The Big Story

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Aviation Director Algernon Cargill yesterday confirmed key repairs to Abaco’s main airport have the government’s focus, pegging the cost of getting the gateway back to a ‘pre-Dorian standard’ at well over $2 million. Cargill told Eyewitness News that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed major repairs to the airport but maintained work is set to begin soon. He...

DRA: Housing for Dorian victims a priority NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA) has paid out over $3 million so far in its Small Homes Repairs Programs for people whose homes were damaged during the passing of Hurricane Dorian last year. In an interview with Eyewitness News yesterday, the DRA's managing director Katherine Forbes-Smith gave an update on...

Body-worn cameras and dash cams to rollout by August NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of National Security Marvin Dames yesterday rejected assertions the Royal Bahamas Police force was reluctant to implement body-worn cameras, telling Eyewitness News nothing could be further from the truth. Attorney Wayne Munroe, QC, suggested the government has yet to rollout of body-worn and dash cameras for the...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Central Bank is preparing to make the Sand Dollar available nation wide by the end of the third quarter of this year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance K Peter Turnquest revealed yesterday. Turnquest was addressing Parliament on the proposed legislative reforms to Central Bank Governance, Financial Sector Crisis Management and Modernization of the Domestic...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A number of homes being rebuilt in Abaco could not be approved for electricity supply as they did not meet the required code, according to Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister. Bannister, whose portfolio includes Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) said the power provider, the Department of Environmental Health and the Disaster Recovery Authority have been working...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Acting Controller of Inland Revenue Gaynell Rolle yesterday acknowledged that individuals applying for a new business license have experienced delays due to the breach at the Registrar General’s Department. However, Rolle told Eyewitness News the challenges have been resolved “to a comfortable extent’. She pointed to challenges impacting an individual's ability to get approval for establishing a...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of National Security Marvin Dames yesterday maintained that the number of missing people from Hurricane Dorian will continue to fluctuate as police investigations proceed more than nine months later. Speaking to the media in the foyer of the House of Assembly, Dames suggested the Royal Bahamas Police Force did not have all of the relevant information...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the closure of beaches and parks in New Providence, Paradise Island and Grand Bahama over the Independence holiday weekend. The closure will take effect at 10pm on Thursday, until 5am on July 13. Addressing Parliament, Minnis underscored the ongoing surge in coronavirus cases in the United States, particularly Florida, Texas, and...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Health officials have confirmed there was no exposure to a known COVID-19 case at Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) headquarters today. Reports of an emergency evacuation at the Blue Hill Road site made the rounds on social media earlier this afternoon. BPL advised that the Peter I Bethel Building has been closed to customers between the hours...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — House Speaker Halson Moultrie has rescinded his earlier letter ordering Englerston MP Glenys Hanna-Martin to apologize for her conduct during a previous sitting or be excluded from House proceedings. Parliamentary clerk David Forbes confirmed there will be no attempt to prevent Hanna-Martin from enjoying all of her Parliamentary Privileges in a letter to Leader of Opposition Business...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Opposition Leader Philip Brave Davis yesterday called on supporters to join the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) at the House of Assembly this morning to resist what he called the “tyranny” of House of Assembly Speaker Halson Moultrie. “There was a letter written by the clerk of the House (Sunday) to the leader of Opposition business in the...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Citing a decline in business activity, Doctors Hospital confirmed that it has laid-off 43 employees. The BISX-listed health care provider said in a statement that following a  voluntary reduction in executive and manager salaries, the company found it necessary to reduce its full-time staffing by 43 associates. The company said that since the onset of the COVID19 crisis,...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — University of The Bahamas Dr Rodney Smith yesterday maintained his commitment to fulfilling his mandate to the institution until the end of his tenure in 2022. "I will not abandon UB’s faculty, students and staff, as some have suggested," Smith said in a statement. "Over the next two years, we will focus on surviving these difficult times...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Major health insurer Generali is set to exit the Bahamian market by year’s end 2021, Eyewitness News has confirmed. Multiple insurance industry sources have confirmed that Generali last week gave notice of its intentions to exit by December 2021, a move that came as a surprise to many. While numerous attempts to reach local executives proved unsuccessful...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Notwithstanding the “economic shock” delivered by the coronavirus pandemic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest said yesterday The Bahamas will rebound as tourism reopens and the destination recalibrates. Turnquest underscored the government incurs “unprecedented expenditure” to support the Bahamian economy and its people. He was responding to a new Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report,...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Attorney Wayne Munroe, QC, said yesterday more than a dozen complainants have come forward to join a writ action he plans to file challenging the state of emergency proclamation issued by Governor General CA Smith on Monday, as well as “issues” arising from the original proclamation, which expired on Monday night. Munroe said he will seek a...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest said yesterday the Ministry of Finance will ‘most certainly evaluate’ the offer of temporary support from the United States for access to International Monetary Fund (IMF) concessional financing and other support for increased expenditures due to COVID-19. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley recently revealed during the Twentieth Special Conference of Heads...

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A man whose body was found on Turtle Rock after a boat he and three other passengers were on board struck an objected in the area on Thursday has been identified as 30-year-old Javier Marcos Perez. Perez, a resident of Miami Florida, and another female passenger, who remains missing, were catapulted into the air during the collision....