For weeks, families across Cat Island have been unable to access clean water for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene. Both of the island’s water distribution trucks are out of service and the government has done nothing.
The truck serving the north end of the island has been down since October 2024, stranded by a single injector part that was never sourced. The truck serving the south end has been sidelined by road damage that requires urgent welding repairs. Communities in The Bluff, Pigeon Key, and surrounding areas, including families with young children and elderly residents, have been left without reliable access to one of life’s most basic necessities.
This is a failure of leadership.
Cat Island, Rum Cay, and San Salvador is represented in Parliament by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. And yet, while his own constituents go without water, he has offered no solution, no timeline, and no emergency response.
In 2026, no Bahamian family should be without reliable access to clean water. The Family Islands have tolerated this chronic neglect far too long. Water shortages are not new to our islands. But their persistence is not inevitable. It is a choice. A choice made by leaders who have prioritized other things, including luxury travel and contracts for friends and insiders.
The Free National Movement stands for a different approach. We believe that reliable infrastructure is not a luxury; it is a right. Upon taking government, we are committed to:
- Securing immediate repairs to both water distribution trucks as a matter of emergency.
- Advocating for a dedicated infrastructure maintenance fund for the Family Islands so that critical equipment is never left idle for months over a missing part.
- Working with the Water and Sewerage Corporation and relevant ministries to develop a long-term water security plan for Cat Island, Rum Cay, and San Salvador.
- Ensuring our constituency finally receives the attention and investment it deserves, not occasional visits, but consistent, accountable representation.
The contrast could not be clearer. This Government is busy signing secret agreements worth hundreds of millions of dollars while people in Cat Island cannot fill a glass of water. We deserve better. We deserve a representative who shows up, not just at election time, but every single day.
I am calling on the Prime Minister to personally address this water crisis in his own constituency immediately. Dispatch a relief truck, source the injector part, and fund the welding repairs. Do it now before this situation becomes a public health emergency.