REMARKS: Your Excellency, Dame Cynthia Pratt, Governor General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,
Madam President of the Senate,
Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentarians, distinguished guests,
Family and friends,
Good afternoon.
Today is a proud day for our country.
We gather to witness D’Asante Small receiving her instruments of appointment in the Senate. It is an honour for her and her family. It is also part of a bigger story about what is changing in The Bahamas.
Many Bahamians first met D’Asante through her work, long before they knew her title.
A little girl in the Girls Brigade at St. Barnabas Anglican Church.
A young musician in the church band.
A student at St. John’s College, who went on to the University of Tampa to study international business and marketing.
A young professional who kept saying yes to service, even when it meant long nights and heavy responsibility.
In every season of her life, she has been rooted in faith, in family, and in a belief that leadership is service.
In public life, D’Asante has already carried some of the biggest assignments we can give a young Bahamian.
At the Public Hospitals Authority, she helps lead national health communications, including during moments of real anxiety for families and staff.
When our nation marked fifty years of Independence, she helped shape how the country saw itself, serving as Creative Director of the 50th Independence Celebrations.
She has represented The Bahamas at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She chaired the Progressive Young Liberals. She sits on the boards of the National Training Agency and the National Apprenticeship Programme, helping prepare a new generation of Bahamians for work and for life.
Through her beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, she has given nearly two decades of organized service.
In community life, she has stood with parents at Ridgeland Primary as part of the Empowered Family Network.
She has worked on mental health support for women, girls, and first responders through initiatives such as the Nourish Her podcast and Sunflowers mental health training.
She has gone into the Willimae Pratt Centre for Girls and the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys, meeting young people who are often judged, instead of being heard.
And with her husband, Chef Corey, she has helped build a growing Bahamian hospitality group, including Oasis Bar and Bistro and Da Bush Cook’s culinary experiences.
That means jobs, training, and pride in modern Bahamian food culture.
This is the kind of life that deserves a place at the table where our laws are shaped.
So I say to you, D’Asante: you come to the Senate not as a stranger to service, but as someone who has already carried a heavy load for your country.
Today, we are simply giving you a wider platform to keep doing what you have been doing all along.
But I also want to say this: D’Asante is not alone.
Across our government, a new generation is stepping forward.
You see it in economic leadership.
You see it in foreign affairs and diplomacy.
You see it in climate action, in energy reform, in law enforcement, in culture, in planning, in communications.
Look at some of the faces of this change.
You see Director of Investments, Phylicia Woods, helping to shape the deals and opportunities that will shape our future.
You see Quinton Lightbourne serving as Alternate Executive Director at the Inter-American Development Bank for the Caribbean constituency, giving small island states a stronger voice in the rooms where big financial decisions are made.
You see Senator Barry Griffin as Vice President of the Senate and Chair of The Bahamas Trade Commission, helping our country compete in a demanding global economy.
You see Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs, Clay Sweeting, who took responsibility for one of the largest and most complex portfolios in government while still in his thirties, working to modernise our infrastructure across the islands.
You see JoBeth Coleby Davis, who began serving as a cabinet minister in her mid-thirties, holding two major portfolios in housing and in transport, helping families find security and keeping the country moving, and now superintending the country’s first major energy transformation.
You see our own Director of Communications at the Office of the Prime Minister, Latrae Rahming, who accepted that responsibility in his late twenties, helping to guide government communication at home and abroad.
In foreign affairs, you see young Bahamians like Kemico Sands, Matthew Moxey, Antonio Butler, and Marche Mackey, representing our country in multilateral forums, working on issues from decolonisation to climate resilience to global security.
In climate and energy, you see young professionals in the Climate Change Office and in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, driving the policies that will protect our islands and redesign our energy system for this century.
Among them are Charles Hamilton, who serves as Climate Change Advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Larissa Cartwright, the first Registrar of the National Emissions Registry.
They work alongside eighteen young Bahamians serving as climate change and SDG officers; and Barrise Griffin, Assistant Director for Disaster Risk Management Planning, Mitigation and Research at DRM Authority.
In culture, you see Jasper, known to many as Ova Dose, serving as a cultural ambassador, and artist Jamaal Rolle representing The Bahamas at UNESCO, showing the world that Bahamian creativity can stand on any stage.
In public administration and financial leadership, you see Nicholas Symonette as Chief Passport Officer and Ambassador to India, Dylan Sawyer serving as Deputy Chairman of BPL at just twenty-eight, Keenan Johnson as Chair of Town Planning, and Delphino Gilbert Cassar leading as Chairman of the Bahamas Development Bank.
In energy, you see Verron Darville as Deputy Director of Energy, helping to drive the reforms that will finally bring cleaner, cheaper, more reliable power to families and businesses.
In Parliament, you see Jamahl Strachan serving as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, helping to link foreign policy with the concerns of everyday Bahamians.
This is a long list. It is not a complete list. That is the point.
For years, young Bahamians felt locked out of decision making. They were told to wait their turn, even as the problems grew worse and the world changed faster.
We decided to do something different.
We said we would expand opportunities, island by island, and that had to include the top of our institutions as well as the entry level.
We said we would invest in education, training, and upskilling so that Bahamians of every talent and background could build their own path to security and success.
That work is underway. You can see it in the people I have named. You can see it in many others across the public service and across our boards, authorities, and agencies.
Equally important is the change we are seeing in women’s leadership.
Toni Seymour is the first woman to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Bahamas Power and Light.
Shanta Knowles is the first woman Commissioner of Police.
Linda Moxey is the first woman comptroller of the Road Traffic Department.
We have women holding major cabinet portfolios, shaping policy in education, health, social services, energy and the environment, transport and housing, tourism and investments.
Captain Natasha Miller is the first woman to serve as Deputy Commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
And now, with D’Asante Small, we add another chapter to this story of women stepping into national roles that for too long were closed to them.
So what does all of this mean?
It means the country is changing in ways you can see and name.
It means that leadership in The Bahamas does not belong to one age group, one gender, or one circle of friends.
It belongs to those who prepare themselves, who work hard, who love this country, and who are ready to serve.
Today, I want to make a clear pledge.
In the years ahead, I intend to place even more young Bahamians in senior roles in government, on our boards, in our diplomatic posts, in our national institutions, and in my political organization.
I am prepared to make a very big bet on the talent of our young people.
Some will say it is safer to leave everything in the hands of those who have been there for decades.
I say the real risk lies in ignoring the generation that will have to live longest with the consequences of our choices.
Young Bahamians are leading in technology, in culture, in business, in climate action, in creative industries.
If we want a country that keeps up with the world, then we must invite those minds and hearts into the centre of decision-making.
So here is my commitment.
We will keep opening doors in the public service.
We will keep creating apprenticeship and training programmes that lead to real responsibility.
We will keep using appointments, promotions, and board selections to signal clearly: if you work hard, if you prepare yourself, if you show integrity and care for people, your country will make room for you at the top.
To the young Bahamians watching this ceremony, in person or at home, I want you to see yourself in D’Asante Small.
You may be in school now. You may be in a small business, a church group, a band room, a climate organization, a classroom, a kitchen, or a clinic.
Wherever you are, I want you to know: your country needs your ideas, your courage, your energy.
Prepare yourselves. Study hard. Build your character. Serve your community. When your moment comes, I want you to be ready to step forward, just as she has done today.
To D’Asante:
You are entering the Senate at a time when the debates are fierce and the stakes for our country are very high.
Bring your faith. Bring your experience from health care, from community work, from mental health advocacy, from entrepreneurship, from your years organizing young people and women.
Speak for those who feel unseen and unheard.
Speak for parents who are trying to raise children in a world that feels uncertain.
Speak for workers who want fair pay and fair chances.
Speak for small business owners who believe in this country.
Use your voice to strengthen our democracy, and to widen the circle of opportunity.
On behalf of the Government and people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, I congratulate you on your appointment.
May God guide you.
May God bless your family for sharing you with the country.
And may God bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
