As we begin a new year, I’m more energized and focused than ever. Across our islands, but especially in Grand Bahama, families continue to feel the pressure of rising costs, strained public services, and uncertainty about the future. They want solutions, and the FNM will be ready to meet their needs.
In 2026, I’ll continue to advocate for a Grand Bahama where opportunity exists for the many, not just the few. Our island should be a place where public institutions work and work well, and progress can be seen through real improvements in people’s daily lives.
Many of the specific deliverables that the Davis Administration committed to back in 2021 remain unmet.
They told us that critical upgrades to Rand Memorial Hospital would be undertaken immediately, but as the PLP nears the end of its term, healthcare workers and patients are still operating within a system that continues to deteriorate.
Under a previous FNM government, financing had already been secured for meaningful upgrades to Rand, work that was ready to move forward. The Davis-Cooper administration cancelled it, leaving Grand Bahama without urgently needed improvements that remain necessary today. Too many people still need to travel to New Providence for basic care.
The government promised progress on the Grand Bahama International Airport, including the completion of key phases by 2025. At the start of 2026, not one shovel is in the ground. There’s no clear public accounting of the project’s design, cost, location, or management structure.
This year, the government threw a rally for a Grand Lucayan deal that none of us still have any details on. They staged a demolition, but couldn’t find the time to reveal timelines, obligations, or how this project fits into a broader tourism and economic strategy for the island.
While they delay, stall and go silent on key issues, the FNM will continue to roll out its transformative vision. Our plan will be built with people at the center, not just one-off projects.
Here are sixteen items that top our agenda for 2026:
- Finding a suitable buyer and partner for The Grand Lucayan.
- Completing the work that we got started in attracting a private partner with resources, a world class airport operator, and a consortium of contractors for the Grand Bahamas International Airport.
- Putting pressure on URCA, Grand Bahama Port Authority and the government to have the courts conclude who is the appropriate regulator of utilities in Grand Bahama
- Working with central government, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, private subdivision developers, local government and residents in getting roads paved on utilities, installed in Freeport, where too many communities are without paved roads, light, and city water
- Developing additional parks around the island
- Retrofitting parks with fruit, bearing trees and community gardens
- Working with various stakeholders to attract investments into Grand Bahama
- Pushing to have the environmental bylaws finally passed by parliament.
- Pressuring the Davis Administration to live up to its list of commitments made to the people of West Grand Bahama and Bimini during the recent by-election
- Completing the Marco City tech hub and commencing classes
- Helping to attract resources to complete the work required on various gymnasiums in Grand Bahama
- Following up on the implementation of an Olympic-size pool in Grand Bahama
- Fighting for the return of pre-clearance to the airport in Grand Bahama
- Working with entrepreneurs to revive the marina and yachting business in Grand Bahama
- Working with entrepreneurs to develop tourism-related enterprises that can benefit from cruise and stopover visitors.
- Providing urgently diagnostic equipment, completing badly needed upgrades, completing the morgue and addressing staff shortages at the Rand.
I look forward to making the case that we can and will do better under new FNM management.