Bahamas: Wilchcombe dead at 64
Minister of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting Obediah Hercules Wilchcombe, a former journalist who was jailed after he refused to reveal a source and whose zeal for public service led him into politics, died suddenly in Grand Bahama on Monday morning.
He was 64.
Wilchcombe served as the member of Parliament for West Grand Bahama and Bimini from 2002 to 2017 and was re-elected in 2021.
News of his death stunned many. It is unclear what the cause of death was. Officials said he was found in an unresponsive state and was later pronounced dead.
As soon as he got news about Wilchcombe’s death, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, along with several senior Cabinet members and other government officials, flew to Grand Bahama.
Davis visited Rand Memorial Hospital and later addressed supporters and the country at the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) Freeport headquarters.
He remembered Wilchcombe as a courageous journalist and stalwart believer in the PLP.
Wilchcombe’s time in journalism started in 1975 when he joined the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB).
He was assigned to cover then-Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling and covered many local and regional events.
He served in various posts at BCB, including deputy director of news, news director and assistant general manager.
“While with the Broadcasting Corporation, Wilchcombe won a national award for writing and producing the television documentary ‘Base Streets’,” a short biography of him said.
“The program illuminated the impact of cocaine on the Bahamian society. In 1989, he was appointed to lead the team responsible for introducing ZNS television to Grand Bahama.”
In 1999, he began hosting the radio show “The Bahamas Today” on More 94FM.
A year later, he was sentenced to a four-day imprisonment for failing to reveal the location of where he received a suicide note – which he read live on-air – that was alleged to have been written by convicted murderer John Higgs Jr.
Higgs was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of his wife, but two days shy of his scheduled execution, he committed suicide.
Wilchcombe entered politics in 1994 when he was appointed a senator by Sir Lynden.
In 1995, he was elected PLP chairman, and following the 1997 election, he was reappointed to the Senate by then-PLP Leader Perry Christie.
In 2002, he defeated the Free National Movement’s David Wallace to win the West End and Bimini seat.
The PLP won that election. It was the party’s first victory in 10 years and the first without Sir Lynden.
Christie appointed Wilchcombe minister of tourism responsible for the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas and Bahamas Information Services.
Though the party was crushed in the 2007 election, Wilchcombe held onto his seat.
When the PLP was returned to office in 2012, he was again appointed minister of tourism.
In 2017, the PLP lost the election, and Wilchcombe, like many of his former colleagues, was voted out of office.
But he won the seat again in the September 2021 election.
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