A FORMER Clement Howell High School pupil has been appointed as one of four opposition senators in the Bahamas.
Attorney at law JoBeth Coleby Davis along with three other senators received their instruments of appointment during a swearing-in ceremony at Government House, Nassau, on May 23.
Speaking at the ceremony, Opposition Leader Philip Brave Davis said the Progressive Liberal Party will cooperate and support the newly elected Government of the Bahamas “generously and in good faith”.
“We are after all instruments of nation building not agents of national disunity or unnecessary conflict.”
The new senators are Fred Mitchell, former Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister, who will serve as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate; Dr Michael Darville, former Minister of Grand Bahama, will act as the voice for Grand Bahama; Clay Sweeting, businessman and former PLP election hopeful from Spanish Wells, will serve as a voice for the people from the family islands; and attorney JoBeth Coleby Davis, who represents a new voice in politics but comes from a family who have served their country in the political arena.
In his bio, Coleby Davis ascended to the upper echelons of government, came from humble beginnings being born in Freeport, Grand Bahama, on July 17, 1984, to Wayde T Coleby and Irma L Coleby nee Bootle.
She attended Walter Parker Primary School up to the sixth grade. After that her family relocated to the United States, where she attended middle school and high school.
However, relocation had it so that JoBeth would complete and receive her high school diplomacy from Clement Howell High School in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
She gained her dual Bachelor of Law degree with Business Management at Keele University, UK in 2009 and completed her bar vocational course at Nottingham Trent University in 2010.
She holds an LLM in Energy Law and Policy from the University of Dundee in Scotland.
Coleby Davis has been called to the Bar of England and Wales, and the Bahamas Bar.
She completed her associates degree in Law and Criminal Justice at the College of the Bahamas.
According to a press release, Coleby Davis has in the past worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia as a contracted compliance officer for five years while attending law school.
She worked alongside bank lawyers and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to ensure organisations were efficiently and effectively adhering to laws and regulations.
She was responsible for commercial customers of the bank, carrying out due diligence, risk management and inspections of their operations for compliance with the financial policy of the FSC.
Coleby Davis has extensive knowledge of the legal system in the Bahamas, including the Petroleum Act and Petroleum Regulations, which she has relied heavily on in executing her duties.
At present, she serves as in house legal counsel at Bahamas Petroleum Company.
She is responsible for compliance and risk management of Bahamas Petroleum Company licences, government relations and works closely with the management team to advice on legal and commercial risks associated with day to day business operations.
She also served on the board of ‘Real Property Tax Appeal Tribunal’ during 2012 to 2017, where she was able to learn and contribute to the amnesty program and assisting with re-evaluation of various properties that were victims to the decline in the real estate market.
Her main platform and interests are ensuring the present government continues the work to modernise the Bahamian economy, more specifically energy conservation and sustainability.
She completed her dissertation as the final stage in her bid for an LLM, and her topic was ‘Promoting sustainable development in the Bahamas: Overcoming the barriers and creating renewable energy in a safe and affordable way’.
In addition, Coleby Davis is a part of the millennial era, where she like many others holds the leadership of the Bahamas accountable to ensuring the Bahamian economy, legislation, and implementation thereof meets the modernisation standards that have been set by the international community.
Coleby Davis is the granddaughter of the late Granville Coleby who during his life served the Progressive Liberal Party as a stalwart councillor up to his passing.
In addition, the late Edwin Coleby who also served as a senator under the PLP administration is also her grand-uncle.
Recently she married Donavon A Davis Jr, a system engineer and also the grandson of Lionel Davis who served as MP for Fox Hill.
