Since his appointment on Monday, Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson arrived on the island Tuesday evening “ready to get to work.”

Upon his arrival, Minister Thompson said, “Firstly, I want to say how grateful I am to God for what really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve lived in Grand Bahama all my life and Grand Bahama really has been a very special place for me. To be appointed the minister of state responsible for Grand Bahama really is an awesome, awesome privilege. I see it really as service to the country.

“Grand Bahama really is in desperate need, and so we have a lot of work to do. There’s not a lot of time to celebrate. There’s not a lot of time to get into the pomp and pageantry of it, but it is time to get to work.”

The minister explained that he was appointed Monday evening, had a conference call with Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Grand Bahama Melvin Seymour, and work began immediately.

During the first cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said, there were a number of meetings with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance K. Peter Turnquest, as well as other colleagues, concerning issues related to Grand Bahama.

“We are hitting the ground running. There are a lot of things that need to be done and so I just feel excited and ready to work,” Mr. Thompson said.

Mr. Thompson further explained that the newly appointed cabinet is ready for the task at hand and Prime Minister Minnis has indicated that Grand Bahama will be “a priority for his government.”

“He’s (Prime Minister Minnis) given us directions in terms of what we ought to work on, as well as the deputy prime minister, being from Grand Bahama. So we are really excited about what we can accomplish in Grand Bahama, and you’ll begin to see the evidence of that very shortly.”