The Prime Minister’s response to the crisis in Family Island banking is not leadership; it is an excuse to do nothing. He is championing a system the government’s own Auditor General has openly characterized as woefully deficient.
To be clear: No proposal the FNM makes or has made under my leadership will leave hard-working Bahamians out of a job. Any suggestion otherwise is fearmongering.
Under sworn testimony before the Public Accounts Committee, the Auditors General (past and present) pointed out substantial operational failures at the Post Office Savings Bank: financial statements not completed for years, depositors able to withdraw more money than they actually had, and reconciliation so incomplete that the institution cannot even say what it owes or is owed. The Acting Auditor General was blunt: “You cannot have a manual post office savings bank in this day and age.”
These are not political opinions; these are professional findings, and they lead to one conclusion: the status quo is not an option.
Here is what a FNM Government will do:
1. Bring real banking to the Family Islands. We will expand regulated, full-service financial institutions throughout the Family Islands, modern, audited, and properly supervised. We will require commercial banks to establish a meaningful physical presence on the major Family Islands, using tax credits where needed to make sure operations are at least cost-neutral.
2. Empower communities. We will open the door to fintech infrastructure (digital wallet providers) and properly regulated, community-based credit union cooperatives, institutions that are accountable and owned by the very people they serve. Where appropriate, these institutions will have access to existing Post Office or public buildings at nominal cost. No benefit they enjoy now will be cut off. 2
3. End the dysfunction. Once the new infrastructure is in place, we will phase out the failed Post Office banking system, preceded by a full reconciliation of all outstanding financial issues so that depositors and Parliament finally have the clarity they deserve.
4. Modernise the Post Office. The Post Office itself will be transformed into a logistics and distribution hub for the digital economy, helping Family Island entrepreneurs get their goods to regional and global markets, creating new revenue streams, and building a sustainable future for the institution.
The current Post Office banking system has deepened financial exclusion across our Family Islands, leaving too many citizens—particularly in places like South and Central Andros—without access to reliable, modern banking services. Our proposals for expanded financial services and a modernized post office will create more jobs and more business opportunities, not take jobs away.
The Prime Minister can defend a broken system. We choose to fix it.
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