While the Davis administration accused the last Free National Movement (FNM) government of using the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority as a “slush fund”, a review of budget figures reveals increased spending under this Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government to the tune of more than $141 million up to December 2025.
According to budget documents, the authority was budgeted $15,200,000 for the 2021/2022 fiscal year, but spent $24,697,497.
For the 2022/2023 fiscal year, $27,000,000 was budgeted, and the authority spent $27,499,087.
For the 2023/2024 fiscal year, $24,000,000 was initially budgeted, and the authority spent $33,236,200.
In 2024/2025, $24,000,000 was budgeted, and the authority had spent $31,044,898 by March 2025.
There is still no public information on the authority’s spending for Q4 of the 2024/2025 fiscal year. In the first half of the 2025/2026 fiscal year (July 1, 2025 — December 31, 2025), however, according to the latest mid-year budget figures, the authority had already spent $25,178,694.
The government budgeted $29 million for the entire 2025/2026 fiscal year, meaning that for the second half of the fiscal year, there was less than $4 million to spend.
According to the pre-election report, which was released earlier this week, there was also a $10.9 million loan from the government to the authority in fiscal year 2024/2025.
The Nassau Guardian reported last year on the poor conditions of nearly a dozen parks across New Providence, leading to questions over how the millions of dollars budgeted to the authority is spent each year.
While Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority Executive Chairman McKell Bonaby noted previously that audits of the authority were ongoing, no such reports have been made available to the public.
“There were many challenges … we had to deal with a lot of fiscal responsibility matters that were left undone,” he told reporters last year.
“We had to deal with our funding. We had to deal with our audit reports. The authority has never tabled any audit reports since its inception.”
He also promised a “fulsome conversation regarding where parks and beaches is at” and “a full account of everything which would have happened at parks and beaches”.
With Parliament having already been dissolved and the general election scheduled to take place May 12, no such account has been provided.
Months after the PLP’s 2021 election victory, Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said in the House of Assembly that the authority was “effectively a slush fund” under the Minnis administration and noted that a forensic review of the authority was underway.
“The authority was effectively a slush fund, with no attempt made to ensure that the services being paid for by Bahamian taxpayers were provided,” he said.
Bonaby, speaking at the time on reports that there was a drastic uptick in parks and beaches contracts awarded before the 2021 election, said it appeared to be “electioneering”.
“It looks like it,” he said.
“It walks like it. It sounds like it. And we can see the impact of it, where it was not a real financial decision that was being made. It appears to be a political decision.”
Under the Minnis administration, the authority spent a total of $84,288,232 over four years in office.
As was reported, the authority’s spending increased significantly to $25,900,000 in 2019/2020, nearly double the $13,850,000 spent the previous year.
In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the authority spent even more — $28,904,232.
Still, despite the Davis administration’s strong criticism of that spending and the lack of accounting or evidence to justify the large amounts, the authority’s spending under this government is the highest it has ever been.
Also, since the election season kicked off, several political candidates have begun “repairing” public parks with what appears to be private funds.
In February, PLP Southern Shores candidate Obie Roberts said he entered into an arrangement with the prison to use inmates to clean up a park in the area.
“I’m out here clearing down a park area where people normally used to walk in the mornings and evenings in terms of exercising, and they had concerns that the park was tremendously overgrown, and it was extremely dangerous for them if they came out here and walked with their families or their kids in the mornings or evenings,” said Roberts, who is also deputy chairman of the PLP.
“So, I just took it upon myself, in a relationship with the Bahamas Department of Corrections, to help clear down this area to make it safer for the residents of Marshall Road and Misty Gardens, and just in terms of making the environment safe for all Bahamians and particularly the constituents of Southern Shores.”
Sebas Bastian, the PLP’s candidate for Fort Charlotte, posted a video to his Facebook page last week detailing work he’s done to a park in the Rockcrusher area.
“Rockcrusher Park has been upgraded with a brand new gazebo, resurfaced court, new basketball rims, and a fully refurbished playground complete with artificial turf and safety fencing for our children,” the post said.
In the lead up to the Golden Isles by-election last November, Darron Pickstock posted a similar video of park upgrades he had completed.
In addition, the list of contract awards on the government’s procurement website shows the award of contracts — some of them no bid — awarded by the Ministry of Works to clean up public areas.
The Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority is responsible for the upkeep of local public parks and beaches. The authority controls, plans, designs, manages and maintains the areas by removing derelict objects, keeping structures maintained, and providing amenities.
Bonaby did not respond yesterday to calls or messages from The Nassau Guardian seeking clarity on the spending or the promised audit reports.
