The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

KILLARNEY MP Michela Barnett-Ellis yesterday asked why it took King Charles III’s visit to get roads repaired while Bahamians “keep begging for the basics”.

Her question drew a satirical response from Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, one of the country’s most outspoken advocates for a republic. He told her the King was coming to “his territory, so don’t complain”.

Mr Mitchell quipped that he hoped Mrs Barnett-Ellis was not suggesting the King was a foreigner.

“He is the King of The Bahamas,” Mr Mitchell told the House of Assembly. “I remind you that that is the constitution of The Bahamas, not the King of England. He’s also that but he’s the King of The Bahamas and he’s coming to his territory, so don’t complain.”

Mr Mitchell has long campaigned for The Bahamas to drop the monarchy. In 2021, as Barbados became a republic, he told The Tribune he was still committed to seeing The Bahamas do the same, calling it his life’s work. After the King’s coronation in 2023, he said it was time for a Bahamian head of state chosen by the people or their representatives.

Mrs Barnett-Ellis, a Free National Movement MP, said the government moved quickly for visitors and foreign bodies but not for its own people.

“Why did it take a royal visit?” she said during debate on the Companies Amendment Bill, 2026. “Why were the complaints of the people who live there, who pay their taxes here, who drive the roads every day not sufficient? Why must someone important be coming before the needs of ordinary Bahamians become important?”

She pointed to problems she said had gone unaddressed, including a lack of functioning ambulances on the Family Islands and the need to repair the bridge at Fresh Creek, Andros. She said these were not extravagant requests but basic services that would improve residents’ lives.

“Yet somehow they don’t seem to attract the same sense of urgency,” she said.

She said she was not suggesting the government ignore its international obligations. However, she said it appeared more responsive to the expectations of outsiders than to the needs of its own citizens.

“When an international body identifies a gap in our legislation, we act and we act quickly,” she said. “When a foreign dignitary is coming, we act and we act quickly. But why must Bahamians keep begging for the basics?”

She said good governance should be judged not by how quickly officials prepare for a royal visit or meet international expectations, but by whether Bahamians’ lives are getting better.

“We were sent here to serve the Bahamian people,” she said. “They deserve more than promises, more than explanations. They deserve action, not because someone is coming to visit, not because someone overseas is watching, but because they live here, because this is their home, and because they matter.”

Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting has denied that the roadworks are for the King. He said earlier this month that the repaving of Shirley Street was already part of his ministry’s plans. At the time, he also said a structural beam for the Fresh Creek Bridge had been shipped to Andros.

King Charles is due to arrive in The Bahamas next week as part of a royal tour running from October 27 to November 4. It will be his first visit here as monarch. He last came in 1973 as Prince of Wales, representing Queen Elizabeth II at the Independence celebrations.

From The Bahamas, he will travel to Guyana and then to Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The visit has revived calls for The Bahamas to break with the monarchy. A Rastafari group led by Royal Ambassador High Priest Richmond McKinney, of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress, plans to rally during the visit. The group also plans to present the King with a petition calling for an apology for slavery, reparations and greater independence from Britain.

The Bahamas National Reparations Committee has said the royals should not come “empty-handed”. It has demanded an apology for slavery and colonisation and renewed its call for The Bahamas to become a republic.

Former Cabinet minister Leslie Miller has said he will not attend any event involving the King, declaring that he does not “give a damn” about the monarch because Britain has refused to apologise for slavery.