Prime Minister, the Hon. Philip Davis was questioned by reporters about the implementation of the Freedom Of Information Act this week after $140,000 was allocated in the 2025/2026 budget for the FOIA office.

Supporters of freedom of information believe it will increase accountability and transparency. The Prime Minister sought to clear up misconceptions about the legislation. He said, “it doesn’t give unfettered access to information. In the scheme of things, it doesn’t make available matters that’s not already available to the public. It’s just that we are interested in getting other things done. When we came into office our focus was on righting the ship, cleaning up the mess that we met and that is our focus.”

The Prime Minister said freedom of information is not a top priority for his administration. “I can account for my actions. I could defend my actions and they are all above board. For me, I am paying more attention and continue to pay attention to bringing relief to the Bahamian people and they can see that in what we have done so far and we still have more to do, that’s my focus.”

The Freedom Of Information Act was passed in 2017.