Prime Minister Philip Davis’s National Address on the Tribunal Ruling in the Arbitration between the GBPA and the Government of The Bahamas

My fellow Bahamians,

Tonight, we can celebrate a historic victory for our country.

A new legal decision will help to shape the future of Grand Bahama and our entire country.

For the first time, an independent tribunal has ruled that the Grand Bahama Port Authority is liable and must make payments to the Government and the people of The Bahamas – until the year 2054. 

The Tribunal also confirmed that the Government has the authority to govern Freeport – because yes, of course the people’s elected representatives must have the power to prefer and promote Bahamian employment and ownership anywhere and everywhere in The Bahamas.

This is a historic turning point. 

It’s about fairness. 

It is about replacing drift and decline in Freeport with investment and opportunity. 

It’s about a new chapter for Grand Bahama – one built on partnership and respect. It’s about beginning a new chapter – because the old story doesn’t work anymore.

Above all, this ruling is a victory in our ongoing struggle to defend our sovereignty, to overturn an unfair status quo, and to claim the right to shape our own future.

I want you to imagine how Sir Lynden Pindling must have felt, in 1969, when he spoke in Grand Bahama. 

He and so many others had worked, and fought, for Majority Rule, for justice and equality under the law.

And yet the second biggest Bahamian city was run by non-Bahamians – because of the 1955 Hawksbill Creek Agreement, a contract signed by a white colonial government and an American businessman.

Bahamians, Sir Lynden said at the time, were still suffering from “an unbending social order which…if it refuses to bend, must…be broken.”

He was talking about a small emerging nation, refusing to be treated as if our people did not matter – as if decisions could be made over our heads, and against our interests.

Our country has come so far since those times – yet this principle is one we must continue to fight for. 

The status quo in Freeport has meant decisions affecting life there are still too often made without Bahamians in the room. 

It was not right then, and it’s not right now – that the lives of the tens of thousands of Bahamians who live in Freeport, work in Freeport, pay their bills in Freeport, raise their children in Freeport, and worship in churches in Freeport – are governed by two private families, who need never answer to the people.

Whatever good the arrangement accomplished decades ago, it has been a long time since these massive concessions made any sense. 

Basic services and infrastructure have fallen behind, contributing to economic decline. Under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, many of those responsibilities belong to the Port Authority.

Instead, the people of The Bahamas have been paying the bill.

In 2024, acting under the law and after careful work with independent accountants, we went to arbitration to seek reimbursement – because we do not believe public taxpayers should subsidize the private profits of those lucky enough to inherit an agreement made long ago.

At the time, I made it clear – I prefer collaboration, but I have never feared confrontation, when that’s what is necessary to stand up for our people.

We are the first government to take such an action, and we wanted our legal claim to deliver a warning: this old arrangement must bend toward fairness, or it will break under the weight of its own injustice.

The Tribunal’s ruling now means that the Port Authority must bend toward its obligations, and pay for their fair share, taking that burden away from Bahamian taxpayers. 

The ruling means that those who want to keep Bahamians on the sidelines must bend toward a new reality – and a new balance of power and responsibility. 

And the idea that Freeport is beyond the reach of Bahamian law and accountability – that at last, has begun to break.

Here’s what the Tribunal – composed of respected, international, independent jurists – said in their decision:

They said that the Government’s claim, which we made under a particular clause in the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, should be made instead under a newer 1994 agreement, signed by the FNM government, who extended many of the concessions in the original agreement.

Here is what is significant: the Tribunal ruled that the Grand Bahama Port Authority has an obligation to make annual payments to the Government and the people of The Bahamas for the remainder of the entire Hawksbill Creek Agreement, until 2054. That means the Port Authority can’t just collect license fees – they have to live up to their responsibilities, too.

I also want Bahamians to understand: The Port Authority brought their own claim – against The Bahamas, against all of us – in which they argued that the Government didn’t have the right to be involved in most of Freeport’s affairs.

They argued that the Port Authority, instead of a Government elected by the people, should control business licences for non-Bahamians, immigration, customs, utilities like electricity, foreign land purchases, and environmental and development approvals. They even said they should be awarded $1 billion dollars of your tax dollars. 

They wanted us to pay them one billion dollars – instead of using that revenue for our schools, our security, our roads and airports, our development and progress.

So let me say to anyone who has been rooting against us:  I invite you to seriously rethink your priorities. There is no honour in hoping your country loses so you can score political points.

The Tribunal rejected the Port Authority’s arguments – and you should have, too.

The Tribunal confirmed that Freeport is part of The Bahamas, under Bahamian law – not a separate island governed by private rule.

The Tribunal ruled against 7 of the 8 claims made by the Port Authority, granting only that the Government should have responded faster to a set of environmental rules proposed by the Authority.

I accept that finding. We will move quickly to do so.

Now let’s talk about what comes next: 

The initial ruling was a victory for us, because it established liability for them. They have to pay up.

Next, we move to a new phase of arbitration, where we determine how much.

It could be more than the $357 million in our initial claim – or it could be less.

You know we are going to fight so that Bahamian taxpayers are fairly reimbursed. 

And then we will turn this legal victory into real improvements in people’s lives.

We have already creating momentum in Grand Bahama – imagine what will be possible now, with clarity for investors, and representation for Grand Bahamians.

Grand Bahama will finally realize its potential as a world-class center for shipping, logistics, industry, tourism, and innovation, and because our government is expanding new initiatives for the training and upskilling of our people, it will be Bahamians who gain new opportunities for security and success.

In closing, I want to emphasize to Bahamians across our islands the historic significance of the moment.

We went to arbitration because we refused to accept that our people should keep paying the bills while others reaped the benefits. 

Many people told us we would never win. We were told to back down.  But we did win – not with noise or threats, but with evidence and a seriousness of purpose that matched what is at stake.

There is still work ahead. But tonight, we are stronger than we have ever been.

We will continue to insist that in every sector, in every deal, and in every part of our country, Bahamians are respected, protected, and given a fair chance to own a piece of the future.

This moment in Grand Bahama is part of the same struggle fought by Sir Lynden, now carried forward in our times, with a shared determination that our country will stand upright, not bow down, in our own house.

Finally, I want to send a special message to the people of Grand Bahama – you were right; you have always been right. An independent Tribunal confirmed what you have said for years. 

This is your victory – finally, you can build a Grand Bahama not stuck in yesterday, but ready for a successful tomorrow.

May God bless us all, good night.