The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE 

Tribune Chief Reporter 

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration’s chief spokesman told the Senate yesterday that The Bahamas’ relationship with the United States was not under strain, and challenged anyone who said otherwise to “produce their evidence”.

“Some wish to suggest that the global reputation of The Bahamas has been tarnished,” Senator Rahming said. “Some go further to claim that our relationship with the United States has come under strain. I reject those claims outright.”

He said critics were using the issue to score political points, and that painting The Bahamas in a negative light for political gain “costs us far more than a news cycle”.

“Political advantage lasts for a season. The good name of the Bahamas must outlast every one of us,” he said.

He said the US remained The Bahamas’ largest trading partner.

“Let them show the Senate a partnership that has been abandoned or a cooperation that has stopped,” he said. “Madam Vice President, they cannot, because that work continues every day.”

Yesterday, US Ambassador Herschel Walker took aim at the government’s plan, unveiled by Prime Minister Philip Davis in Freeport on Wednesday night, to end the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s governing role under the 1955 Hawksbill Creek Agreement. He said he had read the announcement “with real concern”.

Last month, the government complained to US authorities that undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents had operated in The Bahamas without the knowledge or permission of local authorities. A Bahamian delegation raised the matter with US Justice Department officials. The dispute stems from US court filings in the prosecution of Jonathan Eric “Player” Gardiner, which revealed details of a three-year DEA investigation involving undercover work in The Bahamas.

Mr Walker dismissed the complaint as “fake news”. “Bahamian officials are concerned that the United States helped to arrest a known drug trafficker?” he said.

Opposition Leader Michael Pintard called the row a “dangerous moment” for The Bahamas and said disagreements should be handled diplomatically.

Mr Rahming said allies sometimes differ, but that disagreements should not be mistaken for a damaged relationship. He said independence gave The Bahamas the right to speak for itself to friends and foes alike.

He said anyone in public life who told the world, without evidence, that The Bahamas could not be trusted was doing work that the country’s old detractors once did for themselves. “A people who doubt their own standing invite the world to doubt it too,” he said.

He said the government supported the rule of law and would let the process run its course and “the chips fall where they may”. He said The Bahamas had never asked for special treatment, but would not accept unfair treatment either.

Mr Walker used similar language in his article. “We are not asking for special treatment for American companies,” he said. He said the US was asking the government to honour existing commitments to Freeport investors, publish the details of its framework and consult before deciding.

Mr Davis said on Wednesday that the Freeport reform would be made lawfully through Parliament, that “nothing will be done retrospectively”, and that licensees’ lawful rights would be identified, recorded and respected. Public consultation on the plan runs from November 1 to April 30, 2027.

On the DEA dispute, Mr Davis has said his government has nothing to fear from agents targeting criminals, but that there is a process countries must follow when they work together. “We ought to take the advice of the ambassador,” he said earlier this month, urging the public to “wait and see”.

Mr Rahming spoke as senators debated the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2026.