National

Could the National Development Plan Finally Mean the Implementation of FOIA?

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The issue of the full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act once again coming to the forefront with still no clear timeline for when it will come into force.

Published

3 hours ago

February 19, 2026

Joshua Williams

NASSAU , THE BAHAMAS – Could the implementation of the national development plan finally lead to the implementation of the freedom of information act? A law passed nearly a decade ago, but still not in force?

Parliamentarians locked in a closed consultation session on Wednesday at Margaritaville resort to discuss the national development plan.

During an open press conference, reporters pressed whether FOIA could finally become a reality.

Our Joshua Williams was there and has this report.

While stakeholders involved in the national development plan addressed media about their closed parliamentary session, the issue of the full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act once again coming to the forefront.

It was passed eight years ago in Parliament, but there is still no clear timeline for when it will come into force.

Free National Movement Leader, Michael Pintard, isn’t happy about it.

The opposition leader told Our News that the impact FOIA can have on the national development plan is significant.

Michael Pintard – Leader, Free National Movement

“Which is why it is important for it to be implemented because if you’re talking about transparency, transparency in governor and governance, it is important of access to the information so the institute in my view would not be in a position to fully executed its job if the various stakeholders who require information to make their day-to-day decision, all long-term planning do not have access to data that government refuses to release all the things that motivate the decisions that we make is policy makers behind the scenes and it is a wonderful question because the freedom of information is pivotal to providing information to all stakeholders so that again we’re not operating or governing in the dark”

The first Freedom of Information bill was passed in 2012 under then-Prime Minister, Hubert Ingraham.

The act was never implemented, however ann updated bill was passed in 2017 under then-Prime Minister, Perry Christie.

Full implementation of FOIA was again pledged by former Prime Minister, Dr. Hubert Minnis, after the Free National Movement took office in May 2017, but it did not happen.

Ahead of the Progressive Liberal Party’s 2021 election victory , the party promised FOIA would be fully implemented under the Davis administration, However, the prime minister has since said it is not a priority against other agenda items.

As to how the national development plan goes hand-in-hand with FOIA, Chairman of the NDP Steering Committee, Felix Stubbs said.

Felix Stubbs – Chairman, NDP Steering Committee

“As relates to the Freedom Information Act, we haven’t looked at any of the specific issues in the plan as yet because we will be focusing on this bill. Once the bill is passed will then go back to the public and look into more consultant consultations to find out from them what are their priorities and those are the kinds of things we’ll be working on “