EDITOR, The Tribune.
WHAT will The Bahamas achieve from the highly anticipated visit of King Charles III on October 27 besides photo ops, a once in a lifetime opportunity for some of our Bahamian politicians, civic leaders and a select group of prominent citizens to rub shoulders with the English monarch? Absolutely nothing meaningful that I can think of. In the absence of a fully detailed accounting of such a massive undertaking by the tax funded state, I am willing to guesstimate that King Charles' second visit to The Bahamas will cost even more than what the Progressive Liberal Party government paid for the Royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2023.
Prince William and his wife Catherine spent three days in The Bahamas at a cost of $636,194. That works out to $212,000 per day or $8,836 per hour for the approximately 72 hours they were here. I would imagine that the visit of the King of England will easily exceed this sum by hundreds of thousands. I am not necessarily opposed to King Charles visiting The Bahamas. But we must make one thing patently clear: The king of England cannot fix The Bahamas which is broken. He cannot even fix England, which is also falling apart at the seams. According to a BBC report, 20 percent or 13.4 million citizens of the UK live in relative poverty, including four million children. Over 51 percent of the babies born in England are born to unmarried mothers. It is a known fact that single parents led by women are most vulnerable to the specter of poverty. Regarding homelessness in England, one in 153 or over 382,000 people are homeless. Most of the homeless families in England are predominantly Black-led and Asian -led households. Illegal immigrants accounts for an estimated 700,000 to 1.2 million in the UK, which is putting significant pressure on the social welfare system. England has a massive debt of over £3 trillion, which is 95 percent of the GDP.
The National Health Service in England is understaffed and underfunded, which is eerily similar to the broken-down healthcare system in The Bahamas. Regarding overcrowding in the prisons across England, a staggering 87,500 people are incarcerated. It is estimated that the occupancy rate in the prison system is over 98 percent. Recently, the British government made the controversial decision to release 2,000 inmates to ease overcrowding, with another 3,000 slated to be released in 2027. And seeing that King Charles is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, what about the spiritual condition of his subjects? Only five percent of British adults attends a weekly Christian church service, while there are nearly four million Muslims in the UK who faithfully attend the nearly 1,900 mosques throughout the kingdom. The King of England is coming. But he won't be able to erase our $14 billion debt. He won't be able to usher the Family Islands in the Southern and Central Bahamas into the modern era, as they remain stuck in the Neanderthalic age 59 years after Majority Rule. He won't be able to fix the Princess Margaret or the Rand Memorial Hospitals. He won't be able to fix BPL's failing electric grid in Nassau or Eleuthera. He won't solve the overcrowding at His Majesty's Prison in Fox Hill.
He won't be able to put an end to the ongoing gang warfare in the Over-the-Hill communities of Nassau. He won't be able to eliminate our rape culture where women and children are being preyed upon by sexual predators. He won't solve our crime crisis. He won't be able to put an end to our illegal immigration problem. He won't be able to fix the education system. He won't end systemic poverty among the grassroots, many of whom don't even have $1,000 on their bank accounts. He won't solve the housing crisis gripping New Providence and Grand Bahama, where greedy landlords are inflating their rental fees in an effort to become rich. He won't be able to drive down the cost of living as gasoline, diesel, food, medicine, housing and utility costs continue to soar with no relief in sight. Areas in Nassau where King Charles is expected to pass will get a much-needed facelift, like Shirley Street which has been paved. Stray dogs will continue to be rounded up and, I believe, euthanised. Homeless vagrants will be rounded up like cattle and housed at the Central Police Station or Fox Hill Prison. You see, The Bahamas must put its best foot forward for King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Bahamians must pretend to the Royal couple that it is all peaches and cream in this country. We are all happy, prosperous and healthy. When he leaves on October 29 or whenever he's scheduled to leave, The Bahamas will be no better off. It will be the same. But there's good news. You see, there's another King Who is coming. His name is Jesus Christ. He will return. And He will fix The Bahamas. But we must prepare our hearts by accepting His message of redemption in order to become members of His eternal kingdom. He will be a righteous administration. In His kingdom, there will be no death, sickness, poverty, natural disasters, moral corruption, crime or any of the social ills we experience each day in a broken and fallen world. As the legendary hymnist Isaac Watts wrote centuries ago: "Joy to the world; the Lord is coming. Let earth receive her King. Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room. And heav'n and nature sing...No more let sins and sorrows grow. Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings flow. Far as the curse is found..."
KEVIN EVANS
Freeport,
Grand Bahama
October 14, 2026.