Today, Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper was asked a rather inconvenient question: What happened to approximately $265 million that had been sitting in the National Investment Fund (NIF)?

His response, essentially, was that the Opposition is simply looking for relevance and that the matter is one for the Ministry of Finance.

Ah, yes.

The New Day Bahamian governmental tradition: when the question gets uncomfortable, find another ministry.

Except this isn’t a question about a missing office chair.

We are talking about approximately $265 million of public money.

And before anybody rushes to accuse the Opposition of inventing numbers, let’s deal with the facts.

Government’s own fiscal reporting showed that the National Investment Fund had approximately $265.3 million at December 2025. By the end of March 2026, the reported balance had fallen to approximately $0.2 million. That is a movement of roughly $265 million in a matter of months.

The government has now said the money was used to support its airport infrastructure programme.

Fine.

Then tell the Bahamian people exactly how.

Because that is where the government’s explanation begins to look less like transparency and more like a game of governmental hide-and-seek.

And, for the record, there is an important distinction that needs to be made.

The Government has already argued that the original $265.3 million placement into the NIF was authorized by Parliament under a March 10, 2025, resolution. Prime Minister Philip Davis made that position explicit during his mid-year budget contribution. Government reporting also states that the funds were intended for strategic infrastructure investments, including airport works.

So, the issue isn’t honestly presented by saying, “The government secretly put $265 million into the NIF without parliamentary approval.”

That claim is disputed by the government’s own parliamentary explanation.

The much more important question is what happened next.

The NIF is not supposed to be a governmental piggy bank with a convenient ATM card hanging off the side.

The National Investment Funds Act, 2022 established the fund as a statutory vehicle with specific governance arrangements. The legislation provides for the establishment and management of the Fund, including provisions dealing with deposits, allocations and withdrawals, a Board of Governors and investment-management structures.

That means Bahamians are entitled to ask some very basic questions:

Who authorized the withdrawals?

On what statutory authority were they made?

What resolutions or approvals were issued?

Which projects received the money?

How much went to each project?

Who sits on the Board governing the Fund?

What investment or allocation mandate governed the money?

What contracts, invoices, project approvals or expenditure records support the withdrawals?

And perhaps most importantly:

Where is the required reporting?

Because this is where Chester Cooper’s “it’s a Ministry of Finance matter” answer becomes rather unsatisfying.

Nobody is asking him to personally reconcile the government’s books on the back of a cocktail napkin.

The public is asking the government to account for $265 million.

And accountability is not supposed to depend on which ministry happens to have the file.

The Government’s own communications have acknowledged that the NIF has a statutory governance and reporting framework.

So, if the answer is that everything was properly authorized, properly documented and properly spent on airport infrastructure, then wonderful.

Open the book.

Show the authorization.

Show the Board decision.

Show the allocation.

Show the projects.

Show the contracts.

Show the expenditure.

Show the report.

Then everybody can go home.

But what we should not get is the increasingly familiar political response that goes something like:

“Nothing to see here. The Opposition is playing politics. Ask somebody else.”

That may be sufficient for a press conference.

It is not sufficient for $265 million of Bahamian public money.

And this is precisely where the PLP government’s attitude toward accountability needs to be challenged.

The people are not required to stop asking questions simply because the government finds the questions inconvenient.

The Opposition isn’t the only entity asking questions. Journalists, taxpayers, financial professionals and ordinary Bahamians have every right to ask what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars held in a statutory national investment vehicle.

This isn’t about whether Michael Pintard is relevant.

It isn’t about whether the FNM is “moaning.”

It isn’t even about whether the PLP thinks the Opposition is trying to score political points.

It is about whether government believes that public money requires public accountability.

There is also a delicious irony here.

The Government wants Bahamians to believe that everything is perfectly normal because the money is ultimately being used for infrastructure.

Well, congratulations.

But “we spent it on something useful” is not a substitute for financial accountability.

If that were the standard, every government in the world could simply say, “Don’t worry, we spent the money on something good,” and Parliament, auditors, oversight bodies and the public could all go home.

That isn’t how responsible government works.

The NIF was created by legislation precisely because public investment funds are supposed to operate within a framework of governance, professional management and accountability.

And there is another uncomfortable little detail.

The Government’s own budget reporting shows that the NIF was being used for strategic infrastructure investment, including airport projects.

So, there is nothing inherently outrageous about using the Fund for infrastructure if that use is authorized under the applicable framework and properly documented.

What is outrageous is expecting the Bahamian people to accept “trust us” as the entire accounting system.

Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, if this is truly a straightforward Ministry of Finance matter, then perhaps the Ministry of Finance should simply provide the answers.

And while you’re waiting for them, perhaps you can return your attention to making sure that the Grand Cay generator actually stays running.

Because Bahamians have become rather tired of governments treating basic questions about public money as though the public has committed some terrible political offence by asking them.

This isn’t “moaning.”

This isn’t “complaining.”

And it isn’t necessarily even partisan.

It is called accountability.

The PLP doesn’t get to decide that transparency is a constitutional virtue when it is in Opposition and an annoying political nuisance when it is in Government.

The standard has to remain the standard.

If the money was properly authorized, say so.

If it was properly withdrawn, show us.

If it was properly spent, account for it.

If the NIF Board approved it, identify the Board and publish the relevant documentation.

If the airport projects received the money, tell Bahamians exactly which projects, how much each received and what has actually been delivered.

And if all of that is already available, then there should be absolutely no reason to tell the public to wait while government officials complain about the Opposition asking questions.

Because $265 million isn’t a political talking point.

It is $265 million of the people’s money.

And apparently, in today’s PLP Bahamas, asking where it went is considered political mischief.

Perhaps the government should try something revolutionary:

Answer the damn question.

The Bahamas deserves so much better.

END