The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

INNOVATION and National Development Minister Sebas Bastian said his transition from business into public life has been relatively seamless, describing the move as a continuation of the same work he did in the private sector — but “with less pay” — as he said the government must find ways to make public sector compensation more competitive.

Before entering public life, Mr Bastian was chief executive officer of Island Luck, one of the country’s major gaming operators.

Speaking to reporters yesterday outside the Rotary Club of South East Nassau, Mr Bastian said the skills required in public life were not unfamiliar to him.

“Managing people, solving problems, it's not something that I'm foreign to,” he said.

“We've hit the ground running; I haven't even had time to even think. It doesn't feel different because I was challenged in my private professional life, and I had to overcome challenges and innovate and develop.”

“To be able to go in public life and innovate and develop is just you know continuity with less pay.”

Mr Bastian, who was named an honorary member of the Rotary Club of South East Nassau, also joked with members that entering public life had meant taking a pay cut.

The broader issue of public sector compensation surfaced during the meeting when one member said private sector professionals can be discouraged from bringing their expertise into government because of concerns about inadequate pay.

Asked what could be done to make public service more attractive to Bahamians, Mr Bastian acknowledged the challenges faced by public workers operating with limited resources.

He said the government is working to improve working conditions, compensation and benefits, arguing that better benefits could also help retain institutional knowledge in the country.

“It's an ongoing conversation of how we strategise to reformat our budgetary allocations,” he said, “to ensure that we have enough financial resources, particularly to ensure that we can keep the compensation attractive.”

Mr Bastian said the difficulty is that any effort to improve compensation has to be considered across the public service rather than in isolation.

He pointed to teachers, doctors and defence force officers as examples of groups whose salaries would all have to be weighed as part of any broader compensation strategy.

“Everyone deserves, and everybody deserves good compensation,” he said.

“That's why I think the government today is just looking at it as how do we do it holistically that we're able to maintain from a financial fiscal responsibility perspective, and at the same time make sure that public service workers get the pay that they deserve.”

Asked directly whether he believed current public sector compensation was satisfactory, Mr Bastian declined to comment.

In a June 3, 2025 column published in The Nassau Guardian, Mr Bastian argued that salaries paid to Cabinet ministers should be reconsidered and questioned whether existing compensation was sufficient to attract high-calibre talent and some of the country’s best business minds into public service.

He pointed to Singapore’s model of competitively compensating public leaders, arguing that fairer pay could attract people who might otherwise be reluctant to leave the private sector for government.