If the Bahamian people are being asked to trust their Prime Minister, then the very least they deserve is clarity — and consistency.

Let’s start with the timeline and the facts.

In May 2024, Opposition Leader Michael Pintard criticised the Davis administration over its handling of a reported $500 million loan with the Inter-American Development Bank and the broader status of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL). At that time, Energy Minister Jobeth Coleby-Davis responded “cutely” that she would not entertain questions until after the Free National Movement convention — and only if Pintard remained leader.

The convention concluded on June 1, 2024, and Michael Pintard was returned as leader. Yet substantive public answers on key aspects of the BPL restructuring — particularly surrounding the transmission and distribution (T&D) agreement — remained limited or just simply unanswered.

Then came the controversy reported by The Nassau Guardian under the headline “PM wrongly claims BPL deal public.”

According to that report, Prime Minister Philip Davis stated that all contractual arrangements related to energy reform had been tabled in Parliament and were therefore public. He went further, suggesting critics were “lazy” and wanted to be “spoon fed.”

However, the specific agreement in question — the 25-year T&D arrangement involving U.S.-based Pike Corporation, operating locally through Island Grid Solutions — had not, at the time of the report, been tabled in Parliament. The media and opposition had repeatedly requested its disclosure.

The Prime Minister had previously informed Parliament that his government facilitated the creation of Bahamas Grid Company, in which BPL holds a 40 percent stake. But the full contractual details of the Pike arrangement — particularly the management and upgrade terms for New Providence’s grid — remained unclear.

Now here is where the issue moves beyond policy and into trust.

If the Prime Minister genuinely believed the documents were tabled when they were not, that raises serious internal governance questions. Major energy reform agreements do not materialize out of thin air. They are negotiated, reviewed, approved at Cabinet level, and processed through official channels. Such documents would ordinarily cross the Prime Minister’s desk.

If they did not — that suggests a troubling disconnect.

If they did — then the public statement was inaccurate.

Neither scenario inspires confidence.

It becomes even more concerning when the response to legitimate questions is not clarification, but condescension. Accusing the press or the opposition of laziness for not reading documents that were never formally tabled creates the appearance of deflection rather than leadership.

Trust in public office rests on three pillars:

Transparency

Competence

Accountability

When a Prime Minister appears unaware of whether key national agreements have been made public, and simultaneously rebukes others for not accessing them, it undermines all three.

This is not a trivial matter. Energy reform affects every Bahamian household and business. The structure of BPL, the terms of long-term grid management, and multi-hundred-million-dollar financing arrangements shape electricity costs, fiscal exposure, and national infrastructure for decades.

The Bahamian people are being asked to trust that everything is under control.

But trust is not demanded — it is earned.

If the government expects confidence from “right-thinking Bahamians”, then it must demonstrate that the Prime Minister is fully briefed on major Cabinet decisions, that public disclosures are accurate, and that critics are answered with facts — not frustration.

Because at the end of the day, the question is simple:

If there is confusion at the top about what has or has not been made public, how can the public be expected to feel secure about what else may be happening behind closed doors?

Leadership is not about being “spoon-fed.”

It is about knowing — and owning — what happens on your watch.

And yes, Prime Minister, it is still a matter of trust.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) fails for one reason; it is their nature and Tge Bahamas deserves much better.

END