This update covers development related to the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly between 1st April 2025 and 5th October 2025.
EXPRESSION
Derogatory comments against journalist after she exposes Prime Minister’s inaccurate numbers
On 24th July 2025, the Nassau Guardian published an article showing discrepancy between the Prime Minister’s statements about a projected budget surplus and the actual deficit. The Prime Minister did not clarify his statement but instead demanded that the Nassau Guardian and its executive editor Candia Dames apologise to the Bahamian people for misleading the public. He made negative comments about the paper, saying it was becoming a tabloid, and about the journalist, saying she “is expected to do her homework and not drink the Kool-Aid of the Free National Movement” because of a family connection.
The newspaper and the journalist refused to apologise. On 3rd August 2025, the Bahamas Press Club issued a press release demanding Prime Minister Philip Davis apologise to Nassau Guardian Executive Editor Candia Dames, the newspaper, and the wider media fraternity. The Press Club says the freedom of the press cannot be bullied or intimidated.
Complaint against radio station without first trying to resolve the issue
On 24th July 2025, the Office of the Prime Minister’s Communications Director, Latrae Rahming, lodged a complaint with the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) against Guardian Radio, accusing it of being unable to deliver unbiased news because the opposition party FNM spokesperson occasionally appears as a guest host on the station. The radio station manager Dwight Strachan deplored the fact that the Office of the Prime Minister Communications had not contacted them first, and also not followed the procedure established in Part 6.4 of the URCA’s Consumer Protection Regulations for the Electronic Communications Sector setting out that complaints should be lodged and dealt with by the relevant service provider first. The complaint was swiftly dismissed.
ASSOCIATION
The Bahamas joins the Escazú Agreement
On 5th June 2025, the Prime Minister Davis officialised the Bahamas’ accession to the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the “Escazú Agreement”. The Bahamas is the ninth CARICOM Member State to become a Party to the treaty that aims to ensure the right to a healthy environment and to sustainable development through access to information and public participation.
Proposed Junkanoo Authority Bill sparks tensions
In July 2025, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture initiated a discussion on the Junkanoo Authority Bill. Junkanoo is a national cultural festival that is mainly celebrated through parades. It is on the UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This bill seeks to create a new independent body, the National Junkanoo Authority, that would oversee Junkanoo parades, manage licences and funding, cultural preservation, and expanded participation, while addressing concerns around regulation and inclusion.
The Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence – which has managed Junkanoo parades on New Providence for years – announced the suspension of all Junkanoo activities in protest at the proposed legislation. The Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence views the proposed authority as “an attempt to centralise control and roll back the organisation’s self-governance”. Tension grew when another group, the Genesis Junkanoo group, showed interest in participating in the Fox Hill parade for Emancipation Day despite the action decided on by the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence.
Public consultations took place in August 2025. The Family Islands Junkanoo groups supported the government’s proposed bill, but asked for greater clarity on how the new authority will operate and what the roles of existing Junkanoo organisations will be. On 1st October 2025, following a poll among groups, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture announced that the National Junkanoo Committee will be responsible for the management of Junkanoo parades across the country.
ASSEMBLY
Post office employees protest working conditions
On 16th April 2025, dozens of post office workers in New Providence staged a protest, holding placards and chanting slogans, to denounce what they consider disrespectful and demoralising treatment received by the Acting Postmaster General. The protesters and the Bahamas Public Services Union called on the government to remove the Acting Postmaster General.
Teachers’ protests
On 31st July 2025, Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) members protested outside the Office of the Prime Minister due to unresolved issues surrounding an industrial agreement the union signed with the University of the Bahamas in 2023 and which remains unfulfilled.
On 1st September 2025, members of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) held a protest in front of the University of the Bahamas to denounce inaction from the leadership after days of dialogue and to demand action regarding understaffing and teaching overload. Policy changes relating to their credentials have left some teachers feeling disrespected and professionally sidelined.
Bahamian nurses protest over recruitment of foreign nurses
On 28th April 2025, a group of nurses, led by the Bahamas Nurses Union, staged a protest in front of the Department of Public Health as the Department was organising an orientation for new doctors and nurses recruited from Ghana. The Ministry of Health and Wellness recruited 35 specialty nurses and several doctors from Ghana to address the country’s shortage of healthcare workers. Bahamian nurses claim they deserve to have job security and accuse the government of “sidelining local talent”.