Apparently, after five years in office, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has finally discovered that Grand Bahama would like to know what the government actually intends to do with Grand Bahama.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis is expected to travel to the island later this month to convene a “civil society meeting” involving the Grand Bahama Port Authority, its licensees, residents and other stakeholders to discuss the government’s plans for Freeport going forward.

Fred Mitchell — Minister of Foreign Affairs and, more importantly for this particular announcement, Chairman of the PLP — has described the coming announcement as “major.”

Well, after five years, it had better be.

Because if Grand Bahamians are wondering why they have been waiting so long for this grand revelation, they might reasonably ask whether the government has been developing a plan — or merely waiting to see whether its legal gamble against the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) would produce enough money to finance one.

And that brings us to the rather inconvenient little matter of arbitration and the $357 million elephant in the room

The Davis administration took the Government of The Bahamas into arbitration against the Grand Bahama Port Authority, pursuing a claim for approximately $357 million.

The government lost that particular claim.

The arbitration tribunal rejected the government’s attempt to recover the $357 million under the provision on which it had based its claim. The ruling was not, however, a complete defeat for the government: the tribunal affirmed continuing government regulatory authority in Freeport and confirmed that the GBPA has an obligation to make payments to the government under the applicable payment mechanism through 2054, with further issues still to be determined.

So let us be fair.

The Prime Minister did not walk away from arbitration empty-handed.

But neither did he walk away with the $357 million that his government had gone to arbitration seeking.

That distinction matters.

Because one has to wonder what exactly was supposed to happen next if the government had won the jackpot.

Was the intention to use the proceeds to help finance the transformation of Grand Bahama?

Was the arbitration strategy part of the broader economic plan?

If so, what happens when the financial windfall you were counting on does not arrive in the form you expected?

Apparently, you call a meeting.

Five years later.

There is another inconvenient part of this story.

When the Davis administration came to office in 2021, it cancelled the agreement between the government and the Royal Caribbean/ITM Group for the purchase and redevelopment of the Grand Lucayan.

The government defended the decision by arguing that the arrangement negotiated under the previous Free National Movement (FNM) FNM administration was not in the best interests of Bahamians and that its structure and terms were unacceptable.

Fair enough.

Governments have every right to reject agreements they believe are bad.

But there is one tiny problem with that philosophy:

If you tear up the old plan, you are supposed to have a better one.

The cancelled Royal Caribbean/ITM proposal had contemplated significant investment in the resort and Freeport Harbour. The Davis administration subsequently pursued another investor, including an agreement with Electra America, but that $100 million sale ultimately collapsed as well.

Meanwhile, Grand Bahama continued waiting.

Waiting for the hotel.

Waiting for the airport.

Waiting for investment.

Waiting for jobs.

Waiting for the economy to recover.

And now, apparently, waiting for the government to explain what it has been planning all this time.

AND ABOUT THAT AIRPORT…

For accuracy, the government did not simply cancel the airport deal inherited from the FNM.

The Minnis administration purchased the Grand Bahama International Airport from Hutchison for $1, together with certain staff-related obligations, and intended to identify a private-sector partner to redevelop it.

The Davis administration subsequently pursued its own PPP process for the airport. In 2026, the Prime Minister announced that Manchester Airports Group had been contracted to undertake the redevelopment, with Phase One described as approximately a $130 million investment.

So, the criticism should not be that the PLP “cancelled the airport deal.”

The more defensible criticism is this:

Grand Bahama spent years waiting for the airport solution to become a reality while successive plans, proposals and promises came and went.

And an island whose economy depends heavily on tourism, investment and connectivity does not exactly prosper on PowerPoint presentations.

So now we are left with five years of “coming soon” and this is what makes the coming announcement so politically fascinating.

The PLP has now been in government for approximately five years.

Five years is a long time in politics.

It is even longer for a community struggling with unemployment, declining economic activity, derelict properties, an impaired tourism product and the continuing consequences of Hurricane Dorian and the pandemic.

Yet here we are in October 2026, listening to the government announce that the Prime Minister is going to Grand Bahama to tell Grand Bahamians what the plans are for Grand Bahama.

Not necessarily the plans that were implemented.

Not necessarily the transformation that was delivered.

The plans.

Apparently, the future is finally ready for its unveiling.

And remarkably, the people who have been living in Grand Bahama during the last five years have been invited to attend.

There is nothing wrong with consultation.

Indeed, involving the GBPA, its licensees, businesses, residents and other stakeholders is precisely what should have been happening from the beginning.

Mitchell himself says the stakeholders need to have input not only into what happens after the Hawksbill Creek Agreement expires in 2054, but into whether changes should be made now.

That sounds sensible.

The question is why it took five years to get around to it.

Because Grand Bahama is not an experimental laboratory where governments can spend half a decade pulling economic levers, cancelling agreements, litigating with the Port Authority and hoping that somewhere along the way the economic equivalent of a winning lottery ticket falls out of the arbitration machine.

These are people’s lives.

These are people’s businesses.

These are people’s mortgages.

These are young Grand Bahamians deciding whether they should stay on the island or leave in search of opportunity elsewhere.

When government gambles with an economic strategy, it is not gambling with casino chips.

It is gambling with people’s futures.

So, now Prime Minister Davis comes with the great reveal and yes, Grand Bahama and the rest of The Bahamas is listening.

Tell us your plan.

Tell us what the government has actually accomplished.

Tell us what happened to the promises made five years ago.

Tell us why the Grand Lucayan strategy had to be abandoned.

Tell us what happened to the promised investment.

Tell us when the airport will actually deliver the economic transformation that has been promised for years.

Tell us what the arbitration was supposed to achieve financially — and what the government intends to do now that the $357 million claim was rejected.

And, above all, tell us what the economic model for Grand Bahama actually is.

Because “stakeholder consultation” is not an economic strategy.

“Major announcement” is not an economic strategy.

“Plans going forward” is not an economic strategy.

And five years into government, Grand Bahamians deserve considerably more than another announcement about an announcement.

If Prime Minister Davis wants to demonstrate that he is truly “Brave,” perhaps he should begin with the hardest political act of all:

admit where his government got it wrong.

Admit that some of the decisions made in 2021 and after carried consequences.

Admit that cancelling one plan does not constitute creating another.

Admit that arbitration was a gamble — and that the hoped-for $357 million prize did not materialise.

And then, finally, present Grand Bahama with something more substantial than optimism.

Present them with a credible economic plan, a timetable, measurable commitments and accountability.

Grand Bahama has waited long enough.

The people of the island do not need another political sermon about the “magic” returning.

They need jobs.

They need investment.

They need functioning infrastructure.

They need tourism.

They need an airport that works.

They need a revitalised economy.

And, most importantly, they need a government that understands the difference between governing an economy and gambling with one.

So, by all means, Mr. Prime Minister, go North.

Make your “major announcement.”

Grand Bahama and the rest of The Bahamas will be listening.

And after five years, it is perfectly entitled to ask the most brutally simple question imaginable:

“Where was this plan when you first got here?”

The Bahamas deserves better.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) fails for one reason; it is their nature.

END