The Tribune

NEWLY appointed Chief Justice Hartman Longley will be officially sworn in at Government House today.

On Friday, the Cabinet Office announced that Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling made the appointment, acting on a recommendation from Prime Minister Perry Christie after he consulted with the leader of the opposition. The appointment took effect yesterday.

Mr Longley was formerly a senior justice in the Supreme Court and a former Court of Appeal justice.

He succeeds Sir Michael Barnett, who resigned as chief justice on January 31. Last month, during a ceremony for the new Legal Year, Sir Michael announced his impending departure as chief justice. At the time, he said his intention to resign “is of my own will and for very personal reasons.”

Sir Michael was appointed in 2009, having served as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs from 2008 to 2009 during the last Ingraham administration.

“In December of 2013,” he explained last month, “I advised the prime minister, that it is my desire to demit office as the chief justice of the Bahamas on obtaining my 60th birthday in August of 2014 – a birthday that I shared with him.

“I advised him that this was the decision that I had made with my family and dictated purely by my own personal circumstances. I enjoy being a judge and I was not overwhelmed by the challenges in the legal office of chief justice. I made this decision with much reluctance and after much thought and prayer.

“The prime minister asked me to reconsider my decision and assured me that it was not his desire, or the desire of the government, that I should demit office before obtaining the constitutional age. He assured me that notwithstanding the political differences that we had over the years, he and his government were confident that I was discharging my duties as chief justice with integrity and propriety as the office demands.”

The chief justice said he spoke with relatives again and then told Mr Christie that he would still demit office. The prime minister asked him to remain in office for the whole of 2014 and Sir Michael said he agreed.

“In the circumstances, this will be my last year that I will preside over the opening of the Legal Year as chief justice of the Bahamas. I have discussed in some detail my discussions with the prime minister to dispel any rumour that I am in any way being forced out of office or that I am leaving office because of a friction with the government.”

Mr Longley will be sworn in at 10am.