“STOP CALLING US THE FUTURE”: Rahming Demands 30% of Senior Public Service Roles for Young Bahamians

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Wednesday, June 24, 2026. In a fiery maiden Budget contribution that drew murmurs across the Senate floor, Government Senator the Honourable Latrae Rahming demanded that at least 30 percent of senior public sector roles, board appointments, and national leadership positions be reserved for qualified young Bahamians.

The Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister delivered the line that is already lighting up group chats across New Providence.

“Stop calling us the future,” Rahming told the Chamber, his voice rising as PLP senators looked on.

It was the centrepiece of a contribution to the 2026/2027 Budget that mixed raw personal testimony with a hard policy demand. And it landed as a direct challenge to the way power has long been handed out in The Bahamas.

Rahming argued that the phrase Bahamians use to praise their young people has quietly become a tool to sideline them.

“Too often, calling young people the future becomes a polite way of telling them to wait,” he said. “Wait until you are older. Wait until you are more experienced. Wait until someone decides you are ready.”

He warned that the country cannot afford that delay.

“The future will belong to the countries that trust their talent early,” he said.

His answer was a number. A target of at least 30 percent of senior public sector roles, board appointments, and national leadership opportunities filled by prepared young Bahamians.

Rahming did not stop at a quota. He called for a Bahamian Fast Stream programme, modelled on the United Kingdom’s approach, to find the nation’s brightest young people and train them across policy, finance, diplomacy, technology, and delivery.

The goal, he said, is to prepare a new generation to lead “with competence and care.”

He pointed to the young senators already seated in the Chamber, naming colleagues Keenan, Dasante, and Trevor Johnson. But he insisted their presence cannot be the end of the story.

“That cannot be the finish line,” he said. “It must be the beginning of a wider opening.”

The proposal carried weight because of where Rahming says he started.

In an unusually personal address, the Senator told the Chamber he once stood over a grill at a community cookout, selling plates to raise the money to return to university after the PLP lost office and he lost his footing.

“A young Bahamian who had stepped into national politics, now standing over a grill, trying to sell enough plates to pay his way back to university,” he said. “That cookout taught me that pride cannot carry you through hard times, but community can.”

He spoke of paying tuition, rent, or food as a student in China, and of being fired from BAIC after the FNM came to office. He framed the 30 percent demand as the policy he wished had existed for the young man he used to be.

Rahming tied the proposal to what he called a “crisis of opportunity,” a phrase he said carries two meanings at once. A crisis caused by the absence of opportunity, and a moment of crisis that becomes a great opportunity if the country is bold enough to seize it.

“The question before us is whether The Bahamas will meet this moment with old habits, or with new courage,” he said.

He praised Prime Minister the Hon. Philip Brave Davis as the leader to guide the country through it, and credited the Davis administration with steadying the economy and restoring confidence over the past five years.

The 30 percent target is, for now, an advocacy position rather than government policy. But coming from a senator who works inside the Office of the Prime Minister, it will be read closely on both sides of the aisle.

Whether the Davis administration adopts a hard quota, a Fast Stream programme, or both, will be among the questions trailing this Budget debate in the days ahead.

For now, one line is doing the talking.

“Stop calling us the future.

The Bahamas Herald. Reporting from the Senate Chambers, Nassau.

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