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The following statement was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas on the passing of Slinger Francisco, known as The Mighty Sparrow:

For Immediate Release

28 September 2026

The Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the government and people of The Bahamas extends condolences to the governments of Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago on the death of legendary Caribbean calypso artist and entertainer, Slinger Francisco aka The Mighty Sparrow. He was born in Grenada. Trinidad and Tobago was his adopted home.

Sparrow’s musical hits included – Jean and Dinah, Who killed the Sparrow, Play mass, There was a man in the bedroom, and Good morning Mr. Walker. He was arguably the greatest calypso artist of all-time, with the superior number of Road march champion titles to prove it.

Dr. Slinger “Sparrow” Francisco was bestowed with the Order of Caricom Community in 2001, recognizing his lyrical brilliance, decades-long musical career, invaluable contributions, and revered role in helping to take the distinct calypso genre sound to the world.

The Mighty Sparrow was a friend of The Bahamas. He made countless visits and delivered memorable performances. Sparrow shared a special Caribbean bond with the late businessman, Eugene Edwards of Freeport, Grand Bahama, who brought him to the Bahamas often to entertain.

He will be missed by his large Bahamian fan base and no doubt by followers globally.

-END-

Prime Minister Philip Davis 25 September 2026 at the United Nations in New York

Prime Minister Philip Davis spoke at the United Nations on 25 September 2026 to give the world the position of The Bahamas on current events. He spoke up for a rules based order and for the right of small countries to sit at the table. He said that our people did not fight to be free to be somebody’s backyard.  Here is an excerpt from the statement:

Mr. President:

Every generation inherits a promise it did not make.

The promise of our generation was made eighty-one years ago, with the founding of this United Nations, from the ashes of the worst war in human history.

Its ideals have proven its worth.

No nation is too small to be sovereign.

No people too poor to be equal.

And the strong should be bound by the same law as the weak.

Sad to say, the United Nations has drifted away from itspromise.

The Bahamas comes today to insist on it.

Mr. President:

All week we have been told this is an age of uncertainty.

With respect, I do not agree.

Uncertainty is the language of those who have already decided, and do not wish to say so.

Treaties are being torn up. Institutions are being starved. Rules are giving way to deals, and the benefits of the deals go to whoever holds the most leverage.

Once again, we hear the language of Spheres of Influence. Of Backyards and Hemispheres. For 500 years, the Caribbean was somebody’s backyard.

We did not win our freedom to once again become somebody’s backyard.

The message to small nations is very clear.

Be as sovereign as we allow you to be.

Mr. President:

A sovereignty that must ask permission is not sovereignty. It is a lease.

Our ancestors did not break their chains so that their children could become tenants.

These are not uncertain times.

These times are very certain.

The only uncertain thing is how we respond to the opportunities and challenges of this time.

Mr. President:

People often say that the world lacks political will.

I do not agree.

The world has never lacked political will.

In 2008, when the banks of the richest nations were failing, trillions of dollars were found in a matter of weeks.

When a global pandemic reached the capitals of the powerful, the political will returned.

The will exists. It is simply pointed elsewhere.

Somewhere, a bank is always too big to fail. But a nation should never be too small to be left behind.

What the world lacks is not political will for change. It is political change.

A change in who writes the rules. A change in whose suffering counts. A change in who decides, and who pays.

Political will is a feeling. Political change is a decision aboutwho holds power.

And Mr. President:

That is what I have come to speak about today: Power!

Two and a half thousand years ago, the envoys of Athens stood before the small island of Melos and told its people a simple truth about power.

The strong do what they can. The weak suffer what they must.

Eighty-one years ago, in San Francisco, humanity wrote a different law. The sovereign equality of nations. Not equality of size or wealth. Equality of standing.

The United Nations was the world’s answer to Melos.

But in 1945, nearly one in three people on earth still lived under colonial rule, the people of my islands among them.

The Bahamas was not in that room. But we were on the map.

Then came political change. Not granted from above. Demanded from below.

On the eighteenth of September 1973, The Bahamas took its seat in this Assembly.

Then in 1985, Commonwealth leaders met in my own capital and agreed The Nassau Accord against apartheid. We were told pressure would never work. Less than five years later, Nelson Mandela walked free.

None of that happened because the powerful suddenly found their conscience. It happened because the balance of power in the room was changed.

That is the lesson of history. Change is not given, it is organised.

Mr. President:

It is not the small states who are dismantling the rules-based order.

Small countries cannot dismantle a rules-based world. But we will be the first to be crushed beneath its collapse.

Great powers can survive the end of the rules. Small states cannot. For us, a rules based world is our shield.

The rules have not always been applied fairly. But the answer is not a world without rules. It is rules that bind the strong as firmly as the weak.

International order, where rules apply only to the weak, is not order. It is a hierarchy.

When The Bahamas defends multilateralism, we are not defending a bureaucracy. We are defending the only successful arrangement in which a nation of four hundred thousand people can stand at this podium as the sovereign equal of a nation of a billion people.

A world without rules is not a free world. It is Melos.

Mr. President:

I do not appeal to conscience. Small states have done that for decades. Today, I appeal to your interests.

What is in your best interest?

No wall is high enough to keep out rising warming seas. No border strong enough to stop a pandemic.

Narrow self-interest asks what you can take today. Enlightened self-interest asks what kind of world you will have to live in tomorrow.

The international, rules-based order benefits all. They are not arbitrary having been arrived at through lived experience.

Every rule you break today is a rule you will need tomorrow. Every institution you starve is one you will one day call upon. Every small nation you abandon is a crisis you will one day inherit.

Defending the rules is not a favour to the small. It an insurance for the strong.

There has been a spirited debate in the press of the country over the past week ever since the photo of the meeting that took place between the U S officials and their Justice Department in Washington D.C. on 18 September 2026 with Ambassador Wendall Jones and an assistant commissioner of police and the head of the intelligence agency of The Bahamas. The FNM has been making a meal out of it, saying that the PLP is trying to protect criminals. They say this even as they claim that they are opposed to foreign agents working in The Bahamas without the permission of the government.  Wayne Munroe the Attorney General was questioned about the matter and here is what The Tribune said that he said in answer to it. Thea article was written by Leandra Rolle and published on 25 September 2026:

Mr. Munroe said every country has laws and procedures that must be respected and suggested there was no reason for US officials to be “overly defensive” about the government raising concerns with the US Justice Department.

 “We’re a small country, and you know, all we say is just as it would say we can’t go and do that in the US,” he said. “We can’t go and do that in Turks and Caicos. We can’t go and do that in Jamaica without reference to their police resources. That’s all it said.”

His defence came after US Ambassador Herschel Walker sharply rebuked Bahamian officials over their complaint, dismissing claims that undercover DEA agents operated illegally in the country as “fake news” and questioning why officials were concerned that the United States “helped to arrest a known drug trafficker.”

The dispute stems from US court filings detailing a three-year undercover narcotics investigation in The Bahamas connected to the arrest of Jonathan Eric Gardiner.

Among the most striking allegations in the filings is that undercover DEA agents posing as members of a drug cartel met an unnamed Bahamian politician inside Parliament in October 2024 to discuss a proposed cocaine transhipment operation through The Bahamas.

Bahamas Ambassador to the United States Wendall Jones has confirmed meeting US Justice Department officials to express concerns over what the government believes were “rogue” DEA operators acting on Bahamian soil.

Mr Jones accused undercover US agents of operating outside treaties and longstanding arrangements governing law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.

Mr Munroe said yesterday that coordination between Bahamian and foreign law enforcement produces more effective results because local officers have knowledge that outsiders may not possess.

He said informing Bahamian authorities could also prevent an undercover DEA agent involved in an apparent drug transaction from being arrested or charged by police unaware of the operation.

 “So that is why you don’t operate without reference to local law enforcement,” Mr Munroe said, “but nothing affects our working relationship with them.”

He also rejected suggestions that the undercover operation demonstrated a lack of confidence by US authorities in the Bahamian government, saying the country’s drug enforcement officers are vetted, experienced and subjected to polygraph testing. However, the reliability of polygraph testing is disputed, with the American Psychological Association saying scientific evidence does not support it as a reliably accurate method of detecting deception.

Asked about perceptions that the government was trying to hide something, Mr Munroe responded: “Trying to hide what?”

He pointed to arrests and drug seizures since the Davis administration took office and said the government did not want The Bahamas used as a transhipment point for drugs destined for the United States.

 “We do not want our country to be used as a transhipment point to feed the drug habit of the American public that consumes the drug,” he said. “We do not want that.”

Mr Walker, meanwhile, has urged the Davis administration to “do the hard work” of combating corruption and continue cooperating with the United States to stop the illicit flow of drugs through the region.

Mr Munroe welcomed the call but said corruption associated with the drug trade also exists in the United States.

 “The same things that can be said about corruption in The Bahamas can be mirrored about corruption in the US because it’s received there,” he said, “so we would be receptive to whatever steps the US takes to battle that sort of corruption on their soil.”

 “So, if there’s corruption that permits it to be transhipped through our country, then there must be corruption that permits it to land in the US, aye?”

Mr Munroe said he did not doubt that US authorities had taken measures to combat corruption. He also said Bahamian law enforcement agencies have benefited from US training over the years and would welcome further anti-corruption initiatives.

The escalating dispute drew criticism yesterday from the Free National Movement, with chairman

It is interesting watching and listening to the debate about The Bahamas and its attempt to find out who and why were the DEA agents of the United States working in The Bahamas without the permission of the government. The fact is if they were running drugs through The Bahamas they leave themselves open to be charged with the offence of drug trafficking through The Bahamas. In fact, it is clear that in those circumstances, the inducers of the trafficking were in fact unauthorized agents of a foreign state operating in The Bahamas. The real interesting thing is the FNM and its response and that of the others on the web who think that the government is wrong for pursuing it. They think that the United States is all powerful and right and so we should leave the matter alone. That is wrong but what it shows is the need for public education on the question of independence and sovereignty. 

Last week it was the airport at North Eleuthera. The Western Air executives announced that they could no longer fly into the major tourist hub in Eleuthera because the airport runway was in such bad shape. We keep asking ourselves why is it that we always have to run into emergency fixes with our infrastructure. The same thing with the bridge in Fresh Creek, Andros. We have known for years that the airport in North Eleuthera, and the bridge in Fresh Creek amongst other infrastructure needed attention but somehow we just don’t get around to it. The result is that air traffic to the North has stopped and the bridge in Andros cannot be used except for pedestrian traffic. It will take in the case of the airport at least six weeks before it can be used again and in the case of the bridge it looks like six month before there is a solution. We keep asking what in God’s name is wrong with us on these issues.