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Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Welcome to The Caribbean Pop Da News. Afternoon wires: Eleuthera residents threaten to withhold BPL payments over outages and appliance claims; Treasure Cay’s $177 million redevelopment nears closing; the Public Accounts Committee plans to quiz two Attorneys General over $700 million tied to the National Investment Fund; Jamaica’s KSAMC appeals for restraint on water parties; Barbados trains for regional disaster response; Cuba’s Guiteras plant is offline again — and a quiet Atlantic tropical outlook.
🇧🇸 The Bahamas: Power Protests, Treasure Cay, PAC Probes
Eleuthera threatens a BPL bill strike. Residents across Eleuthera say they are prepared to withhold Bahamas Power & Light payments over persistent outages, appliance damage and long delays on reimbursement claims. Former local government representative Aldred Albury said he has heard of residents who submitted claim forms and documents, only to be told to resubmit because paperwork could not be found. He called on the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority to investigate if that pattern is widespread, and suggested a digital portal so claimants can track progress.
Governor’s Harbour resident Doon McKinney said she has lost four refrigerators and a dishwasher to power surges over about a year and a half despite a whole-house surge protector, putting fridge replacements alone at more than $5,000 before shipping from New Providence. She said interruptions can hit multiple times a day and sometimes leave households without electricity for as long as ten hours, cutting water for homes that rely on electric pumps and driving away Airbnb guests who will not stay without air conditioning. Hatchet Bay resident Yuwanda Roberts said she sometimes cannot charge her phone or sleep after late shifts. BPL’s own WhatsApp updates in recent days have cited generation shortfalls, blown fuses, Rock Sound and Hatchet Bay equipment faults, and rotational supply schedules across North and Central Eleuthera. Source: The Tribune
Minister Sweeting: “I’m staying on it.” Works and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting, the Central and South Eleuthera M.P., recorded a message at Hatchet Bay where EA Energy’s new solar and liquefied natural gas plant is under construction. He told constituents he knows they are “tired of food spoiling, appliances burning out, businesses losing money, and days at home without electricity,” and that he is “staying on it” until reliability improves. The hybrid facility is meant to reduce dependence on ageing diesel generators; residents say they still need clearer answers about today’s outages and whether credits cover power they paid for but could not use. Source: The Tribune
Treasure Cay’s $177m deal “well on its way.” Bahamas Investment Authority director Phylicia Woods-Hanna told Tribune Business that pre-construction and demolition permits for Treasure Cay’s $177 million redevelopment are already in hand, and that the Meister family and Jacksonville-based GreenPointe Holdings (principal Edward Burr) are working through a final closing checklist that could finish this month. Burr signed a Heads of Agreement with the first Davis administration in September 2024. Abaco Chamber of Commerce immediate past president Daphne DeGregory-Miaoulis said North Abaco “desperately needs” the roughly 1,400-acre destination revived after Hurricane Dorian, but added she is “still not going to the bank on it.” Beach Villas Owners Association head Bill McLean described “unobtrusive” signs of progress on a complex multi-parcel title deal. GreenPointe has also marketed a Phase One “marina founders” programme of 47 slips. Source: The Tribune
PAC to quiz two Attorneys General over $700m NIF deposits. Opposition leader Michael Pintard said Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee hopes to interview current Attorney General Wayne Munroe KC and former Attorney General Ryan Pinder KC tomorrow over legal advice tied to the National Investment Fund. Finance Minister Michael Halkitis previously disclosed almost $700 million in net government borrowings were deposited with the Fund. Pintard said the Committee has yet to see a paper trail confirming those deposits, and that one piece of correspondence suggests the Fund’s board — appointed in August 2025 but never formally convened as a group — knew nothing of about $311 million spent on airports, roads, water infrastructure and court complexes. The Committee has already heard from Financial Secretary Simon Wilson, Treasurer Barbara Zonicle, Central Bank Governor John Rolle and others. Halkitis has said the government stayed within the law and relied on Attorney General’s Office advice that, until the NIF Act is fully activated, the Public Finance Management Act governs. Source: The Tribune
Voucher programme: no clear recipient trail yet. Separately, Pintard said the PAC has yet to find clear records showing who received vouchers under a government-funded programme involving more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money, how recipients qualified, who authorised payments, or how vouchers were tracked. He said testimony raised concerns that private individuals and political party members may have exercised operational control without official government roles, and that the programme appeared to run outside normal processes. He stressed the investigation is unfinished and that the Committee expects to finish main work in October and publish a report by mid-November. Source: The Tribune
Teachers urged to watch for impetigo; C.C. Sweeting repairs drag on. Bahamas Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson urged teachers to “be vigilant” after impetigo cases led to temporary closures at Samuel Guy Pinder All Age School on Spanish Wells and Gambier Primary on New Providence, among others. She said impacted schools were deep cleaned, students were isolated, and the Ministry of Education was “on top” of the highly contagious bacterial skin infection. Separately, C.C. Sweeting Senior High was temporarily closed over power disruptions; three students received minor injuries during an outage. Wilson said electrical work there may take about five weeks, with teachers in D and F blocks asked to keep air-conditioning off and use fans while quieter repairs run during school hours. Source: The Nassau Guardian
🇯🇲 Jamaica: Water Parties Under Pressure
KSAMC appeals to water-party promoters. At the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation’s monthly sitting, Deputy Mayor Councillor Lorraine Dobson appealed to promoters staging water parties to act responsibly while communities face shortages. Water, Environment and Climate Change Minister Matthew Samuda has warned Kingston and St. Andrew could face further restrictions; Hermitage Dam was reported at about 40 percent capacity and Mona Reservoir at about 33.5 percent. Dobson said KSAMC should not knowingly facilitate recreational use of National Water Commission supply when that is prohibited, and that even privately sourced water events can distress neighbours struggling for household supply. Source: Jamaica Information Service
🇧🇧 Barbados: Regional Disaster Drill
BDF and British forces train at Paragon. The Barbados Defence Force and British Armed Forces have begun a two-day exercise at Paragon Base to strengthen humanitarian assistance and Caribbean disaster response. Royal Navy Sub-Lieutenant Jonathan Sweetland said the focus is building regional capacity with partners supporting Caribbean defence forces. BDF Lieutenant Ramar Haynes, Assistant Staff Officer for Training, said the drill will improve readiness to deliver critical help after natural disasters. Source: Starcom Network
🇨🇺 Cuba: Guiteras Offline Again
Economizer leak takes Cuba’s largest plant offline. Unión Eléctrica reported Wednesday morning that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant — Cuba’s largest generation facility — was out of service after a leak in the economizer. The plant’s official channels said a cooling process was under way. On the same day UNE estimated peak availability of about 1,026 MW against demand near 2,910 MW, a deficit of roughly 1,884 MW. Guiteras can contribute up to about 316 MW when healthy; many provinces continue to face outages lasting more than sixteen hours a day. Source: Cuba Headlines / UNE reports
🌤️ Caribbean Weather
The National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Weather Outlook for Wednesday, October 14, 2026, for the North Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America says tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next seven days. The Atlantic basin remains quiet for now. Source: National Hurricane Center
This news was sponsored by PayDat LLC and researched by Michael Elijah Muhammad Clare.
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