Hubert Ingraham
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Minister of Finance | |
---|---|
In office 4 May 2007 – 8 May 2012 | |
In office 1992–1995 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Pine Ridge, Bahamas | 4 August 1947
Political party | Progressive Liberal Party (1970s–1987) Independent (1987–1990) Free National Movement (1990–present) |
Spouse | Delores Miller |
Hubert Alexander Ingraham,
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.
After his government was defeated in the 2012 general election, on 7 May Ingraham announced his resignation as FNM leader and as an MP.[1]
Youth and early career
Ingraham was born 4 August 1947 in Pine Ridge,
Ingraham studied law in Nassau. He 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 previously served as a member of the Air Transport Licensing Authority and Chairman of the Real Property Tax Tribunal.
Following brief employment in the accounting departments of Owens-Illinois Sugar Mill Company in Abaco and 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
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.
Opposition
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.
Ingraham joined the
Prime Minister
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (December 2012) |
The new prime minister had Cabinet responsibility for the
Ingraham pledged that he would serve no longer than two terms or 10 years as Head of Government. In 2001, the FNM held special elections for Leader-Designate and Deputy Leader-Designate of the Party, with
Administrative achievements
He is credited for allowing the Atlantis Paradise Island project to develop.[citation needed]
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 administration, but such drastic and immediate measures were up to debate by observers[who?] 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.
Another controversial issue proposed by his administration was a referendum on social policy. Many observers[who?] said that the failure of the referendum 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.
Return to the opposition
In 2001, Ingraham announced his decision to step down as party leader and
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[by whom?] 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.
As a result of his government's defeat in the May 2012 general election, Ingraham announced his resignation as FNM leader and as an MP; his resignation was to take effect on 26 May 2012. On 9 May 2012, Hubert Minnis was elected by the members of the FNM to succeed Ingraham as Leader of the Opposition.
References
- ^ Krystel Rolle, "Ingraham resigns", The Nassau Guardian, 8 May 2012.
- ^ "The minister of finance | Bahamas Local News". www.bahamaslocal.com.
- ^ "Hubert Ingraham sworn in as Bahamas’ PM", 4 May 2007
- ^ Juan McCartney, "Ministers Sworn In", The Bahama Journal, 8 May 2007