The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Acklins and Crooked Island MP and physician Dr Franklyn Walkine has died at 73.

Dr Walkine entered Parliament in 1989 after winning a by-election and went on to serve the constituency until 1997, including a period in opposition following the PLP’s defeat in the 1992 general election.

In confirming his death, Progressive Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell said Dr Walkine continued to defend the interests of Acklins and Crooked Island, his ancestral home, throughout that period.

Mr Mitchell remembered him as a successful entrepreneur and a pioneer in both air ambulance services and the development of Lake View Cemetery.

“Dr Walkine brought those lessons to his public life and was forthright and matter-of-fact. He was a leader in the medical field and served as head of the medical council,” he said.

“As a physician, he was loved by his patients for his attention to detail. I have lost one of my dearest friends, my Christmas Day breakfast partner. Now no more.”

Dr Walkine was academically accomplished, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Detroit before graduating from the University of the West Indies School of Medicine. He completed postgraduate specialty training at McMaster University School of Medicine in Ontario, Canada, and was a diplomate of the Canadian College of Family Medicine.

His entry into frontline politics came amid controversy in 1989, when then Acklins and Crooked Island MP Wilbert Moss was forced to resign after being sentenced to three months in prison for attempting to offer a $10,000 advantage to Drug Court Magistrate Cleopatra Christie to have a case dropped.

The PLP selected Dr Walkine, then 37, as its candidate just two days before nominations closed for the by-election. At the time, The Tribune reported that some party supporters were disappointed that former Cabinet minister Loftus Roker was not chosen and had vowed not to vote. An official from the delegation to the PLP’s National General Council meeting that selected Dr Walkine said most delegates had already returned home and would not attend the party’s convention that year. Another delegate said they would have been “quite happy” with the nomination of trade unionist Obie Ferguson, whose father is a prominent businessman in Lovely Bay, Acklins.

Despite the internal unease, Dr Walkine went on to win the by-election and later successfully retained the seat.

After leaving politics, he headed Air Ambulance Service Ltd in the 1990s, providing emergency medical flights to the Family Islands. In May 1999, he said the service was averaging three to four emergency calls a week. The company was described as a “wholly Bahamian owned” air ambulance service and had conducted more than 30 flights within The Bahamas and between Nassau, Freeport and South Florida.

Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis paid tribute, saying he received the news ‘with real sadness.’

“Dr Walkine lived a life of service,” he said. “He was a doctor who cared for people in their most difficult moments, and he was a former Member of Parliament for Acklins and Crooked Island who carried his community’s hopes into the nation’s Parliament.

“He also served the Progressive Liberal Party with loyalty and conviction. He believed in the progressive fight, the idea that government has a duty to lift people up, protect the vulnerable, and bring opportunity to places too often left behind. In the PLP family, we have lost a brother in the cause, a man who understood that public life is about people, and that leadership means showing up.

“Across our islands, Dr Walkine helped strengthen access to emergency care, including through air ambulance services that have assisted families when time was against them. Many Bahamians, in the Family Islands especially, will remember the comfort of knowing help could reach them, even across distance and water.

“In 2024, Dr  Walkine was honoured as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for service to public health. That recognition reflected years of steady work that made a difference in real lives, in real homes, across our country.

To his family, friends, colleagues in medicine, and the people of Acklins and Crooked Island, I offer my deepest condolences. I also extend condolences to the wider PLP family who mourn a servant of the movement and a contributor to our nation’s progress.

Ann and I pray for strength and peace for everyone who loved him. May his memory bring comfort, and may his example continue to speak. May he rest in peace.”