Remarks to Opening Plenary of the 5th Commonwealth Local Government Conference - Freeport, Grand Bahama, by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham:

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am happy to welcome to The Bahamas the Secretary General of the Commonwealth and Mrs. Sharma, the Secretary General of Caricom, Mr. Edwin Carrington, Local Government Ministers and all other delegates to the 5th Commonwealth Local Government Conference.

I am especially happy to welcome you to the City of Freeport, Lucaya and Grand Bahama, and trust that your brief stay will afford you some time to enjoy the attractions of this special island.

We are especially pleased to host this event during this year when we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth, that unique group of nations that had its beginnings with the transformation of the old colonial order.

The Commonwealth has benefitted billions who are a part of its voluntary membership and the wider world as it has contributed significantly in the struggle to achieve the aspirations of its diverse peoples for freedom, democracy, enlightenment and development.

Distinguished Delegates:

I believe that you will find it of interest to learn that you are meeting in Freeport, a city which has the most effective system of local government in the entire Bahamas. In this city, not only is city management local, it is also private.

Under the provisions agreed between the Government and a private company, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, during the 1950s the management of the City of Freeport has been delegated to the Port Authority for a 99-year period.

As such, the infrastructure of the city including its airport, harbour and port facilities are privately owned and operated.

The Port Authority is charged with the economic development of the City of Freeport. It is responsible for building and sanitary code compliance; building inspections and permits; environmental compliance; town planning regulations; issuance of business licences and the regulation of utility rates.

Freeport?s governing system has worked well for Freeport. It is not, however, without its own tensions between governor and governed. Freeport?s reality is that a small logging settlement on this large Family Island in the middle of the last century has become the second largest population centre in The Bahamas today, the industrial hub of The Bahamas, an employment centre and host to one of the deepest container transhipment ports in our region.

The central government continues to control immigration and foreign direct investment as it does in all other islands of The Bahamas; it retains responsibility for the operation of the public hospital, the government-operated school system and certain public sporting and recreational facilities.

Medical, accounting, legal and other professionals practising in Freeport are required to be licensed and regulated in accordance with our national laws and their respective professional bodies. Hotels and casinos operate in accordance with the provisions of national legislation, and industries are subject to national environmental and public health standards.

A particular idiosyncrasy of local government administration in The Bahamas is its absence from the Island of New Providence, the site of our capital City of Nassau and home to three quarters of our national population.

Calls for some form of municipal government for the City of Nassau have become urgent. Already a Nassau Development Board, formed during one of my earlier terms in office, has presented proposals for the creation of a management office for the city.

The dramatic population and commercial growth into the suburbs of the City of Nassau have already resulted in the development of important city centres in the outlying districts of the island that would benefit from the institution of local city councils or town committees to manage a myriad of matters impacting the lives of residents including matters relating to environmental control, local traffic problems, improved collection and disposal of solid waste and maintenance of neighbourhoods, schools, libraries, streets and parks, for example.

I have no doubt that those delegates from our central government agencies attending this week?s conference will be especially anxious to garner from your discussions, ideas of local government administration which might be successfully introduced to our capital city and its suburbs.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have no doubt that your discussions will provide useful opportunities for delegates to learn from one another the variations that have evolved and continue to evolve in local government systems around the Commonwealth.

I take this opportunity to emphasize to all of you gathered here under the theme ?Improving Local Government, the Commonwealth Vision? that local government and democracy are all about working for the common good.

I extend very best wishes for a productive conference and the hope that in sharing your diverse experiences you will make local government better for all our citizens in the Commonwealth.

Thank you.

Click HERE for audio of the PM's speech and a photo gallery of the opening ceremony.
(BIS photos/Derek Smith)