Hubert Ingraham
Encyclopedia
Hubert Alexander Ingraham (born 1947) is the Prime Minister of the Bahamas
. He first served as Prime Minister from August 1992 until May 2002 and became Prime Minister again in 2007. He is a member of the Free National Movement
Party (FNM). The Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham now heads the FNM as Party Leader and is a Member of Parliament for the North Abaco
constituency; he also served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly from 2005 to 2007.
In the historic election of August 1992, in which the FNM unseated the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), Ingraham succeeded Prime Minister Lynden Pindling
, who had headed the PLP government since January 1967. Following his party's victory in the May 2007 election
, he became Prime Minister again.
. He is the son of Jerome Ingraham, a stevedore, and Isabella La-Roda (née Cornish). He grew up in Cooper's Town on the island of Abaco and began his education at Cooper's Town Public School, later attending the Southern Senior School and the Government High School Evening Institute in Nassau.
Ingraham studied law in Nassau, was called to the Bahamas Bar in December 1972, and eventually became senior partner in the law firm of Christie, Ingraham and Co. He entered front-line politics in 1975, when he was elected to the National General Council of the then ruling Progressive Liberal Party. He had previously served as a member of the Air Transport Licensing Authority and Chairman of the Real Property Tax Tribunal.
Following brief periods of employment in the accounting departments of Owens-Illinois Sugar Mill Company in Abaco, The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation and the Chase Manhattan Bank in Nassau, Ingraham became an articled law clerk in the Chambers of McKinney Bancroft and Hughes.
(PLP) and a member of that party's National Executive Committee. In 1977, still Chairman of the PLP, he was elected to the House of Assembly.
In Parliament, Ingraham served as a member of the Standing Committee on Privilege and Public Accounts, and as Chairman of an investigative Select Committee on Influence Peddling and Political Contributions.
He was re-elected to Parliament in the general election of June 1982, and appointed Minister of Housing, National Insurance and Social Service. In 1982, he also became Chairman of The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation, an institution established to secure and guarantee housing financing for Bahamians in need of that service.
In June 1990, as freshman Leader of The Free National Movement, he led his party to a Marco City, Grand Bahama by-election victory over the governing party.
On 19 August 1992, Ingraham led the Free National Movement to a stunning 32–17 victory over the Progressive Liberal Party
and ended the 25-year hold on power of Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling
.
In July 1993, Prime Minister Ingraham was made a Member of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council
. Again on 14 March 1997, Ingraham led the FNM to an even greater election victory.
Prime Minister Ingraham, known for his aggressive leadership style as well as for micro-management, was not afraid to deal with issues directly as well as shuffle Cabinet members, as he saw change was necessary to bring fresh outlooks and perspectives to the Ministries.
Ingraham's having pledged earlier that he would serve no longer than two terms or 10 years as Head of Government, the FNM in 2001 held special elections for Leader-Designate and Deputy Leader-Designate of the Party, with Sen. Tommy Turnquest emerging as the victor who would assume leadership of the FNM on the night of the next general elections.
He administered a disengagement of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company in the mid-1990s, severing ties with hundreds of BTC employees, although handing out severance packages for those who opted for the exit packages. The true value of the impact of the disengagement is debatable.
Through his first term, he guided the Bahamas through a tumultuous period in the financial services sector, which ushered in sweeping changes to be made and imposed upon the Bahamas by international organizations such as the OECD and the FATF. Sweeping legislation was seen as necessary by the then administration, but such drastic and immediate measures were up to debate by observers and economists of the time. Subsequently, the market fears spread and resulted in massive job losses in the sector.
By the end of his first term, he was sitting on a Bahamian economy which was going into recession, brought on by a global downturn in productivity, sparked by the dot.com bubble bust and the attacks of 9–11, exacerbated by massive exits of foreign capital, due to new banking regulations set in place by his administration.
In addition to cries of the mis-handling controversial financial services reform, which some said was indicative of his leadership style of force fed policies. Another controversial issue proposed by his administration was the now failed referendum on social policy, which many observers now say led to the resounding defeat at the polls for the FNM in 2002, with a 29–7 overwhelming margin of victory for the incoming Progressive Liberal Party.
The then Prime Minister Ingraham was quoted as saying: "whoever wins the referendum, will win the election."
, a young and vibrant member of his Cabinet, emerged from the resultant leadership contest as the party's new leader. However, in the 2002 General Election, the party suffered a resounding defeat at the polls with his leader designate and deputy designate losing their seats in parliament.
Although Ingraham retained his North Abaco seat, he did not immediately return to party leadership, as Leader of the Opposition nor of house business. It was not until the party's November 2005 convention that he was again elected FNM Leader, amid criticism for the lack of due process in his ability, through the party's platform, to make himself eligible for party nomination. This was also seen as a repudiation of his former position, where he claimed to only want to serve two terms as Prime Minister. Nonetheless, he was returned to party leadership ahead of the 2007 general elections.
At the time, Ingraham said that it boiled down to a matter of trust. "The country needs and deserves reform no matter what, because the loss of trust in government has been so great." And he maintained that the FNM had developed an agenda to renew the people's trust in government.
He says national leadership by the Free National Movement will once again bring the interests of Bahamians into focus and to the forefront of government's social and economic policies, remove influence peddling from the halls of government, restore integrity and honesty to public life, and reintroduce initiatives to achieve efficient and effective government left in abeyance during the last four and a half years.
; the couple has five children.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration – Hon. T. Brent Symonette, MP
Minister of National Security – Hon. Tommy Turnquest, MP
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs – Sen. Hon. John Delaney
Minister of Housing and National Insurance – Hon. Kenneth Russell, MP
Minister of Tourism and Aviation – Sen. Hon. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace
Minister of Works and Transport – Hon. Neko Grant, MP
Minister of Health – Hon. Hubert Minnis, MP
Minister of Labour and Social Development – Sen. Hon. Dion Foulkes
Minister of Education – Hon. Desmond Bannister, MP
Minister of Youth,Sports and Culture – Hon. Charles Maynard, MP
Minister of Lands and Local Government – Hon. Byran Woodside, MP
Minister for the Evironment – Hon. Earl Deveaux, MP
Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources – Hon. Larry Cartwright, MP
Minister of State for Finance and Public Service – Hon. Zhivargo Laing, MP
Minister of State for Utilities – Hon. Phenton Neymour, MP
Minister of State for Labour and Social Development – Hon. Loretta Butler-Turner, MP
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
. He first served as Prime Minister from August 1992 until May 2002 and became Prime Minister again in 2007. He is a member of the Free National Movement
Free National Movement
The Free National Movement is a socially liberal and economically conservative political party in The Bahamas. It is currently the ruling party, winning 23 of the 41 seats in the Bahamas House of Assembly on May 2, 2007; two of these seats are currently being contested in Electorial Court by the...
Party (FNM). The Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham now heads the FNM as Party Leader and is a Member of Parliament for the North Abaco
North Abaco
North Abaco is one of the districts of the Bahamas, on the Abaco Islands.Some of the more known settlements within this district include:* Wood Cay* Crown Haven* Cedar Harbour* Coopers Town* Fire Road Village* Black Wood Village* New Plymouth...
constituency; he also served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly from 2005 to 2007.
In the historic election of August 1992, in which the FNM unseated the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), Ingraham succeeded Prime Minister Lynden Pindling
Lynden Pindling
Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling KCMG, OM, JP , is generally regarded as the "Father of the Nation" of the Bahamas, having led it to Majority Rule on 10 January 1967 and then to independence on 10 July 1973. He served as the first black premier of the Colony of the Bahama Islands from 1967 to 1969 and as...
, who had headed the PLP government since January 1967. Following his party's victory in the May 2007 election
Bahamian general election, 2007
General elections were held in the Bahamas on 2 May 2007. The result was an opposition victory, with the Free National Movement, led by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, claiming 23 of the 41 seats. Incumbent Prime Minister Perry Christie conceded defeat in a phone call to his rival. Ingraham...
, he became Prime Minister again.
Youth and early career
Ingraham was born 4 August 1947 in Pine Ridge, Grand BahamaGrand Bahama
Grand Bahama is one of the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, and the closest major island to the United States, lying off the state of Florida. Grand Bahama is the fifth largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays...
. He is the son of Jerome Ingraham, a stevedore, and Isabella La-Roda (née Cornish). He grew up in Cooper's Town on the island of Abaco and began his education at Cooper's Town Public School, later attending the Southern Senior School and the Government High School Evening Institute in Nassau.
Ingraham studied law in Nassau, was called to the Bahamas Bar in December 1972, and eventually became senior partner in the law firm of Christie, Ingraham and Co. He entered front-line politics in 1975, when he was elected to the National General Council of the then ruling Progressive Liberal Party. He had previously served as a member of the Air Transport Licensing Authority and Chairman of the Real Property Tax Tribunal.
Following brief periods of employment in the accounting departments of Owens-Illinois Sugar Mill Company in Abaco, The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation and the Chase Manhattan Bank in Nassau, Ingraham became an articled law clerk in the Chambers of McKinney Bancroft and Hughes.
Cabinet Minister
In 1976, Ingraham was elected National Chairman of the Progressive Liberal PartyProgressive Liberal Party
The Progressive Liberal Party is a populist party in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas commonly abbreviated PLP. The PLP lies on the left of the political spectrum....
(PLP) and a member of that party's National Executive Committee. In 1977, still Chairman of the PLP, he was elected to the House of Assembly.
In Parliament, Ingraham served as a member of the Standing Committee on Privilege and Public Accounts, and as Chairman of an investigative Select Committee on Influence Peddling and Political Contributions.
He was re-elected to Parliament in the general election of June 1982, and appointed Minister of Housing, National Insurance and Social Service. In 1982, he also became Chairman of The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation, an institution established to secure and guarantee housing financing for Bahamians in need of that service.
Independent Member of Parliament
Ingraham stood as an independent candidate in the 1987 general election and was one of only two Members of Parliament to have been expelled from the ruling PLP to have gone on to immediate re-election as an independent.Leader of the Opposition
Ingraham joined the Official Opposition in April 1990, and was immediately appointed Parliamentary Leader. When the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, died in May 1990, Ingraham was unanimously elected Leader of the Free National Movement and was appointed Leader of the Official Opposition on 18 May 1990, by the Governor-General.In June 1990, as freshman Leader of The Free National Movement, he led his party to a Marco City, Grand Bahama by-election victory over the governing party.
On 19 August 1992, Ingraham led the Free National Movement to a stunning 32–17 victory over the Progressive Liberal Party
Progressive Liberal Party
The Progressive Liberal Party is a populist party in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas commonly abbreviated PLP. The PLP lies on the left of the political spectrum....
and ended the 25-year hold on power of Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling
Lynden Pindling
Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling KCMG, OM, JP , is generally regarded as the "Father of the Nation" of the Bahamas, having led it to Majority Rule on 10 January 1967 and then to independence on 10 July 1973. He served as the first black premier of the Colony of the Bahama Islands from 1967 to 1969 and as...
.
Prime minister
The new Prime Minister had Cabinet responsibility for the Ministry of Finance. Later, in a streamlined Cabinet, he took on responsibility for trade and industry, and quickly established a one-stop Investment Authority that promoted fresh investment in The Bahamas.In July 1993, Prime Minister Ingraham was made a Member of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. Again on 14 March 1997, Ingraham led the FNM to an even greater election victory.
Prime Minister Ingraham, known for his aggressive leadership style as well as for micro-management, was not afraid to deal with issues directly as well as shuffle Cabinet members, as he saw change was necessary to bring fresh outlooks and perspectives to the Ministries.
Ingraham's having pledged earlier that he would serve no longer than two terms or 10 years as Head of Government, the FNM in 2001 held special elections for Leader-Designate and Deputy Leader-Designate of the Party, with Sen. Tommy Turnquest emerging as the victor who would assume leadership of the FNM on the night of the next general elections.
Administrative achievements
He is credited for allowing the Atlantis Paradise Island project to develop, making the Bahamas truly a major tourism Mecca.He administered a disengagement of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company in the mid-1990s, severing ties with hundreds of BTC employees, although handing out severance packages for those who opted for the exit packages. The true value of the impact of the disengagement is debatable.
Through his first term, he guided the Bahamas through a tumultuous period in the financial services sector, which ushered in sweeping changes to be made and imposed upon the Bahamas by international organizations such as the OECD and the FATF. Sweeping legislation was seen as necessary by the then administration, but such drastic and immediate measures were up to debate by observers and economists of the time. Subsequently, the market fears spread and resulted in massive job losses in the sector.
By the end of his first term, he was sitting on a Bahamian economy which was going into recession, brought on by a global downturn in productivity, sparked by the dot.com bubble bust and the attacks of 9–11, exacerbated by massive exits of foreign capital, due to new banking regulations set in place by his administration.
In addition to cries of the mis-handling controversial financial services reform, which some said was indicative of his leadership style of force fed policies. Another controversial issue proposed by his administration was the now failed referendum on social policy, which many observers now say led to the resounding defeat at the polls for the FNM in 2002, with a 29–7 overwhelming margin of victory for the incoming Progressive Liberal Party.
The then Prime Minister Ingraham was quoted as saying: "whoever wins the referendum, will win the election."
Return to the Opposition
In 2001, Ingraham announced his decision to step down as party leader and The Hon O.A.T. ("Tommy") TurnquestO. Tommy Turnquest
The Honourable Orville Alton Thompson "Tiny" Turnquest is a Bahamian politician. He is the current member of Parliament for Mount Moriah and the Minister of National Security....
, a young and vibrant member of his Cabinet, emerged from the resultant leadership contest as the party's new leader. However, in the 2002 General Election, the party suffered a resounding defeat at the polls with his leader designate and deputy designate losing their seats in parliament.
Although Ingraham retained his North Abaco seat, he did not immediately return to party leadership, as Leader of the Opposition nor of house business. It was not until the party's November 2005 convention that he was again elected FNM Leader, amid criticism for the lack of due process in his ability, through the party's platform, to make himself eligible for party nomination. This was also seen as a repudiation of his former position, where he claimed to only want to serve two terms as Prime Minister. Nonetheless, he was returned to party leadership ahead of the 2007 general elections.
At the time, Ingraham said that it boiled down to a matter of trust. "The country needs and deserves reform no matter what, because the loss of trust in government has been so great." And he maintained that the FNM had developed an agenda to renew the people's trust in government.
He says national leadership by the Free National Movement will once again bring the interests of Bahamians into focus and to the forefront of government's social and economic policies, remove influence peddling from the halls of government, restore integrity and honesty to public life, and reintroduce initiatives to achieve efficient and effective government left in abeyance during the last four and a half years.
Prime Minister again
In the general election held on 2 May 2007, the FNM won a majority of seats, defeating the PLP, and Ingraham was sworn in as Prime Minister on 4 May. He became Minister of Finance in the new government.Personal life
Ingraham is married to the former Delores Miller of Long Island, BahamasLong Island, Bahamas
Long Island is an island in the Bahamas that is split by the Tropic of Cancer. Its capital is Clarence Town. Long Island is one of the Districts of the Bahamas and is known as the most scenic island in the Bahamas. The population is roughly 4,000 inhabitants.-Geography:Long Island is about 130...
; the couple has five children.
Ingraham's Current Cabinet
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance – Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, MPDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration – Hon. T. Brent Symonette, MP
Minister of National Security – Hon. Tommy Turnquest, MP
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs – Sen. Hon. John Delaney
Minister of Housing and National Insurance – Hon. Kenneth Russell, MP
Minister of Tourism and Aviation – Sen. Hon. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace
Minister of Works and Transport – Hon. Neko Grant, MP
Minister of Health – Hon. Hubert Minnis, MP
Minister of Labour and Social Development – Sen. Hon. Dion Foulkes
Minister of Education – Hon. Desmond Bannister, MP
Minister of Youth,Sports and Culture – Hon. Charles Maynard, MP
Minister of Lands and Local Government – Hon. Byran Woodside, MP
Minister for the Evironment – Hon. Earl Deveaux, MP
Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources – Hon. Larry Cartwright, MP
Minister of State for Finance and Public Service – Hon. Zhivargo Laing, MP
Minister of State for Utilities – Hon. Phenton Neymour, MP
Minister of State for Labour and Social Development – Hon. Loretta Butler-Turner, MP