Sunday, November 1 2009

Hubert Alexander Ingraham, 62, was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of the Bahamas on May 4, 2007, following the May 2 general election in which the Free National Movement (FNM) party triumphed over the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). Prime Minister Ingraham is also Minister of Finance.

Ingraham previously served as Prime Minister when the FNM ousted a PLP administration in August 1992. That election victory ended 25 years of governance by the PLP which was led by the late Sir Lynden Pindling.

In the May 2, 2007 election, the FNM won 23 of 41 seats in the House of Assembly defeating the PLP under the leadership of former Prime Minister Perry Gladstone Christie.

Following brief periods of employment in the accounting departments of Owens-Illinois Sugar Mill Company in Abaco, The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) and the Chase Manhattan Bank in Nassau, Ingraham became an articled law clerk and was called to The Bahamas Bar in December, 1972.

He entered private practice and became the senior partner in the firm of Christie, Ingraham & Co.

An active member and officer in the Nassau and Bahamas Jaycees, he entered front-line politics in 1975 when he was elected to the National General Council of the PLP. He became party chairman in 1976.

Ingraham was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1977 as the representative for his hometown constituency of Cooper’s Town, North Abaco. He has been re-elected on six consecutive occasions as the representative for that constituency.

He has served as a member of the House Standing Committee on Privilege and Public Accounts, as chairman of a Select Committee on Influence Peddling and Political Contributions and as chairman of The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation. He has also served as a member of the Air Transport Licensing Authority and chairman of the Real Property Tax Tribunal.

His public criticism of the then government’s inaction in the face of damaging revelations of corruption in high places by the 1984 Commission of Inquiry resulted in his dismissal from the Cabinet and in 1986, his expulsion from the PLP.

His strong personal political support in his constituency permitted him to continue to speak out against corruption in the government and to call for radical changes in the political culture of patronage and nepotism. His re-election to Parliament as an Independent in 1987 made him a political force to be reckoned with.

Ingraham joined the then Official Opposition Party, the Free National Movement, in 1990. In May of the same year he was elected leader of the party and appointed Leader of the Official Opposition.

He imprinted his style on the FNM. He made his belief in and calls for honest, open transparent and accountable government, a fundamental tenet of his new party and energized its various factions to pull off a stunning victory over the ruling party in a by-election in the Marco City constituency in Grand Bahama in June, 1990.

A child of working-class parents, Prime Minister Ingraham has a strong social conscience, which influenced the policies of his party and government. However, he is a pragmatic politician and notwithstanding his strong identification with and ties to the grassroots of society, he has cultivated important relationships with the business community of The Bahamas.

His first term in government was marked by a deliberate reduction in the size of government, reducing government’s direct intervention in the economy and promoting fresh private investment, both domestic and international. He and his government have been credited with the revitalisation of The Bahamas economy since 1992, most particularly of its tourism sector, which has enjoyed massive international capital infusions over the past seven years and its financial services sector, which restored confidence in The Bahamas as a clean financial jurisdiction spurring increased international banking and trust businesses in recent years.

In 1993, he was made a member of Her Majesty’s most honourable Privy Council.

In 2000, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Buckingham, England.

The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an English-speaking country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 rocks.

Its size is almost 14,000 km2 with an estimated population of 330,000. Its capital is Nassau. It remains a Commonwealth realm.

Based on the twin pillars of tourism and offshore finance, the Bahamian economy has prospered since the 1950s. However, there remain significant challenges in areas such as education, health care, international narcotics trafficking and illegal immigration from Haiti.

The origin of the name “Bahamas” is unclear. It may derive from the Spanish baja mar, meaning “shallow seas”; or the Lucayan word for Grand Bahama Island, ba-ha-ma “large upper middle land”.

The closest island to the United States is Bimini, which is also known as the gateway to the Bahamas. The island of Abaco is to the east of Grand Bahama, also known as the “Big Island”. The southeasternmost island is Great Inagua. Other notable islands include the Bahamas’ largest island, Andros Island, and Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, San Salvador Island, Acklins, Crooked Island, Exuma and Mayaguana. Nassau, the Bahamas capital city, lies on the island of New Providence.

All the islands are low and flat, with ridges that usually rise no more than 15 to 20 m (49 to 66 ft). The highest point in the country is Mount Alvernia, formerly called Como Hill, which has an altitude of 63 metres (210 ft) on Cat Island. To the southeast, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and three more extensive submarine features called Mouchoir Bank, Silver Bank, and Navidad Bank, are geographically a continuation of the Bahamas, but not part of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

The climate of the Bahamas is subtropical to tropical, and is moderated significantly by the waters of the Gulf Stream, particularly in winter. Conversely, this often proves very dangerous in the summer and autumn, when hurricanes pass near or through the islands. Hurricane Andrew hit the northern islands during the 1992 Atlantic hurricane season, and Hurricane Floyd hit most of the islands during the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Frances hit in 2004; the Atlantic hurricane season of 2004 was expected to be the worst ever for the islands. Also in 2004, the northern Bahamas were hit by a less potent Hurricane Jeanne. In 2005 the northern islands were once again struck, this time by Hurricane Wilma. In Grand Bahama, tidal surges and high winds destroyed homes and schools, floated graves and made roughly 1,000 people homeless, most of whom lived on the west coast of the island.

While there has never been a freeze reported in the Bahamas, the temperature can fall as low as 2–3C during Arctic outbreaks that affect nearby Florida. Snow has been reported to have mixed with rain in Freeport in January, 1977, the same time that it snowed in the Miami, FL area. The temperature was about 50C at the time.

The Bahamas is a sovereign independent nation. Political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom and the Westminster system.

The Bahamas is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state (represented by a Governor-General).

Legislative power is vested in a bicameral parliament, which consists of a 41-member House of Assembly (the lower house), with members elected from single-member districts, and a 16-member Senate, with members appointed by the governor-general, including nine on the advice of the prime minister, four on the advice of the leader of the opposition, and three on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition. The House of Assembly carries out all major legislative functions. As under the Westminster system, the prime minister may dissolve parliament and call a general election at any time within a five-year term.

Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. Although the Bahamas is not geographically located in the Caribbean, it is a member of the Caribbean Community. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on English law.

Ethnic groups: 85% Black, 12% White, 3% Asian

Religions: Baptist 32%, Anglican 20%, Roman Catholic 19%, Methodist 6%, Church of God 6%, other Protestant 12%, none or unknown 3%, other 2%. The “other” category includes Jews, Muslims, Baha’is, Hindus, Rastafarians, and practitioners of Obeah.

Languages: English (official), Bahamian Dialect,

Literacy (age 15+): total population: 98.2% male: 98.5% female: 98% (1995 est.)

In the less developed outer islands, handicrafts include basketry made from palm fronds. This material, commonly called “straw”, is plaited into hats and bags that are popular tourist items. Another use is for so-called “Voodoo dolls,” despite the fact that such dolls are the result of the American imagination and not based on historical fact.

Obeah, a religion of folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices derived from Central African and West African origins, is practised in some of the Family Islands (out-islands) of the Bahamas.

Junkanoo is a street parade of music, dance, and art held in many cities of the Bahamas every Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and also held for other Holidays such as Fox Hill Day.

Regattas are important social events in many family island settlements. They usually feature one or more days of sailing by old-fashioned work boats, as well as an onshore festival.

Some settlements have festivals associated with the traditional crop or food of that area, such as the “Pineapple Fest” in Gregory Town, Eleuthera or the “Crab Fest” on Andros. Other significant traditions include story telling.