faced “serious challenges” to overcome if it hoped to win the next general election, blaming a campaign message that failed to resonate with ordinary voters, low public visibility for most of its candidates, and a lack of a clear, actionable national policy platform. Independent polling commissioned by the consultants found sitting FNM leader Michael Pintard ranked as the least popular of The Bahamas’ three major party leaders, trailing both Prime Minister Davis and Coalition of Independents head Lincoln Bain, with respondents also describing him as the “most petty” of the three.
Conclave attendees confirmed that the core takeaway from the strategic gathering was that no single individual “saviour” could rescue the party on their own, and that simply replacing the party leader or rebranding its public image would not be enough to reverse its electoral fortunes. The overwhelming consensus among members was that the party needed a unifying figure capable of bridging internal divides and addressing deep-rooted structural organizational issues.
To date, Fox remains the only high-profile FNM figure to publicly declare a leadership bid. Multiple other potential contenders have remained tight-lipped about their intentions: Long Island MP Dr Andre Rollins made headlines over the weekend during a heated public exchange at Lumpy’s bar, where he told Pintard he was actively considering mounting a leadership challenge and did not want any lingering “bad blood” between the two, though he has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Tribune. Sitting party leader Pintard has stated he will not make a final decision on his own re-election bid until the party’s full post-election performance review is published, while deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright and East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson have both yet to announce their plans for the upcoming leadership contest.
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King bids The Bahamas farewell
After a packed three-day official tour of The Bahamas, King Charles III departed the Caribbean nation yesterday, pausing on the steps of his waiting aircraft to deliver a final wave to assembled local dignitaries, as Buckingham Palace framed the trip as a landmark diplomatic win for UK-Bahamas bilateral ties. The 77-year-old monarch, clad in a tailored tan suit, traveled to the international airport in a formal royal motorcade led by a Mercedes flying the UK’s Royal Standard, where he was formally escorted down a red carpet flanked by the Royal Bahamas Police Force Commissioner Shanta Knowles and Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Floyd Moxey, as the Bahamian national anthem played for the final time during his stay. Waiting at the foot of the royal aircraft’s staircase to bid him farewell were Bahamian Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis (accompanied by one of his young grandsons), Governor General Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, and Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville. The two leaders paused for several minutes in animated, unscripted conversation before King Charles ascended the aircraft, marking the end of the Bahamian leg of his wider Caribbean Commonwealth tour. The Royal Standard that had flown prominently from a tarmac flagpole for the duration of his visit was formally lowered immediately after the plane’s doors closed. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson noted the King had long held deep personal affection for the archipelago, having first visited in 1973 to witness the nation’s historic independence, and that the warm crowds that lined many public routes during his trip would remain a vivid, encouraging memory as he proceeded to subsequent stops in Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda. The official Royal Family social media channels also published a public message of gratitude to Bahamians who turned out to welcome the monarch. Despite widespread displays of public enthusiasm from royal supporters, the visit faced significant domestic pushback across multiple segments of Bahamian society. Many local residents questioned the lack of clear, tangible economic or developmental benefits tied to the high-profile trip, while others expressed frustration over widespread school closures and dozens of road shutdowns across New Providence that disrupted daily commutes and community routines. Killarney MP Michela Barnett-Ellis publicly questioned why long-delayed road resurfacing projects, including works on Shirley Street, were only completed in time for the royal visit, a claim Works Minister Clay Sweeting refuted, confirming the paving plans had been scheduled months in advance. Critics also accused Prime Minister Davis’s administration of political hypocrisy, noting the government has publicly backed a national transition to a republican system that would remove the British monarch as head of state, yet allocated unreported sums of public taxpayer money to fund the royal visit and hosted lavish formal welcome ceremonies. No official cost breakdown for the trip has been released to the Bahamian public to date. The tour was also overshadowed by sustained, visible protests led by the Rastafarian community and members of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, who held signs at public royal events demanding formal financial compensation from the UK government for centuries of transatlantic chattel slavery and colonial exploitation. In his opening public speech at a youth rally at Clifford Park on the first day of his visit, King Charles explicitly acknowledged the “great suffering and injustices of the past in these islands and beyond” but stopped short of issuing a formal, explicit apology for British colonial harms, a demand the reparations committee had publicly set as a pre-condition for their support of the trip. Defending the King’s carefully calibrated public remarks, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told ITV News that the visit was designed as a “sensitive balancing act” that prioritized celebrating the modern, equal partnership between the UK and The Bahamas, addressing shared 21st century challenges including climate change and food security, while acknowledging historical injustices in a respectful, constructive framework. Beyond the political controversies, the tour included a series of warm, unscripted moments that highlighted the King’s longstanding personal ties to the country: he greeted local well-wishers using familiar Bahamian dialect, joked with the 300 young attendees at the Clifford Park rally about his familiarity with the iconic local Junkanoo cultural parade’s three biggest rival groups, the Valley Boys, Saxons Superstars, and One Family, drawing laughter as he teased Prime Minister Davis that he would be pressured to declare a favorite team. At the Royal Bahamas Defence Force’s Coral Harbour base, he laid a commemorative wreath for the four marines killed when the HMBS Flamingo was attacked and sunk by Cuban military jets in 1980, and bonded with retired Captain Whitfield Neely, a surviving crew member, after discovering both had trained at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England, with the King telling the veteran they were part of the same extended naval family. During a stop at Bonefish Pond National Park, his deep curiosity about local mangrove conservation ecosystems led Bahamas National Trust executive director Lakeshia Anderson-Rolle to joke that the monarch had effectively taken over leading the guided tour. He later broke out in unreserved laughter when staff at the Bahamas Boxing Academy presented him with a custom T-shirt printed with a cartoon of him as a heavyweight champion, complete with a crown, boxing gloves, and a world title belt. The most viral moment of the trip came when the normally reserved 77-year-old monarch joined a spontaneous Junkanoo rush-out on Bay Street, picking up a cowbell painted in Bahamian national colours and disappearing into the throng of performers in elaborate feathered costumes as spectators waved national flags to the sound of the classic local folk track Naughty Johnny. His official schedule wrapped up with a formal garden reception at Government House, where Governor General Pratt welcomed him as a guest “home to The Bahamas” and wished him a long, peaceful reign, with attendees including three former Bahamian prime ministers: Hubert Ingraham, Perry Christie, and Dr Hubert Minnis. Immediately after departing Nassau, King Charles landed at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Georgetown, Guyana yesterday afternoon to begin a two-day state visit, before he will travel to Antigua and Barbuda to join Queen Camilla for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting running from November 1 to 4.
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King’s Trust pledges $1m for Bahamian youth programmes
Hours after King Charles III concluded his three-day official tour of The Bahamas, a pair of UK-aligned philanthropic initiatives totaling $2 million in seed funding were announced at a British High Commission reception, directly addressing widespread local public calls for tangible, long-term benefits from the monarch’s royal visit. The dual commitments come from two distinct youth-focused programs: a $1 million grant from King’s Trust International, the global disadvantaged youth empowerment charity founded by King Charles during his tenure as Prince of Wales, and a separate $1 million endowment for the newly launched Bahamas-UK Sports Academy from dual British-Bahamian investor and philanthropist Nick Maughan, who received a CBE last year for his charitable contributions.
The $1 million King’s Trust International allocation, donated by John Gore, CEO and chairman of leading theatre production firm The John Gore Organisation, will roll out under the banner of the “Future Ready: Young People Shaping The Bahamas” program. Rather than rolling out a pre-designed top-down framework, the initiative will launch with a co-created pilot developed in direct consultation with local Bahamian youth, before scaling nationwide over a three-year timeline that includes outreach to remote communities across the archipelago’s Family Islands. The organization has confirmed it will align its programming with existing Bahamian government workforce development schemes including the National Youth Guard, National Upskilling Programme and National Apprenticeship Scheme to avoid duplication and maximize impact, and is currently recruiting young Bahamians as peer researchers to collect input from their demographic to shape program priorities. The trust is also actively partnering with private sector employers across industries to source dedicated internships, work experience placements, formal apprenticeships and entry-level full-time roles for program participants. “Every sector’s long-term sustainability hinges on giving the next generation the space to unlock their full untapped potential,” Gore noted during the reception announcement.
Maughan’s Bahamas-UK Sports Academy, registered as an independent local Bahamian charity under the patronage of Governor General Dame Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, is designed to address longstanding gaps in athletic support for promising young Bahamian talent, which Maughan noted often sees high-potential athletes abandon competitive tracks due to lack of financial and structural backing. The academy’s programming will cover full scholarships for elite young athletes to access specialized training either in The Bahamas or at top-tier UK sporting facilities, professional certification pathways for emerging local coaches paired with seed grants to launch their own coaching practices, expanded grassroots sporting access for underserved communities across the Family Islands, and targeted dedicated programming for disabled athletes. Maughan, who previously founded UK youth boxing charity BoxWise (operating across 100+ British gyms) and expanded the model to Nassau last year via the Bahamas Boxing Academy that King Charles visited during his tour, is actively seeking $250,000 in annual matching funding over a four-year period to scale the academy’s reach, and will personally cover all initial setup and ongoing operational costs to ensure 100% of public donations go directly to program delivery. The British High Commission will act as a founding strategic partner, forging connections between the new academy and leading sporting federations and higher education institutions in both nations, leveraging complementary strengths spanning Bahamian world-renowned track and field, British elite boxing, and the two nations’ shared cultural passion for competitive sailing.
This new investment builds on existing long-standing ties between the King’s charitable network and The Bahamas: The King’s Foundation already runs a long-running partnership with the Lyford Cay Foundation for the Peter George Goulandris Heritage Scholarship, which sends young Bahamian masons, architects and traditional craftspeople for 4-6 months of hands-on training at the King’s private UK estates, with four current Bahamian scholars enrolled in the program in Britain as of the announcement.
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Sands blasts Davis over undisclosed royal visit cost
Dr. Duane Sands, chairman of the Bahamas’ Free National Movement (FNM) opposition party, has launched a scathing public rebuke against sitting Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, alleging the head of government is operating as if he is exempt from basic public accountability for taxpayer funds, following Davis’s dismissive, offhand response to press inquiries about the total public cost of King Charles III’s first official royal visit to the Bahamas as reigning monarch. When approached by reporters to share the exact taxpayer expenditure for the high-profile royal trip, Davis brushed off the question with a flippant remark, stating he had no knowledge of the specific dollar figure and questioning why reporters would raise the topic, before visibly growing frustrated and walking away from the press pack entirely.
Sands, in a widely shared public voice note, argued that the prime minister’s reaction was part of a longstanding pattern of evading oversight, deriding Davis as “Emperor Philip” for what he described as a habit of feigning ignorance, lashing out at journalists, and resenting legitimate questions from both the opposition and ordinary Bahamian citizens about public spending. The FNM chairman drew a direct contrast with transparency norms in the United Kingdom, noting that both the British royal household and UK government are required to regularly disclose and answer formal parliamentary questions about all public funds allocated to royal family activities, a standard he said the Davis administration was deliberately flouting despite its legal obligation to report all spending to the Bahamian parliament and electorate. Sands went on to claim Davis was “drunk on power” and prioritizing lavish events and gatherings over delivering basic public services, arguing that the hidden costs of the royal visit came directly out of tax and VAT revenue that should have been allocated to fix widespread road potholes, reduce crippling multi-hour wait times at public hospitals including Princess Margaret Hospital and Rand Memorial Hospital, and prevent frequent unplanned power outages that disrupt households across the archipelago.
Sands also resurfaced a list of long-unresolved financial transparency concerns that he said the Davis administration had never adequately addressed for the public, including alleged government contracts linked to slain local businessman Warren “Spy” Ellis and Eric Gardiner (who was arrested in the U.S. in May on cocaine and firearms conspiracy charges), unreported election campaign spending, the un-audited National Investment Fund, and opaque financial arrangements for the national electricity grid. He noted that the Ministry of Housing and Land Reform had stated in September that no records existed to show Ellis or any of his affiliated companies had received housing contracts from the Davis administration, but argued that other linked spending questions remained unaddressed. The FNM chairman also revisited the controversy over Davis’s 2022 trip to Bermuda, where he spoke at a convention for Bermuda’s ruling Progressive Labour Party alongside a PLP delegation: the prime minister had initially confirmed public funds covered the cost of the chartered flight, and later told the House of Assembly that the political party would reimburse the full sum, a repayment that Press Secretary Clint Watson confirmed was completed in January 2023 at a total cost just under $60,000.
To date, no agency of the Bahamian government has published a full, itemized breakdown of costs for the King’s state visit. The day before the monarch arrived, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell told reporters he could not share a total cost figure or confirm expenses had been formally itemized, though he insisted the spending was appropriate for a visit by the King of the Bahamas and would not “break the bank”. In September, Finance Minister Michael Halkitis stated that relevant government agencies were still finalizing all associated cost calculations and that the full figures would be released to the public in due course. Prime Minister Davis has defended the visit as a high-impact diplomatic win that generated valuable global international exposure for the Bahamas, noting he had received outreach from global contacts praising the country’s hospitality during the royal tour. Separately, the Bahamas National Reparations Committee has also publicly objected to the use of taxpayer funds to cover the royal visit costs, citing the United Kingdom’s brutal history of chattel slavery and centuries of colonial exploitation of the Bahamian people as a core reason public money should not be spent on hosting the British monarch.