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Bahama Drama

OPINION: Strangling the Baby in the Cradle

OPINION: Strangling the Baby in the Cradle

By: Michael Elijah Muhammad Clare

The Slow, Quiet Death of FOIA

Let’s not beat around the bush, Bahamas. If you want to kill a stray dog, you don’t always need a gun; sometimes you just stop feeding it. And when it comes to the long-promised, long-delayed Freedom of Information Act, the Davis administration isn’t just withholding the food—they are actively starving the baby before it even takes its first breath.

Look at the numbers dropped in Parliament this week by Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis, and look at them good.

An unchanged $140,000 allocation for the 2026/2027 fiscal year.

Let that sink in. $140,000 to operationalize a massive, nationwide transparency framework meant to hold every government ministry, department, and public official accountable to you, the taxpayer.

The Math Just Doesn’t Math
When Long Island MP Dr. Andre Rollins stood up to question that measly little line item hidden under the vague umbrella of special financial transactions, Halkitis had the nerve to look the public in the eye and say, “Yes, we believe it’s enough.” He tried to smooth it over by saying, “Oh, well that doesn’t include salaries, it’s just operational costs.”

Who are they fooling? Experts and transparency advocates have stated clear as day that it will take at least $1 million to fully implement the infrastructure required for FOIA.

We are talking about secure databases, tracking software, public portals, training for civil servants across the entire archipelago, and public education campaigns.

You cannot buy a decent piece of commercial real estate in Nassau for $140,000, but we are supposed to believe it’s enough capital to build the foundation of a corruption-busting, transparency-boosting government commission?

Assassination By Budget Cut
This isn’t an oversight. This isn’t fiscal responsibility. This is by design.

The political class in this country, on both sides of the aisle, but currently sitting comfortably under the PLP sun, has fought tooth and nail for decades to keep the blinds drawn on government spending, secret contracts, and backroom deals. They promised us FOIA on the campaign trail because it sounds good on a rally stage. But now that it’s time to actually turn the lights on, they’ve realized they prefer the dark.

By underfunding the FOIA Unit so drastically, they achieve exactly what they want:
The Illusion of Progress: They can technically claim the Act is implemented and the unit exists.

Guaranteed Failure: Without the necessary $1 million in infrastructure, the unit will be bogged down, toothless, and unable to process requests efficiently.

When you ask for public contracts six months from now and get told the system is down or we don’t have the staff to process that, remember this budget.

Dead on Arrival
They are strangling the baby before it’s born. They are choking the life out of transparency with a measly $140K rope so that FOIA dies a quiet death before it can ever have a real, transformative effect on Bahamian society.

It’s time for the public to wake up and realize that a government that hides its numbers is a government with something to hide. If they truly wanted a clean, accountable Bahamas, they’d fund the tool to build it. Instead, they’ve left FOIA pennies on the dollar, hoping the public won’t notice the quiet assassination of our right to know.

To our leaders, I really believe that it’s time to do what is healthy for our country and the future of our small democracy!

OPINION: Strangling the Baby in the Cradle By: Michael Elijah Muhammad Clare The Slow, Quiet Death of FOIA Let’s not beat around the bush, Bahamas. If you want to kill a stray
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