By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter 

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ANGLICAN Bishop Laish Boyd demanded transparent campaign finance reform last night as the general election season heats up.

“It is wrong for money to control the outcome of an election or the future of a country,” he said during the opening of the 122nd Synod of the Diocese of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands.

His wide-ranging address also tackled immigration, healthcare, and mental health, as he urged the government to regularise people born to non-Bahamian parents and fix public healthcare conditions that are in some cases “deplorable.”

He said politicians and voters share responsibility for ensuring fair, ethical elections free from corruption and vote-buying.

Claims of vote-buying have persisted for decades, with even some party insiders privately conceding it occurs.

“I don’t care how much this happens or how widespread it is, or who gets greased and who doesn’t get greased,” Bishop Boyd said. “It is something that we need to move away from if we are going to move our countries forward.”

His remarks came as Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, who attended the service with Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, has said campaign finance reform will not happen before the next general election, despite the promise his party made in its pre-election manifesto.

As opposition leader in 2020, Mr Davis slammed Dr Hubert Minnis for failing to follow through on the same promise, calling it proof that his government was built on “empty promises and political expediency”.

Former Prime Minister Perry Christie once said the status quo on campaign finance was “repugnant” and had sometimes fallen to “criminal levels.”

Bishop Boyd urged Bahamians to treat elections as “a national development, character and integrity-based exercise,” not a contest of influence or wealth. 

He also pressed for enforcement of public disclosure laws that require officials to declare their assets, saying successive governments have ignored these rules for too long.

On leadership, he said empathy must guide those in power and warned officials against being consumed by pride or a desire for fame.

On immigration, he said deportations are sometimes necessary but must be done humanely.

“We have to acknowledge the lapses in our system, the lapses in the integrity of some of us, and the things which have caused immigrants not to have the rights that they ought to have,” he said. “We need to formalise, promote and maintain clear pathways to regularisation of persons who have been born here to non-Bahamian parents.”

On healthcare, Bishop Boyd said the system “still leaves much to be desired,” citing long waits at the Princess Margaret Hospital and clinics he described as “deplorable.” He praised the National Health Insurance scheme as “much needed and much appreciated” but said it must be expanded.

“Too many Bahamians are suffering and dying because they do not have health insurance and they need more than just primary care,” he said. “It is heartbreaking. People who have worked, paid taxes, contributed to the society,  it is not right for them to suffer and die if the facilities are here, the expertise is here, the ailment is evident, and their only disqualification is that they do not have the money. I beg the government to push forward in this area and to expand this service.”

He also expressed concern over rising suicide and attempted suicide rates, calling for greater mental health support, better use of existing resources, and increased investment in social development.