With only months left in a five-year term, and in the face of his imminent political retirement, Prime Minister Davis delivered a national address that relied more on performance than proof. What was presented as reassurance amounted instead to smoke and mirrors, a package of shameless campaign cuts designed to distract a frustrated and increasingly impatient nation, rather than confront the real cost-of-living pressures Bahamians face every single day.
The Prime Minister announced that his latest affordability measures will take effect April 1 on April Fools’ Day. The irony is not lost on the Bahamian people. For nearly five years, families have been asked to stretch shrinking paychecks, absorb rising prices, and accept explanations instead of relief. Now, with an election on the horizon, this government suddenly discovers urgency.
If these measures were truly essential, Bahamians would not have had to wait almost five years to see them. The Free National Movement has consistently called for VAT relief on food and essential items for years. In December 2021, Opposition MPs warned against reapplying VAT to items that were previously zero-rated. In April 2022, we called for VAT to be removed from breadbasket food items as immediate cost-of-living relief. In 2023 and 2024, we renewed those calls repeatedly as food and electricity costs climbed. This government ignored those warnings, only to adopt the same direction now, when the political calendar demands it.
The Prime Minister boasts about dropping VAT to zero on items his own government raised from zero to ten percent. And while he continues to attack the Free National Movement over VAT increases in the past, he conveniently omits that he himself sat in Cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister when VAT was first imposed, taking it from zero to 7.5 percent.
The address was also notable for what was not said.
There was no acknowledgment of the immigration crisis, and no recognition of the fear and anxiety many Bahamians feel about a system they believe is unfair, broken, and no longer focused on protecting law-abiding citizens. The Prime Minister offered no answers on enforcement, no clarity on fairness, and no plan to restore confidence in a system that too many people believe has lost its way.
There was no serious reckoning with crime. Even with a fortunate year in 2025, murders remain more than 30 percent higher under the PLP than under the last FNM government. And there was no honest discussion of a
healthcare system on life support, where hospitals struggle to stay stocked with basic medicines, frontline workers are stretched beyond breaking point, and patients wait far too long for care, even as this government pushes a new hospital that does nothing to fix what is already failing.
There was no explanation for the more than $120 million the government claimed it collected from the sale of the now-stalled Grand Lucayan project, a claim that remains unsubstantiated eight months later. There was also no clarity on the proposed port project in Mayaguana, where this government is seeking to give away 3,000 acres of Crown land without public justification. And there was no disclosure of the terms governing hundreds of millions of dollars in public-private partnerships signed without transparency.
Just as glaring was the silence on whether the government’s tourism strategy is actually improving Bahamian lives. Cruise passenger numbers may be rising, but there was no explanation of how this growth translates into higher wages, stronger small businesses, or real economic empowerment. There was no clear strategy to grow stopover tourism, no evidence that massive investments are filtering down into the broader economy, and no assurance that Bahamians are benefiting beyond headline figures.
No amount of rhetoric can erase the strain Bahamians feel every day at the grocery store, on their light bill, and around the kitchen table. Inflation has punished Bahamian households year after year, and economic
growth is slowing sharply. Growth in 2024 was measured at 3.7 percent, down from 9.9 percent in 2023. Manufacturing declined by 23.7 percent, gas and electricity by 12.8 percent, and accommodation and food services by 3.2 percent.
Debt continues to climb. The Ministry of Finance’s own public debt report shows that at end-June 2025, public sector debt stood at $13.149 billion, reflecting an annual increase of $440.9 million, largely driven by central
government activity. This is the same government speaking about relief while adding to the burden future generations will carry.
The lived reality is even more sobering. A University of The Bahamas study found that a middle-class family of four now needs over $10,000 a month to maintain a basic lifestyle in New Providence and Grand Bahama, requiring an annual income of approximately $122,400.
Unemployment reached 10.8 percent in January 2025, with youth unemployment at 20.9 percent, and the government responded with surprise, as if Bahamians have not been living this reality for months.
Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 have become this Prime Minister’s favorite boogeymen. He invokes them whenever it is convenient, citing their combined economic impact of more than $7 billion, while avoiding responsibility for what has happened on his watch. No one disputes that those crises were devastating, or that they inflicted real and lasting damage on our economy. Bahamians endured them together and made extraordinary sacrifices to survive them.
But what cannot be ignored is the Prime Minister’s double standard. This is the same leader who was relentless in his criticism of the Free National Movement for governing through the economic fallout of Dorian and COVID. He cannot now turn around and use those same crises as justification for his own poor performance. After nearly five years in office, he can no longer govern by looking backward. Excuses are not leadership. Accountability is.
Affordability is not just about VAT. It is about whether a paycheck can cover groceries, electricity, rent, transportation, school expenses, and healthcare without constant sacrifice. It is about whether people feel safe in their communities, confident in the fairness of the immigration system, and assured that the growth being celebrated in speeches is actually improving life for ordinary Bahamians, not just government balance sheets.
After a boring address filled with slogans and selective statistics, Bahamians were left exactly where they started: still facing high prices, rising bills, and a government that talks far more than it delivers.
The Bahamian people deserve honest leadership, real accountability, and a serious affordability strategy that lowers household costs and restores confidence. That leadership will not come from April Fools’ promises or a government fighting for its political survival. It will come from a government that works for you, and that is what the Free National Movement is ready to deliver.